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Photo by Andrew Dunn

Summer Solstice 2010

. . .

Happy Summer Solstice to all of you in the Northern Hemisphere. (Those of you in the Southern Hemisphere are celebrating your Winter Solstice.)

This occasion is quite meaningful to me. My spirits very much rise and fall with the length of the days. (I wouldn’t be surprised if I had low-level Seasonal Affective Disorder.) The more sun I see, the happier I am. I can’t wait to get outside after work and soak up the longest day of the year.

Here is “Kupalets” by Arkona, from their 2009 album Goi Rode Goi! The title refers to the ritual fire of Kupala, held on the Summer Solstice. (For more on Kupala, see here and here.) Celebrating fire and water, this Russian/Eastern European holiday features singing, communal bathing, dancing around fire, and unmarried people going into the forest to do what unmarried people do when they go into the forest. It sounds like a high old time.

Arkona – “Kupalets”
[audio: ARKONA_KUPALETS.mp3]

Note to self: hear more Arkona (the folk metal band, not the NSBM band). Their female singer is a joy to hear.

— Cosmo Lee