This from New York 1:

Firefighters across the city are mourning the loss of one of their own
this morning, a day after a young firefighter — who worked out of
Ladder 146 in Williamsburg — died in the line of duty yesterday.

Daniel Pujdak, 23, was killed while battling a blaze in
Williamsburg Thursday evening that was caused by an unattended
cigarette.

Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said Pujdak, a Queens
resident, was venting the roof of the four-story industrial building
that had been converted to residential space. He was carrying about 100
pounds of equipment, including a saw that’s used to cut the roof.

At some point between the ladder and the roof, Pujdak lost his
footing and fell to the concrete. He died at Bellevue Hospital from his
injuries.

Pujdak had been with the department for two years. His family says
he died living his dream. Growing up in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Pujdak
worked toward becoming a firefighter. His younger brother is set to
begin firefighter training later this year.

“It is a terrible loss for this family and it’s a terrible loss for
this city,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “It reminds us just how
dangerous firefighting is and how much we owe to the men and women who
put their lives on the line everyday for us.”

The City Room reports that New York City’s smoking rate fell by 20 percent from 2002 to 2006,
with 240,000 fewer smokers, according to a new report by the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.

The city’s smoking rate in 2006 — 17.5 percent — is lower than that
of all but five states: California, Connecticut, Idaho, Utah and
Washington.

From a press release received via email.

June 20, 2007 – The board of directors of the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation (Gowanus Canal CDC) and the newly formed Gowanus Canal Conservancy (the Conservancy) is pleased to announce the hiring of Bob Zuckerman as the new executive director of both organizations, effective immediately. 

“The Gowanus Canal CDC is very excited to have Bob Zuckerman as our new executive director,” said Michael Ingui, Chairman of the CDC.  “His experience running nonprofit organizations along with his community activism in Brooklyn made him the ideal choice to lead the Gowanus Canal CDC at this critical juncture.”

Zuckerman will also head the Conservancy, which was recently spun off as a separate nonprofit organization from the CDC.  “Bob will lead the Conservancy’s efforts to steward preservation, restoration and green development of the canal, and everyone on the Conservancy board is delighted to have him as our new executive director,” said Andrew Simons, chair of the Conservancy and a board member of the CDC. “His out-of-the-box strategies and excitement for real progress is exactly what our area needs.”

While many Brooklyn neighborhoods have been revitalized, the Gowanus Canal corridor and surrounding neighborhood is beginning its own renaissance, with a primary goal of incorporating environmentally friendly and “green” initiatives.

Under Zuckerman, the Gowanus Canal Conservancy will continue its mission to promote public access to the canal and promote efforts to clean it up. The conservancy is modeled on those that exist for Central Park, Prospect Park and other NYC parks. "Our aim is to create a clean canal," Ingui said.

New York Magazine picked up Dope on the Slope’s post about Stoopendous, a celebration of the summer solstice on the streets and sidewalks of Park Slope scheduled for Saturday: June 23rd. With a snarky headline, of course. They just love to make fun of Park Slope, don’t they.

Slopers to Ward Off Evil Spirits, Potential Friends

You might want to go out on Saturday night. Your neighbors plan on making lots of noise on their stoops at 8:31 p.m.

Read Dope on the Slope

This from New York 1:

Speaking at the 311 Customer Call Center one day after announcing that
he is leaving the Republican Party, Mayor Michael Bloomberg reaffirmed
his intention to stay in City Hall for the remainder of his term
Wednesday afternoon.

"My intention is to be mayor for the next 925 days and probably
about ten hours – whatever is left, 11 hours – and that is my
intention. I’ve got the greatest job in the world and I’m going to keep
doing it,” said the mayor when questioned by reporters about increasing
buzz regarding a possible White House run.

BAX needs you.

ARE YOU AN ASSEMBLY JUNKIE?

Join BAX for an IKEA Party!

Wednesday, June 27, 7pm-9pm

BAX (Brooklyn Arts Exchange) invites you to an IKEA party for the new second floor (this acclaimed art performance and workshop space is EXPANDING).  If you like
assembling items, come help BAX put together office furniture while
enjoying delicious pizza and cool refreshments. It’s just another way
to support the new BAX BUILDING (right above Save on Fifth).

