Summertime and the Weather is Fine

19th June today.  We're on the verge of endless days of scorching summer heat.  I love summer up till 20th June and from then I have noticed that temperatures start to soar and I start to sweat and suffer.  Working on the hottest days I have a small towel hung over my shoulder to wipe my brow and the outdoor shower is put to good use.  I hope the new water metre doesn't mean a bigger water bill.  

Mid-summer is celebrated on June 21st this year.  Here in Greece we don't actually celebrate mid-summer or the solstice. 

Solstice, longest day of the year will be celebrated on June 21st in Britain.  Mid-summer in Scandanavia seems to be on June 23rd. 

The 24th in Greece is a church celebration, another pagan event taken over by religion.  It is the fiesta to celebrate the birth of  St John the  Baptist, along with a couple of Pagan parties.  23rd, on the eve,  is when we burn the May wreath on a bonfire and the children and agile adults leap the flames to be flea free for the rest of the year, ye gods and little fishes.

The 24th is one of the many St John fiestas.  Our local, tiny church, dedicated to St John celebrates on 24th September or thereabouts.  The eve of his birth-day is also the observance of a greek tradition called Klithona, which is something to do with maidens and dreams of a future husband.

I guess elsewhere there will be weaving of Maypoles, observance of sunrise at Stonehenge, smorgasbord and schnaps.

Sunrise in Greece is offically 6.03am and sunset at 20.51pm.  That makes for just over a 14 hour day, although the sun starts to rise about half an hour earlier and it is not till half an hour later in the evening that darkness sets in.

Cicadas are trilling away furiously now, more and more adding to the chorus every day.  We tell the weather from our insects.  When it is going to rain the ants appear and when the rain is finished the cicadas start up.

Kalo kalokairi (good summer)