Midsummer Day
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♫♫ “Oh, the holly blooms in summer, as white as any snow….”♫♫
Celtic myths, Christmas carols, crafts, crown of thorns, dioecious, duke of argyll, fairies, foretelling, Halloween, holly, James II holly, Midsummer Day, New Year, Norse gods, plants, preston candover, robins, Roman culture, Saturnalia, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Holly and the Ivy, thor, thunderToday, 24 July, is my granddaughter’s birthday, and her name is Holly. Why was she given that particular name? Because her existence was first anticipated at Christmas. So my Holly is linked to both Christmas and Summer. She, like the holly in the above photograph, first actually bloomed at the height of summer. And her…
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You might wonder what the above 1855 painting (from Gunby Hall, Lincolnshire) has to do with the summer solstice, but it’s taken from this National Trust article, which emphasises the magical aspect of this particular time of the year. It also illustrates the sort of books I read as a child. Today’s adults underestimate…
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The following article is taken from this article by Ben Johnson: “Michaelmas, or the Feast of Michael and All Angels, is celebrated on 29th September. As it falls near the equinox, the day is associated with the beginning of autumn and the shortening of days; in England, it is one of the “quarter days”. There are…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 