Religion and Ethics Forum

General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: ad_orientem on June 20, 2015, 02:40:11 PM

Title: Happy midsummer
Post by: ad_orientem on June 20, 2015, 02:40:11 PM
I don't know if anyone here celebrates midsummer but in this part of the world we do. Also happy feast of St. John the baptist. Here the tradition is to make a big bonfire on a lake.
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: BashfulAnthony on June 20, 2015, 02:45:01 PM
I don't know if anyone here celebrates midsummer but in this part of the world we do. Also happy feast of St. John the baptist. Here the tradition is to make a big bonfire on a lake.

I'm wondering if to join our local nude pensioners' dawn dance  -  just as a spectator!
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: ad_orientem on June 20, 2015, 02:50:27 PM
Eh?
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: floo on June 20, 2015, 02:52:36 PM
I don't know if anyone here celebrates midsummer but in this part of the world we do. Also happy feast of St. John the baptist. Here the tradition is to make a big bonfire on a lake.

Not something I have ever heard of anyone doing here in the UK!
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: ad_orientem on June 20, 2015, 03:02:01 PM
I don't know if anyone here celebrates midsummer but in this part of the world we do. Also happy feast of St. John the baptist. Here the tradition is to make a big bonfire on a lake.

Not something I have ever heard of anyone doing here in the UK!


No, not in England. Nowadays, at least. I like it. Even here in the south the sun hardly goes down.
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: OH MY WORLD! on June 20, 2015, 03:13:01 PM
 I have no use for Saint Jean Baptiste Day.  The separatist have stolen that celebration in La Belle Province. All the haters of the Canadian nation march in the streets of Montreal, screaming those dirty words uttered by that rascal Charles de Gaulle many decades ago. "Vive le Quebec libre!"
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: ekim on June 20, 2015, 03:22:46 PM
..... meanwhile in Europe we seem to be celebrating the defeat of the French at Waterloo.
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: ippy on June 20, 2015, 03:25:27 PM
I don't know if anyone here celebrates midsummer but in this part of the world we do. Also happy feast of St. John the baptist. Here the tradition is to make a big bonfire on a lake.

I'm wondering if to join our local nude pensioners' dawn dance  -  just as a spectator!

Is that anything like the midsummer nudist pensioners trampoline championships.

ippy
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Rhiannon on June 20, 2015, 03:30:21 PM
Most pagans celebrate midsummer. I'll be out the the garden with the firepit.
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Leonard James on June 20, 2015, 03:35:16 PM
I don't know if anyone here celebrates midsummer but in this part of the world we do. Also happy feast of St. John the baptist. Here the tradition is to make a big bonfire on a lake.

I'm wondering if to join our local nude pensioners' dawn dance  -  just as a spectator!

Is that anything like the midsummer nudist pensioners trampoline championships.

ippy

The thought of all that sagging flesh, skin and appendages flopping up and down on a trampoline makes my aesthetic sense reel in agony.  :(

Midsummer is a time for beautiful thoughts.
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: ippy on June 20, 2015, 04:00:37 PM
I don't know if anyone here celebrates midsummer but in this part of the world we do. Also happy feast of St. John the baptist. Here the tradition is to make a big bonfire on a lake.

I'm wondering if to join our local nude pensioners' dawn dance  -  just as a spectator!

Is that anything like the midsummer nudist pensioners trampoline championships.

ippy

The thought of all that sagging flesh, skin and appendages flopping up and down on a trampoline makes my aesthetic sense reel in agony.  :(

Midsummer is a time for beautiful thoughts.

That trampoline championship is ex "Round the Horn" the much and long missed radio show of my youth.

I found Round the Horn to be such a deep thinking deeply intellectual program.

ippy
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: ippy on June 20, 2015, 04:01:40 PM
Most pagans celebrate midsummer. I'll be out the the garden with the firepit.

No trampoline?

ippy
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Humph Warden Bennett on June 20, 2015, 04:33:07 PM
I might have a drink to celebrate.
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: floo on June 20, 2015, 04:35:38 PM
I don't know if anyone here celebrates midsummer but in this part of the world we do. Also happy feast of St. John the baptist. Here the tradition is to make a big bonfire on a lake.

