Comments & Greek artists: an oil painting and a poem on Summer...

Literature & Greek artists, Greek painting, Greek painters


Yannis Stavrou, Red Ships ΙΙ, oil on canvas, λάδι σε καμβά

An oil painting in Summer colors...

One day before the Summer Solstice...

Robert Louis Stevenson

Summer Sun

Great is the sun, and wide he goes
Through empty heaven with repose;
And in the blue and glowing days
More thick than rain he showers his rays.

Though closer still the blinds we pull
To keep the shady parlour cool,
Yet he will find a chink or two
To slip his golden fingers through.

The dusty attic spider-clad
He, through the keyhole, maketh glad;
And through the broken edge of tiles
Into the laddered hay-loft smiles.

Meantime his golden face around
He bares to all the garden ground,
And sheds a warm and glittering look
Among the ivy's inmost nook.

------------------------------------

Solstice celebrations still center around the day of the astronomical summer solstice. Some choose to hold the rite on the 21st of June, even when this is not the longest day of the year, and some celebrate June 24th, the day of the solstice in Roman times.

The celebration of Midsummer's Eve was from ancient times linked to the summer solstice. People believed that mid-summer plants, especially Calendula, had miraculous healing powers and they therefore picked them on this night. Bonfires were lit to protect against evil spirits which were believed to roam freely when the sun was turning southwards again...

In Sweden, Mid-summer celebration originates from the time before Christianity; it was celebrated as a sacrifice time in the sign of the fertility.

The solstice itself has remained a special moment of the annual cycle of the year since Neolithic times. The concentration of the observance is not on the day as we reckon it, commencing at midnight or at dawn, as it is customary for cultures following lunar calendars tend place the beginning of the day on the previous eve at dusk at the moment when the Sun has set. In Sweden, Finland and Estonia, Midsummer's Eve is considered the greatest festival of the year...

Equinox Mar		Solstice June		Equinox Sept		Solstice Dec
day	time	day	time	day	time	day
20	06:49	21	00:57	22	16:30	21
20	12:33	21	06:46	22	22:23	21
20	18:26	21	12:26	23	04:03	22
21	00:07	21	18:06	23	09:51	22
20	05:48	20	23:59	22	15:44	21
20	11:44	21	05:45	22	21:18	21
20	17:32	21	11:28	23	03:09	21
20	23:21	21	17:16	23	09:04	22

source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midsummer