summer – SJB Teaching

June 17, 2017June 16, 2017

Summer Solstice

In the Northern hemisphere, the summer solstice is the name given to the longest day of the year – i.e. the day when the sun appears highest in the sky and there is more sunlight than on any other day (16 hours and 38 minutes in the UK this year). It falls on 21^st June, but celebrations relating to the solstice are held on the day itself and the days either side, depending on local traditions.

Celebrations to mark the solstice date back to ancient times, when the sun was revered as a deity in many cultures, and its movements were the subject of great interest and had many legends and stories attached to them. The name “solstice” comes from the Latin words for sun and standing still, as it is the day the sun can be seen to reverse its course in the sky. These days, when we think of the summer solstice we tend to think primarily of the pagan festivities that take place, as these can still be found in modern society. As was also the case in the distant past, they are most prevalent in Scandinavian countries, where people actually experience a full 24 hours of sunlight at this time of year. In the UK, the summer solstice is marked by a 4-day festival at Stonehenge, our most famous Neolithic site, where the alignment of the stones highlights the sunrise on midsummer day. In past times, the most widespread practice was to light bonfires to symbolise the triumph of the sun over darkness. Because it was seen as a time of warmth and light, when crops are in their main growing season, there were also fertility rituals at this time and it was considered an auspicious time for marriages.

Litha is the name that the Anglo Saxons gave to this much earlier festival, and that is the name by which most modern-day Pagans and Wiccans refer to the celebrations. As well as watching the sunrise, it is a day for reflecting on “dark” and “light” aspects of your own life, looking ahead and planning for the harvest time and winter on the horizon, and also for spending time enjoying the sunshine in the outdoors with family, culminating with communal meals cooked outdoors and the lighting of traditional fires, accompanied by singing, drama and storytelling. Generally speaking, it is one of the most light-hearted and festive of the major dates on the calendar.

As with many earlier traditions, the medieval Christian church co-opted existing festivals as days of religious observance. In the case of the summer solstice, the midsummer celebrations became the feast days of St John the Baptist (24^th June), with the bonfires lit to ward off evil spirits being a direct adoption of existing practices.

No matter what your religious beliefs, the summer solstice symbolises the arrival of summer (not that this is always apparent in the UK!). As such, it heralds the time of year when we tend to spend more time outdoors – perhaps enjoying the sunshine on picnics or walks, or just experiencing the natural world – and when we take most of our family holidays. And it’s interesting to think that if you are in the garden enjoying a barbecue or sitting around your fire pit with friends and family in the next few days, you will be doing the same as people the world over have been doing at this time of year for millennia.

Thank you again to my lovely husband, Ian Braisby (Blue Badge Guide), for writing this piece for me.

How do they celebrate Christmas in South Africa?

This is a guest post from my lovely husband, Ian.

Christmas in South Africa is celebrated in different ways, as you would expect from a country with such cultural diversity. The main differences are between white “European” and black “African” celebrations. However, what they all have in common is the fact that Christmas is a holiday in the summer, as South Africa is in the Southern hemisphere. It is one of the main holiday seasons for local people, and children have a month of school holiday. This means that the only snow is on Christmas cards, with normal Christmas weather being hot and sunny.

White South Africans celebrate in ways that are familiar to us in Britain, reflecting the fact that the country was a British colony for many years. People decorate their houses with fir trees, colourful lights and decorations. They might even use cotton wool around their windows – this is as close as they can get to a “white Christmas”! The most distinctive decorations are the beautiful South African flowers, which are in full bloom at this time of year and give a fantastic colourful look to the festive season. Children hang their stockings up, hoping to get gifts from Father Christmas.

As in Britain, Christmas is a time for getting together with family and friends for meals and parties. Christmas dinner is often roast turkey or beef, with mince pies and plum pudding to follow. While the food is familiar, the difference is that most people eat Christmas dinner outside in the sunshine, and many even have a “braai”, or barbecue, a much-loved part of South African culture. Many people make the most of the summer weather by heading into the countryside for picnics, swimming in lakes, family sports or visits to game reserves in some areas. Some families even like to go camping over Christmas.