Not something I have ever heard of anyone doing here in the UK!


No, not in England. Nowadays, at least. I like it. Even here in the south the sun hardly goes down.

The UK isn't just England, I live in Wales!
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Rhiannon on June 20, 2015, 04:47:43 PM
Most pagans celebrate midsummer. I'll be out the the garden with the firepit.

No trampoline?

ippy

No. Probably an umbrella.
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: ippy on June 20, 2015, 05:04:37 PM
Most pagans celebrate midsummer. I'll be out the the garden with the firepit.

No trampoline?

ippy

No. Probably an umbrella.

Thank goodness for that; it's raining here not that far from Chelmsford.

ippy
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Harrowby Hall on June 20, 2015, 05:59:18 PM


That trampoline championship is ex "Round the Horn" the much and long missed radio show of my youth.

I found Round the Horn to be such a deep thinking deeply intellectual program.

ippy

As was the Nude Cyclist of Sidcup.

Round the Horne is the sort of programme which would never be made today. As you say, it was a deep thinking deeply intellectual programme. It would be hounded out of existence by the politically correct mob, and the present generation of producers have little understanding of life beyond popular celeb culture.

Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: ippy on June 20, 2015, 08:15:22 PM


That trampoline championship is ex "Round the Horn" the much and long missed radio show of my youth.

I found Round the Horn to be such a deep thinking deeply intellectual program.

ippy

As was the Nude Cyclist of Sidcup.

Round the Horne is the sort of programme which would never be made today. As you say, it was a deep thinking deeply intellectual programme. It would be hounded out of existence by the politically correct mob, and the present generation of producers have little understanding of life beyond popular celeb culture.

Yes, Very sad but I have to say you're more than likely right.

ippy
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Bubbles on June 15, 2016, 07:06:12 PM
Most pagans celebrate midsummer. I'll be out the the garden with the firepit.

Hopefully you won't be trying to jump over it  ;) or is that one of those " myths" ?

Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Owlswing on June 15, 2016, 07:22:06 PM

Hopefully you won't be trying to jump over it  ;) or is that one of those " myths" ?


No, it is not "one of those myths". There are usually two fires, one huge and the other more of a pit full or flaming charcoal - ther former for heat and light and the other to leap over.

Jumping the fire is one of the old purification rituals; cattle were drive between two fires to kill ticks and other insects; humans jumped a fire to achieve a similar, but symbolic, effect.

And yes, the Gardnerians still perform this trick sky-clad!
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Brownie on June 15, 2016, 08:00:42 PM
Happy St John Baptist day, Ad_O.  We celebrate it (low key of course, I'm sure most people don't know anything about it), next week on Friday 24th June.  It's my husband's birthday and he was named John because of it.  So for non-Orthodox, Midsummer Day is 24th. 

(I once saw "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Regent's Park on 24th June.  Many years ago.  It was lovely.
The guy who plays Elliott Hope in Holby was Bottom but then everyone was saying, "Is that Nigel from Eastenders?", and it was.)

(Are you FF ad_o?  I am VP - "Vix")
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Rhiannon on June 15, 2016, 08:10:47 PM
The OP was from last year, Brownie. I was hoping ad-o was posting again - haven't seen him for a while.
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Bubbles on June 15, 2016, 08:23:20 PM
No, it is not "one of those myths". There are usually two fires, one huge and the other more of a pit full or flaming charcoal - ther former for heat and light and the other to leap over.

Jumping the fire is one of the old purification rituals; cattle were drive between two fires to kill ticks and other insects; humans jumped a fire to achieve a similar, but symbolic, effect.

And yes, the Gardnerians still perform this trick sky-clad!

:)

Well I hope you have a good one, midsummer 🍷

There is something about sitting around a fire outside.

  :)

I think gazing into a fire outside, in company,  is almost spiritual.