To volunteer, call 718-832-0018 or email Marya Warshaw at marya@bax.org.

Forward email
http://eaui.constantcontact.com/sa/fwtf.jsp?m=1101085766638&ea=louisecrawford%40gmail.com&a=1101702101083

This from New York 1:

Every borough with a beach will soon have a wheelchair-accessible ramp to the water.

Officials and disabled beachgoers opened a new mat in Brighton
Beach Tuesday that goes from the street all the way to the Atlantic
Ocean’s high-tide line.

The Parks Department is going ahead with the program after a
successful trial run at Rockaway Beach. In addition to the beaches in
Brooklyn, Midland Beach on Staten Island and Orchard Beach in the Bronx
are also equipped with the new mats.

Officials say they are working to make all beaches and parks wheelchair friendly.

“The parks are for everyone and if it’s not fully accessible now,
it will be in the future because that is our pledge,” said Parks
Commissioner Adrian Benepe. “It will take some time, it will take some
money, and in some cases it may not be completely accessible because
it’s the side of a mountain, but we will work to provide as many
opportunities as we can.”

The mats, which cost about $30,000 each, mark the first effort in
city history to make beaches accessible to disabled New Yorkers.

This from New York 1:

Police have released a sketch of a man who is suspected of sexually assaulting a woman in Prospect Park last week.

The victim was walking with an off-duty police officer around 1:15
a.m. Friday when they were approached by the attacker, who pulled a
gun. The woman and her companion were separated, and then the attacker
raped the woman.

He is described as 38 to 40 years old, 5’ 8” tall with a husky
build. At the time of the incident, he was wearing a navy blue t-shirt.

On June 21 at 8 p.m. Brooklyn Reading Work’s special mixologist will be mixing a brand new drink named, The Waking Dream, in honor of the poetry reading by Michael Ruby and Nancy Graham, writers who sometimes use sleep and dreams as source material for their poetry.

The Waking Dream

1 ounce vodka
1 ounce Triple sec
1 ounce Rose’s Lime Juice
1 ounce black currant juiice

Ruby and Graham are reading poems, prose, and a collaborative work based on a text by Samuel Beckett.

It should be a great show: The Old Stone House. Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets. 8 p.m.
Five bucks gets you in, light refreshments, and a free Waking Dream.

Last year on OTBKB we were trying to figure out how to make a screen for Brooklyn Film Works. But things worked out just fine and this year the show will go on. Hepcat’s Volvo idea didn’t work out. But something else did. Brooklyn Film Works opens its 2007 season on July 10th with The Lady Eve (introduced by Ty Burr, author of "The Best Old Movies for Families." ). It should be a really great show.

It all started months ago when Kim Maier, director extradonaire of The Old Stone House,
proposed the idea of a summer film festival in JJ Byrne Park. I loved
the idea right away and got to thinking about Brooklyn-related films to
include in the festival.

But there were a few technical details that needed to be worked out. Kim said she’d be happy with a bed sheet and a home projector. I guess I had something bigger in mind.

I decided to get in touch with an old friend of mine from my video production days, who now works for Scharff Weisberg,
providers of audio, video, and lighting technology. I told him we had
no money, that we were doing the project as a community service very
much on the cheap. He was game to try to help us out.

My friend came to JJ Byrne Park to scope out the site and offered us
advice about where to put the projector and screen. A few days later,
he emailed us an equipment list that was a tad more ambitious than what
we had in mind.

Kim said she’d be happy with a bed sheet and a home projector. I guess I had something bigger in mind.

My friend did say, however, that Scharff Weisberg would be willing
to loan us a video projector for the four screenings. Somewhere along
the way it was decided that we would project a 12 x 15 ft. image.

But what would we project the image on? Good question.  My friend at Scharff Weisberg suggested I have a screen made at Rosebrand,
a company that specializes in theatrical drapes, scrims and screens.
When I called Rosebrand, the sales representative asked me all kinds of
questions…what size, what material?

