These cuspate days are always a bit bittersweet, i guess, but no time for that!
SUMMER!
Midsummer's Day is a day to celebrate Summertime and the sun and being outdoors and whatever. Have a BBQ, light the sparklers, and lay out in the yard after nightfall. Music should be played loudly and should be consist mainly of major chords.
AC/DC will never sound better than they will today.
In the old times, people used to have parties at this time of year, just like we do today. There weren't a lot of formal traditions like there were for May Day or Christmas or Easter; People just got together and had a big bonfire I guess. It seems - to me, anyway - that even the peeps of ye olden times knew that nobody needs a reason to get out in the middle of summer and have a big fire and dance dance dance.
You ever wonder why America celebrates its Independence Day on the fourth of July?
It isn't because that is the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. There was never a "signing" in that sense that people imagine, where everyone gathered around and passed the quill, one man after another, serious faces all around. The whole thing wasn't even signed up until about a month later - in August.
Nor was the thing published on July 4, 1776. Indeed, it wasn't issued in any form that the public (or the Brits) could see or hear until around July 8th and it wasn't printed in England until August.
It wasn't written or even finalized on July 4th, either.
It was, of course, submitted to the Continental Congress on July 4th and the text of it approved.
Still, it seems curious to me that this date and this document would be the source of our main national holiday. Could it be that the proximity to Midsummer helped fix the import of the date in our minds?
Certainly we celebrate it today much like we would Midsummer's Day, with feasts and fire and parties and the out-of-doors.
Whatever. It's only a musing. The important thing is that Midsummer is a great time of year and, if you're going to celebrate the turning of the year in regular intervals, this is kind of a BIG ONE.
This guy knows what I'm talking about (but don't do it like this guy, this guy is ridiculous):
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