Summer Solstice: Ancestral Traditions for Health, Strength, and Blessing
On June 21, the summer solstice, ancestral traditions recommend rising at sunrise, cleaning the home, collecting medicinal herbs, and bathing in dew to gain health, strength, and blessing until the next solstice.
On the summer solstice, June 21, the sun reaches its highest point in the sky, and nature is in full bloom. Latvian ancestors considered this time special, with traditions that bring health, strength, and blessing.
On this day, it is customary to rise at sunrise — 4:29 AM — and wish the sun a long life, asking for health for oneself and loved ones. As the sun sets at 10:22 PM, it should be bid farewell with good wishes and bright thoughts, granting blessing until the next solstice.
Household cleaning is essential: weeding the beds and mowing the grass in celebration areas. Cleaning starts from the threshold and ends at the threshold, forming a circle. It is advisable to discard unnecessary items that have outlived their time.
Women gather Jāņu herbs (midsummer herbs) and decorate the yard, corners of rooms, table, doors, beds, and also sprinkle fields, gardens, and stables. Crushed sweet flag is scattered on the floor. In the past, thistles and nettles were placed at entrances to ward off monsters — nowadays they can be "hidden" in a bouquet of Jāņu herbs. Although many of these customs have moved to Līgo evening (the eve of Midsummer), the author suggests prolonging the festive joy by decorating the house already on the solstice day.
These days are also recommended for collecting medicinal herbs — it is believed that the strongest herbal teas are those gathered on June 20 and 21, and one should collect three times nine herbs. Jāņu herbs may be picked everywhere; in ancient times, anyone who forbade it was considered evil or even a witch.
Many rituals are related to promoting fertility and health. For example, ritual bathing — it is recommended to bathe naked at midnight and at sunrise, as the water on solstice night acquires magical power, granting great strength, inner peace, and balance.
It is also worth bathing in dew, as the small droplets concentrate natural and cosmic power — most intensely at sunrise. Some beliefs: washing in lovage dew attracts a man; forest meadow dew gives strength and relieves depression; dew from richly blooming meadows preserves beauty; wormwood and mugwort dew washes away the evil eye; clover dew gives harmony; peppermint dew brings clear thinking; madder dew sets the mood for mischief.