We decided on white seamless muslin with a black duvatine back. Then
the sales representative asked: Do you want gromits and webs?  I didn’t
have a clue what gromits and webs were.

So I called my friend Bob at Showman Fabricators,
who lives in Park Slope, and told him I was having a screen made and I
wondered if he could help me figure out a way to frame the screen so
that we could project a movie on it.

And by the way what are gromits and webs?

He said he could make a frame for the screen out of aluminum pipes.
He’d deliver five pipes that could be made into a 12 x 15 ft. rectangle
with key clamps or speed rail.
And then he called the sales
representative at Rosebrand and told them what kind of webs and gromits
we’d need because that’s how we were going to attach the screen to the
pipes.

I still didn’t know exactly where we were going to put the screen –
between the trees on the north side of the house or against the fence
in front of the house?

I figured we’d figure it out.

Well, tonight Bob from Showman Fabricators delivered the pipes and
walked around the site and said that it might be impossible to tie the
screen to the trees or to put it against the fence in front of the
house. Wind would be the big problem. The frame with a 12 x 15 ft.
fabric screen was like a sail. And if a big gust of wind came along…

Kim said she’d be happy with a bed sheet and a home projector. I guess I had something bigger in mind.

So there we were — me, Kim, Bob from Showman, Bill the
projectionist, standing outside of the Old Stone House trying to figure
out what to do. For a moment I thought we might have to get a bed sheet and a home projector. Maybe what we were trying to do was impossible, too ambitious, too BIG.

Then I remembered something that Hepcat suggested a few months ago:
we could get a truck and tie the frame and screen to the truck.

Bingo. Everyone seemed to like the idea. We talked about calling
U-Haul and other truck companies. When I got home I told Hepcat all
about our screen problems, the truck. He sighed a bit. Did some
thinking. Sighed again.

"I’ve got it," he said. "I can put the old roof rack on top of our
Volvo station wagon and I will clamp two pieces of pipe horizontally to
the roof rack and attach that to key fittings,,,"

"Are you sure it’s going to work?" I asked gently.
"Look who was raised by engineers and who was raised by an advertising executive?"
"In other words, have faith in you, right?"
"Right."

And I do. So tomorrow night Hepcat will test out his idea…

Go to the Old Stone House for the 2007 Summer festival

We may have to come back from California early so I can catch my new fave Feist at  McCarren Park . Tickets are $29. so it’s not one of the free concerts.

I don’t think it got rained on. The rain didn’t start until about 11 pm.

June 20, 2005:

Ran into our friends who moved to Nyack almost a year ago at the Rickie Lee Jones concert in Prospect Park.

I didn’t see them until the concert was over. Big Rickie Lee fans,
they’d left the kids in their Victorian house with a babysitter and
were spending a relaxing evening with Brooklyn friends, picnic-ing on
the grass at Celebrate Brooklyn.

After the show, we walked back to Third Street together, where they’d parked their car.

I told them how much the neighborhood had changed since last summer.
And it’s really true. It feels like so much has gone on since, say,
September. Brooklyn is it: the development capital of New
York City. Condos, Whole Foods, Ikea, Cruise ships, a Richard Meier
building, a controversial stadium for a basketball team and more.

What a long, strange year it’s been. And The Deserters weren’t here to
see it with us. They were in Nyack, spreading out in their spacious new
digs. But it was a year of adjustment for them: Nyack Weed Killer (AKA Mrs. Deserter) overcame her fear of
driving. Mr. Deserter learned how to be a commuter.  Their son had to make new
friends at a new school and find new activities to be part of.

Back in Brooklyn, we watched the borough undergo tremednous change.
It seemed sudden, but maybe we weren’t paying enough attention before.

Mr. Deserter joked: "Now that us schleppers have moved out, someone
decided it’s really time to go upscale around here." As if on cue, a
bright yellow Porsche appeared on Prospect Park West.

"Look at that. That’s a real upscale car," he yelled.