Especially after a few glasses of wine or mead  :)


I find it bonding and sort of spiritual  :)


Perhaps it's the cave woman in me  ;D

Even the dog joins in by refusing to get close to the centre but prefers to sit sentry around us, he's a German shepherd and treats all the people there as his wards and he protects the boundaries.

There is something about a fire, and good company  ;D

Even the dog goes into sentry mode  ;D
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Brownie on June 15, 2016, 08:35:45 PM
Bah!  Just noticed the OP was from last year, what a wally I am.  Rhiannon pointed it out too.
The Orthodox St John the Baptist day is 24th June this year, same as everyone else.  I looked it up.
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Bubbles on June 15, 2016, 08:37:10 PM
Bah!  Just noticed the OP was from last year, what a wally I am.  Rhiannon pointed it out too.
The Orthodox St John the Baptist day is 24th June this year, same as everyone else.  I looked it up.

I didn't notice either  :)

Midsummer is 24th June.

I don't feel we have had a summer yet  :o

I feel like I was just getting started  :o
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Shaker on June 15, 2016, 08:37:22 PM
I'd light a bonfire for midsummer if I didn't have a pocket handkerchief of a garden  :(
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Brownie on June 15, 2016, 08:40:59 PM
Ah well Shaker, you could go out onto the common or into the woods and do it there.  You might be arrested though.  Also you might not have woods or a common near you.

I will be away (all being well which is never certain), in a small Kentish seaside town, on my old man's birthday on 24th.  He'll be there too  :D, and our son.  Going on Thursday morning, coming back Saturday morning.  I don't know if Whitstable does anything for midsummer day, doubt it.
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Bubbles on June 15, 2016, 08:47:59 PM
I'd light a bonfire for midsummer if I didn't have a pocket handkerchief of a garden  :(

A fire pit is brilliant if you have a small garden. Saves any mess and you can use the ash around any plants.

If you look up fire pit with Dutch oven you can even cook over it.

My husband is the expert on cooking on it, and also caters for vegetarian friends. Once he did this very mild vegetarian curry with bananas and it was delicious.

Well worth a try.

Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Shaker on June 15, 2016, 08:48:52 PM
Brownie: Enjoy your holiday.

Rose: Thanks for the tip.
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Bubbles on June 15, 2016, 08:56:24 PM
http://www.burntrock.co.uk/Kadai+Cooking+Tripod+With+Chain+-+95cm/0_CAAA003/PRAA208.htm

We hang the Dutch oven off a tripod over the  fire pit.

 :)

Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Brownie on June 15, 2016, 09:17:17 PM
Sounds a very good idea, I was thinking of a barbecue too.
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Rhiannon on June 15, 2016, 09:35:20 PM
I've been known to use a disposable barbecue in a small space. The foil can be recycled. Small collapsible camping barbecues are useful too. I put dried herb clippings on mine.
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Owlswing on June 15, 2016, 09:37:27 PM
:)

Well I hope you have a good one, midsummer 🍷

There is something about sitting around a fire outside.

  :)

I think gazing into a fire outside, in company,  is almost spiritual.

Especially after a few glasses of wine or mead  :)


I find it bonding and sort of spiritual  :)


Perhaps it's the cave woman in me  ;D

Even the dog joins in by refusing to get close to the centre but prefers to sit sentry around us, he's a German shepherd and treats all the people there as his wards and he protects the boundaries.

There is something about a fire, and good company  ;D

Even the dog goes into sentry mode  ;D

Summer Solstice - June 20/21 is also my birthday -the one day I allow myself a few drops of mead!
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Brownie on June 16, 2016, 04:13:15 PM
Mead sounds really good Owlswing, never had it but I imagine it doesn't taste of alcohol even though it is alcoholic.  I'd like that.
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Rhiannon on June 16, 2016, 04:18:31 PM
Mead sounds really good Owlswing, never had it but I imagine it doesn't taste of alcohol even though it is alcoholic.  I'd like that.

