At the still point of the turning world. — T. S. Eliot
The summer solstice is a time of shifting balance, of learning from our winter rest to make change, of opening our hearts. There is much that has been learned from the pandemic and protests for racial equity that we can, and should carry forward, especially as white people. Historical protests are changing the way we think of our bias towards black people. Toppling of statues celebrating leaders of racial injustice are happening across the country. Junipero Serra tumbled down in San Francisco — marking an important recognition that the colonialist movements of mission-building did more harm than good.
I personally am hoping we can revise the California Mission curriculum in my kid’s school — which currently continues to push the holier than thou Mission building movement as the saviors of the Native American community. Kanyon Sayers-Roods of the Ohlone community has developed and been advocating for a more balanced, and genuine curriculum.
But, being in California, the solstice also seems to represent a time of profit from cultural (mis)appropriation — the act of misusing another’s cultural traditions for power and profit. Events led by white people on shamanism, native American cleansing, etc.
I fell into this trap a year ago, until I realized that participation in these was a form of cultural appropriation. As white people there are plenty of solstice traditions we can pull in from our own lands, rather than take away from the sacred traditions of others.
What is the Solstice?
The summer solstice, beginning across the world today, is an annual astronomical phenomenon that brings the longest day of the year and the first day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere (and the shortest night).
The June solstice is on June 20, 2020, at 21:44 UTC. That’s 2:44 p.m. PST in North America on June 20. (Translate UTC to your time) This phenomenon has been observed since ancient times and may be one of the earliest astronomical observations in human prehistory.
At the other end of the spectrum, the winter solstice in December marks the shortest day of the year, the time of year where we just want to stay inside and hibernate…I mean reflect on our lives. This year the universe forced that on us with the pandemic. As we emerge from the pandemic, we have an opportunity to think of what the world could look like. Much like the pandemic, the summer solstice is a moment we all experience collectively.
The word “solstice” comes from the Latin words “sol” (sun) and “stitium” (still or stopped). The ancients noticed that as summer progressed, the sun stopped moving northward in the sky, then begin tracking southward again as summer turned to autumn.
Historic Solstice Celebrations Literally Reversed Bias and Prejudice
Many cultures used solstice as a time to relax rules that were racist or misogynistic, but only momentarily, falling short of any real change.
Slaves were given a temporary reprieve during Kronia, a celebration of the god of Agriculture. They were allowed to participate in the festival and at times were served by their masters.
Women were given temporary access to the temple of the Vestal virgins during Vestalia, religious festival in honor of Vesta, goddess of the hearth. This festival honored virginity and the domestic idea if family.
Avoiding Cultural Appropriation
Cultural appropriation is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as “the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture.” Essentially, cultural appropriation comes down to a dominant culture taking parts of another culture and gaining profit from it. What makes it worse is when the original culture continues to be oppressed for the same traditions the dominant culture has taken and made profits from.
”Maisha Z. Johnson from Every Day Feminism does a great job of giving examples of cultural appropriation. Another great set of examples comes from Native Appropriations.
For instance, according to Miasha, and I am sure many other voices, white women (and men) have dominated the New Age industry, pulling out Native American traditions, while providing little value to these communities.
McCarthy, an archeologist working in California described the ‘modern assaults’ on the “sacred landscape’ of Mt Shasta where hundreds of New Agers eat, drink alcohol, defecate, leave trash, make noise and dance nude, violating the sacred springs, and complicating communication for the Indigenous people and their spirits. Often in thinking we are doing good, white people desecrate the very thing we think we are supporting or protecting.
As Dr. Adrienne Keene of Native Appropriations puts it, “You are pretending to be a race that you are not, and are drawing upon stereotypes to do so.”
Questions To Ask Yourself About Cultural Appropriation
The Anti-oppression Resource and Training Alliance (AORTA), the scientific term for heart, has a set of questions to ask yourself to see if you are veering off into cultural appropriation.
- Does the source group or culture have a history of exploitation, slavery, or genocide? If so, there is already a social power dynamic at play regarding the use of their culture.
- Are the people/the culture from whom this imagery, item, or custom comes benefiting? Are you buying this directly from the community? Does your participation in it benefit the community?
- Has the source community invited you to share in this? This could look like you being invited/requested to dress in traditional attire for a friend’s celebration or event.