Approaching Sette on Third Street and Seventh Avenue, they looked
stunned: obviously no-one had told them about Third Street’s new
eatery.  They were fascinated by the restaurant’s sidewalk patio.

"Wow, the old Christmas tree spot. An outdoor cafe is actually the perfect use of this corner," Mr. Deserter said.

Then they looked across the street and saw the new Miracle Grill. I
thought they might faint. "There really are a lot of changes since last
year," Mr. Deserter said and added something wistful and poetic like: "When you move away from a place,
they should leave everything exactly the same. Frozen. So that it’s
always there for you."

I asked them if they wanted to walk in front of their old building
and
see the window boxes they’d left behind for the people who bought their coop. Nyack Weed Killer seemed a little aprehensive at first as if seeing the
old place might get in the way of her sucessful adjustment to life in
that small town on the Hudson.  But she braced herself and walked
bravely down Third Street.

When they got to the building, they were very still for a moment. I
could see that L. was quietly taking it all in: her window boxes, the
other window boxes, the stone planter, a new location for the benches.
There were even silk flowers on the gate down to the basement. There
was so much to see.

"The boxes are doing well. And I like where they put the benches. Right in the middle of the yard…"

She stared up at her old window probably reliving the days (less
than a year ago) when her family of four was still living in such
cramped quarters. At least, that’s what I think she was thinking. I
really don’t know.

They came upstairs to our apartment to say hello to Hepcat to
have some tea. It was rushed as they had to get back to Nyack: the
babysitter had to be relieved.

"If you lived across the street, you’d be home by now," my husband joked. And they looked only mildly amused.

Go to Old First Blog for Pastor Daniel Meeter’s thoughts on the bands that played under the auspices of Club Loco on the steps of the church during Seventh Heaven:

"Thousands of people walk pass the church during this street fair.
And I’m happy to say that this year we were able to make Old First one
of the chief locations of the fair. Our volunteers worked hard. And
that included volunteers from the community who are not church members.

What
I like about this photo is that it shows how this great ark of a
building, for all of its burden, is the center of our community.

What
I like about the lower photo is that shows how Club Loco expresses both
our Third and Fourth Missions: “To offer sanctuary” and “To offer
hospitality.”"

Continue reading PASTOR DAN ON CLUB LOCO →

The Mermaid Parade. Coney Island. Saturday 2 pm. Boardwalk. From Flavorpill:

The nation’s largest art parade has its silver anniversary this year,
so ogle curbside or register to march in your best sparkles, scales,
and pasties. Floats, antique cars, marching bands, drill teams,
sideshow freaks, and neighborhood locals stomp their grounds in
handmade outfits inspired by nautical mythology and all things Coney.
Due to the recent sale of Astroland (and imminent demise of old Coney Island), this is sure to be the biggest one
yet; expect the usual mob at Nathan’s and the unusual opportunity to fall in love with a suitor on stilts. (RB)

I got word of this via email from a dad in Park Slope, who is setting up a way for kids to play casual pick-up games this summer in Prospect Park.

Slope Sandlot Baseball is a way to get kids together to play baseball
in Park Slope through the summer in casual, pick-up games. For more information or to join the group, go here: sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/slope-sandlot/

I’m still trying to figure out what to do for Stoopendous, a solstice celebration on the stoops and sidewalks of Park Slope. I think we may do a concert in the yard in front of our building.

Classical piano. Sitar. Songs by Teen Spirit. Sounds like a good start. If Phyzz is around maybe she’ll do some drumming?

As always, wine and cocktails. And at 8:31 p.m. we’ll blow on our kazoos along with the rest of the Slope for the All Stoop Solstice Shout Out.

KID’S ART WORKSHOP AT THE BROOKLYN ARTISTS GYM: WOW!

New from the New York Times. And check out the blog roll over there.