Honey wine. Generally on the sweet side, can be spiced. But like a dessert wine. I like it.
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Brownie on June 16, 2016, 04:24:16 PM
I like honey and I understand mead can be fruity which would be lovely, even if a bit too sweet.  Sounds very Elizabethan-ish.
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Owlswing on June 16, 2016, 05:45:11 PM
I like honey and I understand mead can be fruity which would be lovely, even if a bit too sweet.  Sounds very Elizabethan-ish.

Elizabethan!

Hell NO! It is the oldest alchoholic drink known. Apparently because honey ferments naturally if it get warm.

It ranges from sweet to sickly sweet.

And, technically, it is not a wine though there are some 'meads' sold that are mead mixed with wine to take the sweetness edge off it.
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Rhiannon on June 16, 2016, 06:22:05 PM
Now that's interesting, because I was told that technically it is a wine. I wanted to find out how to keep it once opened and that's what Google told me.
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Bubbles on June 16, 2016, 06:47:24 PM
Summer Solstice - June 20/21 is also my birthday -the one day I allow myself a few drops of mead!

Happy Birthday for 20/21st.

 :)
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: ad_orientem on June 16, 2016, 06:52:02 PM
Happy St John Baptist day, Ad_O.  We celebrate it (low key of course, I'm sure most people don't know anything about it), next week on Friday 24th June.  It's my husband's birthday and he was named John because of it.  So for non-Orthodox, Midsummer Day is 24th. 

(I once saw "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Regent's Park on 24th June.  Many years ago.  It was lovely.
The guy who plays Elliott Hope in Holby was Bottom but then everyone was saying, "Is that Nigel from Eastenders?", and it was.)

(Are you FF ad_o?  I am VP - "Vix")

Yes, I'm FF.
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: ad_orientem on June 16, 2016, 06:53:18 PM
The OP was from last year, Brownie. I was hoping ad-o was posting again - haven't seen him for a while.

I've been having a break. Still don't see much here I fancy. The Christian board is still piss poor, spoilt by the usual subjects. Impossible to discuss anything there.
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Owlswing on June 16, 2016, 07:01:36 PM
Happy Birthday for 20/21st.

 :)

Thanks
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Brownie on June 16, 2016, 07:14:16 PM
It's good to see you albeit briefly, oh speedy one! 
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Shaker on June 16, 2016, 07:16:23 PM
I wanted to find out how to keep it once opened
I've never found that a problem, personally ;)
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Brownie on June 16, 2016, 07:21:49 PM
Owlswing:

Elizabethan!

Hell NO! It is the oldest alchoholic drink known. Apparently because honey ferments naturally if it get warm.


Well Shakespearian then.  As in Love’s Labour’s Lost and The Merry Wives of Windsor.

I am now off to put my jar of honey in the microwave for a few seconds......hic, burp
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Owlswing on June 17, 2016, 06:01:28 AM
Owlswing:

Elizabethan!

Hell NO! It is the oldest alchoholic drink known. Apparently because honey ferments naturally if it get warm.


Well Shakespearian then.  As is Love’s Labour’s Lost and The Merry Wives of Windsor.

I am now off to put my jar of honey in the microwave for a few seconds......hic, burp

Goes back, at least, to the Vikings!
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Brownie on June 17, 2016, 07:44:02 AM
Goes back, at least, to the Vikings!

A rugged drink, no less.
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: floo on June 17, 2016, 08:57:00 AM
I think mid summer day is a bit depressing, it is downhill all the way until Christmas with the nights getting darker!
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Rhiannon on June 17, 2016, 09:01:13 AM
I think mid summer day is a bit depressing, it is downhill all the way until Christmas with the nights getting darker!

This is one of the things that I like. I'd hate to be without the contrasts of the seasons.
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Brownie on June 17, 2016, 09:32:17 AM
Me too and I love the autumn (as much as I love anything, hee hee), but I know how floo feels, I've heard others say the same.  A cousin of mine always dreads autumn and it's a genuine feeling that pulls her down.
Title: Re: Happy midsummer
Post by: Owlswing on June 17, 2016, 11:39:30 AM

This is one of the things that I like. I'd hate to be without the contrasts of the seasons.


Agreed! The good old Wheel of the Year