Solstice Celebrations To Connect Us To Our Own Culture, Not Others
In a time when we, as white people are realizing our mistakes and privilege, it’s important for us to understand our cultural history. To understand how and why we shouldn’t misstep into cultural appropriation — a common challenge with colonialism.
Cultural appropriation has become common place, as we all try to find ourselves. Often indigenous people are the brunt of this misstep — with white people leading shamanic journeys.
One way to avoid this is to bring in tradition and culture from your own roots.
European Solstice Traditions
For Europeans, Stonehenge has a 5,000-year-old relationship with the solstice. Some believe that Stonehenge’s unique stone circle was erected around 2500 BCE in order to establish the date of the Summer Solstice. The main circle aligns with the rising sun.
Litha, or Midsummer was thought by Wiccans and Pagans to be a day of balance between fire and water — or the masculine and feminine. On this day, certain plants like St. John’s wort, roses, rue, and verbena acquired properties on the year’s shortest night that they wouldn’t have if picked at any other time. And on this evening, if you were very lucky, you might even catch a glimpse of faeries, who favored midsummer to reveal themselves to the common folk.
In these countries, the Great Bonfire was used to banish demons and evil spirits and lead women to their future husbands. Bonfires were created, as high as 40 feet, while people held hands and danced around them. The solstice bonfire recalls the sun’s life-giving power, its good medicine, while bringing that blazing image here among us
Later Christian churches labeled this St. John’s Day. During the Slavic holiday of Ivan Kupala, people wear floral wreaths and dance around bonfires, while some plucky souls jump over the fires as a way of ensuring good luck and health.
Great Bonfire (pxhere.com)
Egyptian Solstice Traditions
One of the oldest celebrations of solstice is in Egypt, which signals the coming of the Sirius star and the annual flooding of the Nile, bringing needed water and nutrients for farming. When viewed from the Sphinx, the sun sets between the pyramids of Khufu and Khafre during the summer solstice. Ancient Egyptians also built a temple to Osiris that is illuminated by the setting sun on the solstice shines between two nearby hills.
Native American Solstice Traditions
The Sun Dance was practiced mainly in the northern plains by the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Lakota. A medicine wheel, of twenty-eight spokes, one for each day of the lunar month was built, tracking where the sun will rise on the solstices and equinoxes. The dance was meant to bring the community into the life giving aspects of the sun — a moment of healing — as the shaman flies through the sun and is purified of all mistakes and illnesses, bringing that gift back to earth to the tribe. In an extreme moment of prejudice, tribal communities were outlawed from visiting this sacred site and others in the 19th century, not gaining access again until the 1950s.
Medicine Wheel (http://www.marasloks.lv/public//UserFiles/Image/marasloks/aktuaali/aerial-view-unknown-source_phixr.jpg)
Chinese Solstice Traditions
In China, the summer solstice (xià zhì) was a time to worship Earth. The festival to worship Earth on the summer solstice was held at Fangze (‘Square Pool’) Altar, which was also called Fangqiu (‘Square Mound’) Altar or the Temple of Earth.
The solstice is a shift from yin to yang. According to the Chinese philosophical concept, there are two opposing forces in the world, namely Yin and Yang, which are constantly trying to gain the upper hand over each other. The word Yin comes out to mean “shady side” and Yang “sunny side”. Like in pagan culture, Yin and Yang is the balance of water and fire; feminine and masculine; dark and light; moving from rest to activity. It is the time to focus on the heart energy. It can be a time for “earthing” or grounding, a time to feel the earth with your bare feet and hands.
Caveats
I thought it important to highlight this issue now, but know I missed some things, or perhaps many. In my experience, I understand that the first step is always to listen and to understand.
Please add to the comments anything I missed or other solstice celebrations from your culture you would like to share. After shutting down for months, the world has an opportunity to emerge more aware and compassionate of others around us.
One day of the Earth’s journey through the year. One still moment within the ceaseless movement of a day passing as swiftly as the creek, its dappled light rushing toward the hour when it is diminished by the lengthening shadows. A rush through time that heightens our awareness — just as it intensifies our appreciation — of this place and the life we find here. For, if the sense of impermanence and loss is one of the sorrows we experience in the natural world, even on its brightest day, surely that same awareness is a source of the world’s beauty as well. — George Keithly
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Previously published on “Equality Includes You”, a Medium publication.
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Photo credit: Stonehenge Solstice (pxfuel.com)
