Litha (Pronounched LITH-ah) is a Summer Solstice celebration celebrated by many Wiccans and adherents to various branches of Anglo-Saxon Paganism and Heathenry.
The name, Litha, stems from the Anglo-Saxon name for “midsummer”, Līþa according to the Venerable Bede’s work De temporum ratione.
- English (Publication Language)
- 352 Pages - 02/01/1999 (Publication Date) - Liverpool University Press (Publisher)
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The festival is celebrated similarly to other Midsummer festivals with bonfires, feasting and dancing out of doors.
If you still find yourself scrambling to come up with a creative, fun way to celebrate, I put together a list of 10 uniquely pagan ways to honor Litha.
Whether you identify as a kitchen witch, hedge witch, or “Sabbat-only” witch, I brainstormed an idea for you!
(New to witchcraft? Don’t forget to check out Magickal Spot‘s School of Metaphysical Arts).
Contents
- Create an epic Midsummer altar.
- Leave an offering of honey cakes outside.
- Make a Litha Altar Candle
- Speaking of honey, visit a honey farm!
- Make herbal candle rings with your fresh herbs.
- Try cloud scrying.
- Go on an extended nature walk.
- Plan a glamping trip.
- Make a batch of sun cakes.
- Attend a summer festival.
- Go wildflower hunting.
- Read A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
- Summer Solstice Traditions
- Festivals Related to the Summer Solstice
Create an epic Midsummer altar.
Drag the spirit of the season into your home by creating a beautiful Midsummer altar.
Take your time collecting natural, local items with symbols and meaning for you.
Here’s some ideas.
Leave an offering of honey cakes outside.
Preferably somewhere away from your house, as they will attract insects and even wildlife.
Litha is said to be one of the two times of year when the “Veil Between Worlds” is the thinnest (the other being Samhain.)
According to legend, the fairies and forest spirits are especially active on the night of the summer solstice, and honey is favorite treat.
Try this recipe for sun-golden honey cakes.
Make a Litha Altar Candle
You do not need crazy crafting skills for this DIY Summer Solstice altar candle. It’s pretty straightforward.
Just wholesome, seasonal ingredients like honey, dried lavender, and hand-gathered moss make it a beautiful addition to your Litha group celebration or solitary ritual.
Speaking of honey, visit a honey farm!
If you’re not allergic to bees (or deathly afraid of them!) this is a nice activity. Be sure to stock up while you’re there.
Honey is sacred to nearly every culture in the world where bees live.
The ancient Egyptians even included it as a tomb offering when burying the dead.
Make herbal candle rings with your fresh herbs.
For the green witch: with your herb garden in full swing, it’s time to make some creative use of it.
Try creating these herbal candle rings.
Try cloud scrying.
Find a warm, grassy spot and look up to see what messages the sky might have for you.
Cloud scrying is a lovely, natural and totally free way to experience divination.
Go on an extended nature walk.
Pack a picnic or scout out a local natural swimming hole and dive fully into the Mother’s splendor.
Whether you’re a sea witch or a witch of the woodlands, a nature walk in any wild landscape reconnects you to nature.
And Litha is the perfect time to try it barefoot!
Plan a glamping trip.
If you’re feeling adventurous, but don’t want to leave luxury behind, try glamping and spend a night under the stars in style.
Make a batch of sun cakes.
If you’re a kitchen-y witch, celebrate this Sabbat by baking!
Sun cakes are perfect for the “cakes and ale” portion of a Litha ritual if you celebrate with a coven, or you can use them for offering.
Attend a summer festival.
The Summer Solstice is the week for witchy festivals. Find one. Attend it. You’ll have a blast, I promise.
(Don’t know what to pack? Here’s a rough guide on what to bring to your witchy summer festival).
Go wildflower hunting.
Wildflowers add a special energy to any summer spell or ritual.
Learn how to work with wildflowers in witchcraft.
Identify and harvest some wildflowers to use in your summer spell work. Press them in your Book of Shadows if you have one.
Read A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Or better yet, go see a local production of it.
Full of traditional pagan folklore, Shakespeare’s classic comedy is one of my favorites and a common production for local theater companies this time of year.
Summer Solstice Traditions
The Summer Solstice has many traditions associated with it. It is the day when the sun’s energy is the strongest felt. In the polar regions, the sun remains in the sky for several days straight.
Certainly anyone who honors a Sun God will find significance in this, as would those who rely upon the sun’s light for their living.
Plants
Many who gather herbs for healing or magick believe that certain herbs are best gathered on the day of the Summer Solstice, particularly at dawn. Some will argue that this is true for nearly all herbs, but specific herbs are often mentioned.
These include
- St. John’s Wort,
- Fennel,
- rue,
- rosemary,
- rose,
- lemon,
- verbena,
- allows,
- laburnum,
- foxglove,
- elder flowers,
- ferns.
Traditional decorations for this day include branches of birch and oak as well as bouquets and garlands of flowers and ferns and celebrants might wear wreathes of leaves and/or flowers in their hair.
Water
Well dressing is another tradition associated with the Summer Solstice. Gazing at your reflection in water during the Summer Solstice may allow you to see the image of your future lover. Sea side and riverside fertility rites and bonfire festivals are also popular on this day.
Fire
The Summer Solstice is often celebrated with bonfires, and of course, BBQs.
Dancing
Many traditions incorporate dancing, including Square Dancing and dancing around the Midsummer Pole (just like the May Pole)
Weddings
Many traditional dances and rituals that celebrate the Summer Solstice include mock weddings and this is also a popular time for the real thing as well as for divination and spells related to marriage. I
n some traditions, a God and Goddess get married on the Summer Solstice, while others believe that this took place at Beltane and a respectful period of time has now taken place so that it wouldn’t be rude to upstage them with a wedding of your own.
Another tradition holds that if you took part in some of the lustier traditions of Beltane, that it might be time for a wedding of the more shotgun sort.
But weddings have long symbolized fertility and the continuation of life and the festivals of the Summer Solstice are certainly fertility festivals. (Also, the Month of June is named for the Roman Goddess of Marriage, Juno.)
The Summer Solstice has long been seen as a reason to celebrate among many cultures. Midsummer, Midsummer Day or Feast of Midsummer is a modern name for the Summer Solstice festival used by many Pagan groups as well as secular and all-path organizations.
However, there are many other festivals celebrated on our around this day.
Festivals Related to the Summer Solstice
The following festivals are related to the Summer Solstice.
- Midsummer’s Eve
- Litha (Anglo-Saxon)
- Feast of Epona (Ancient Gual)
- Kronia (Ancient Greece)
- St. John’s Eve (Catholic)
- Alban Hefin (European Neo-Druidry)
- Drăgaica or Sânziene (Romania)
- Kresna noč (Slovenia)
- Day of Private Reflection (Northern Ireland)
- St Ivan’s Day (Hungary)
- Guru Purnima (India)
- Juhannus or Ukon juhla (Finland)
- Tiregān (Iran)
- Xiazhi (China)
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