Last Thursday, April 21st, was the First Day of Summer here in Iceland. Reckoned by a more ancient, northerly system of describing time, this annual day in April does not coincide with our more common acceptance of June, the solstice month, being the start of the Summer season. Though the ancients divided the solar year into "months" much more complicated to calculate than our twelve lunar ones (i.e. Thorri, Goa, etc), the solar year was truly only split into two seasons that mattered: Winter and Summer. It was either cold and dark, or warm and bright. That, my friend, was all you really needed to know back in the old days!
The Frist Day of Summer is a national holiday: schools are out, banks are closed and little mini-festivals are held all over the country. Sometimes Winter and Summer freeze together, but not this year: it was a balmy 12 degrees C here, overcast, but with beautiful sunset to ring in the start of a new, much awaited and always welcomed Summer season.
1 comment:
I don't know why but we all tend to not appreciate what we've been given with until is too late. I wish we could take it all back to normal and still enjoy our world. Happy solstice!
Dorothy.
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