Midsummer (CTD)

Midsummer, June 23rd, is a Festival of the Kithain celebrating the Longest Day of the year.

Overview

The date for this celebration of the year’s longest day varies, although a number of old ballads commemorate the “23rd of June” as the traditional time to celebrate the year’s turning point. While some Seelie Courts hold festivities on the day symbolizing the height of their rule, among the Unseelie the Midsummer Festival gains its true following.

Midsummer heralds the beginning of the end of the Seelie half of the year. Nights become longer as the sun’s might dwindles. Unseelie fae often hold Midsummer’s Eve parties to celebrate the “shortest night” of the year, using the occasion to reestablish connections with old allies and to make new ones. In many Unseelie freeholds, celebrants toast the hope that the coming year’s Samhain festivities will see the rightful transfer of power from Seelie to Unseelie Courts.

In The Shadow Court

The Shadow Court holds its own Midsummer’s Eve celebration, during which they entertain new ideas which affect their dealings with Kithain in the coming pre-Samhain months. At dawn, Ritualist cliques gather on hillsides to greet the sunrise on the day which marks the end of its ascendancy. At parties where members of the Shadow Court are present, the banquet tables often hold bowls of punch laced with St. John’s wort, a healing herb which can, in large quantities, cause an allergic reaction to sunlight. It is the Shadow Court’s small reminder to the Unseelie of their commitment to the lightless Winter days ahead.

References

1. CTD. The Shadow Court, p. 46-47.