In rural African communities, celebrations are a mixture of Western and local traditions. Church services and family celebrations are more important than the more commercial aspects of the festivities. In small villages, the whole community gets together to celebrate, and the women join forces to brew beer and prepare food for everyone. Traditionally, though, the men cook the meat to show that they have provided for their families. Singing and dancing are a very important part of the festivities. Boxing Day is when gifts are normally exchanged, and tend to be practical items rather than luxury goods – household products for adults, school books or clothes for children.

No matter what cultural tradition South Africans come from, Christmas is a special occasion, and an opportunity to spend enjoyable days with family and friends, making the most of the wonderful summer weather and beautiful countryside.

Ian works as a Blue Badge Tourist Guide and as a German to English translator. Even though I could be accused of being biased, I have to say that he is excellent at both! If you don’t believe me, book a place on his Tolkien coach tour in January and see for yourself!

August 1, 2012August 15, 2016

Summer Reading

It’s the summer holidays. Hopefully everyone is enjoying the time off, but if you or your young ones are getting bored, why not have a look at these books?

For KS1: Gobbolino the Witch’s Cat by Ursula Williams. This is an old book now – I remember reading it when I was a child myself – but it’s still just as appealing now as it was then. You can’t help but feel sorry for poor Gobbolino who really doesn’t want to be a witch’s cat. The story tells of his adventures as he searches for a home where he can be just a normal cat.

KS2: Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series. Poor Percy Jackson doesn’t realise that he’s a demi-god until one of his teachers tries to kill him. After that his life gets seriously turned upside-down when he discovers that his best friend is a satyr and that the god of war really has it in for him If, like me, you have an interest in Greek mythology these books are even more special, but even if you’ve never been a fan of classical history the Percy Jackson series is a great read that will appeal to boys and girls alike. Start with Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief and just keep going! I’ve finished this series, but on my summer reading list I have the second series: The Heroes of Olympus.

KS3: The Everlost Trilogy by Neal Shusterman. What happens when you die if you don’t end up where you are supposed to be? You end up in Everlost, and the only ways to avoid sinking into the centre of the earth are to keep moving or to find a ‘dead spot’ (a place where somebody else has died) to stand on. Everlost is divided into those who want to help the lost souls find their way to where they should be, and those who want to stop them. With a cast including pirates, ogres and people who can take over the bodies of the living, there is quite a battle. For younger readers it’s just a good read – for older readers it has quite an existential feel – Jean-Paul Sartre would have been proud!

KS4:Unwind (also by Neal Shusterman). This one covers some quite gritty issues. Imagine a world where it is illegal to terminate a pregnancy, but when your child reaches the age of 13 you can change your mind. If you decide that having your child was a mistake you can apply to have them ‘unwound’, which involves every single part of their body being used in transplants to save other people’s lives. How would you feel if you had grown up believing your family loved you until the day the authorities come to unwind you? How would you feel if you had grown up in a family that believe in donating 10% of their possessions to charity, and you are their 10^th child? This book follows the lives of some children who are on the run to save their lives. To escape the ‘unwind order’, they must stay alive until they are 18.

Young Adults: There probably aren’t many people who haven’t already read Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games Trilogy, but if you are one of them – what are you waiting for? It’s set in the future after there has been some sort of uprising, and the divide between the rich and the poor is very clearly defined. As a punishment for the uprising, the various districts are forced to enter two of their young people, one boy and one girl, into a contest where they have to fight to the death in the name of entertainment. Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark may be teenagers, but the action is tense and fast-paced enough to keep adults turning the pages as well. I have heard a few critics say that this book is just a rehash of Stephen King’s The Running Man, but to me this seems a bit harsh. It is true that The Running Man was probably more visionary at the time, because reality TV wasn’t the bulk of entertainment in those days, but The Hunger Games is more than just reality TV taken to extremes – especially as the plot unfolds further in the second and final books.

These are my recommendations for summer reading. What are yours? I’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments below.