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Cascade Title's Manager Message
 | Joel Lengyel
Manager
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Ahhhhhh, the month of June. We have all been waiting for those summer breezes, blue skies and warm evenings on the patio enjoying the sounds of crickets and kids playing in the yard barefoot! It all begins on June 21st, the summer solstice. Here are some fun facts about the official beginning of summer so grab a tall glass of lemonade and enjoy!
"Sol + stice" derives from a combination of Latin words meaning "sun" + "to stand still." As the days lengthen, the sun rises higher and higher until it seems to stand still in the sky. As a major celestial event, the Summer Solstice results in the longest day and the shortest night of the year. The Northern Hemisphere celebrates in June, but the people on the Southern half of the earth have their longest summer day in December.
Awed by the great power of the sun, civilizations have for centuries celebrated the first day of summer otherwise known as the Summer Solstice. The Celts & Slavs celebrated the first day of summer with dancing & bonfires to help increase the sun's energy. The Chinese marked the day by honoring Li, the Chinese Goddess of Light. Perhaps the most enduring modern ties with Summer Solstice were the Druids' celebration of the day as the "wedding of Heaven and Earth", resulting in the present day belief of a "lucky" wedding in June. Today, the day is still celebrated around the world - most notably in England at Stonehenge where thousands gather to welcome the sunrise on the Summer Solstice.
Pagan spirit gatherings or festivals are also common in June, when groups assemble to light a sacred fire, and stay up all night to welcome the dawn. Pagans called the Midsummer moon the "Honey Moon" for the mead made from fermented honey that was part of wedding ceremonies performed at the Summer Solstice. Ancient Pagans celebrated Midsummer with bonfires, when couples would leap through the flames, believing their crops would grow as high as the couples were able to jump. Midsummer was thought to be a time of magic, when evil spirits were said to appear. To thwart them, Pagans often wore protective garlands of herbs and flowers. One of the most powerful of them was a plant called 'chase-devil', which is known today as St John's Wort and still used by modern herbalists as a mood stabilizer.
Okay, you are now ready for summer, so slap on the sunscreen and enjoy my favorite time of the year!
Take care, Joel Lengyel | 