The newspaper city room was once a vast, loud, smoke-filled place filled with reporters and editors banging away at manual typewriters amid paste pots and clattering Teletype machines. While the tools have changed — laptops, digital recorders and cellphones come to mind — the modern city room has much in common with its lively ancestors. Reporters still hit New York streets with the time-tested methods: asking pointed questions, digging through records, knocking on doors.
A few days ago, the Metro staff left the old Times Square city room for good, but we aim to keep that spirit alive in our new newsroom and on this blog, which has been named with a wink and a nod to our past.
The emphasis here will be on reporting, not punditry or snarky commentary. The blog will feature news-maker interviews, documents, Web resources, photos, videos and other multimedia, as well as updates and follow-ups on the day’s news.
But the most important feature, we hope, will be the reader discussions. We think New Yorkers have a lot to talk about. In his 1949 essay “Here Is New York,” E. B. White wrote, “To a New Yorker the city is both changeless and changing.” Then, he described the dismantling of the El, the growing gaudiness of Broadway, the decline of the great East Side mansions.

Got a note from Brooklyn Artist Gym in the old in-box yesterday. Shared work space for artists, BAG provides tables, taborets, easels and a large locker for each member in which to store supplies. Additional storage space, including flat files for 2-d work, can be rented for a very small fee. Paintings, drawings, and other works in progress can be stored in our drying racks. Though you share the space with others, you’ll never feel crowded, and often have the space to yourself. It’s a lovely and inspiring space.

Located at 168 7th Street between 2nd and 3rd Ave in Park Slope ( F train to Fourth Avenue stop. M and R to 9th Street.), BAG’s website has more information; bag.com or email them at info@brooklynartistsgym.com

Ours is a beautiful open studio space (3,000 sq. ft.) located in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. Brooklyn Artists Gym is a membership organization that provides a large space in which visual artists can, as members, do their artwork without the prohibitive expense of a private studio.

BAG is also a gallery where artists can, for a small fee, exhibit and sell their work, with no commission taken. It is, above all else, a place where artists can come together with other artists in a supportive creative community.

For only $220/month our artists have 24-hour/7 day a week access to BAG. (That comes out to only about $7.33 per day!) If you agree to join for a six-month period of time, your dues are only $195/month.

The Burger Bar is is on Seventh Avenue and 9th Street (take the F to Seventh Avenue).
Here’s the jazzy schedule for the rest of June and July. Ninth Street is quite the music street what with Barbes, Burger Bar, and the Jewish Music Cafe when that resumes in the fall.  Barbes just completed a 3-day Accordionology Festival — woo.

Good food. Good drink. Good music!
No cover.
Music start at 9 and goes to 1a.m. every Thursday and Saturday.

Here’s the cast of characters:
6/21 Kurt Stockdale tenor sax, Charles Sibirsky piano, Dan Shuman bass

6/23 David Farrrer alto sax, Fred Gilde piano, Josh Paris bass
6/28 Gary Levy alto sax, C.S. piano, Joe Solomon bass
6/30 Anders Nilson guitar, C.S. piano,  Dan Shuman bass
7/5 David Farrrer alto sax, Fred Gilde piano, Josh Paris bass

7/7 Gary Levy alto sax, Virg Dzurinko piano, Alex Gressel bass
7/12 Kurt Stockdale tenor sax, C.S. piano, Ray Parker bass
7/14 John Merrill guitar, C.S. piano, Dan Shuman bass
7/19  Anders Nilson guitar, C.S. piano,  Dan Shuman bass

Jerry is the quintessential old time Park Sloper. He’s been here like forever. Like me. But he bought his own house and did all the work himself. He’s smart, funny, discriminating about local restaurants and very in the know about what’s new in the nabe.

"Hey let’s take Jerry’s block," Diaper Diva said the other day and we walked to Belleville, where we were meeting our cousin before the Louis and Capathia show at the Old Stone House. And what do you know. We ran into Jerry and his wife.

"Belleville is under new ownership," he said ominously. "The old cook left."

"We were there recently," Jerry’s wife chimed in. "It was so so."

One or other of them added that Cocotte got it’s old chef back and it’s been really good lately. Jerry said that Cocotte had gone down hill for a while ("We wouldn’t eat there," Jerry’s Wife added. "But now it’s good.")

Seems that Belleville and Cocotte just did a switcheroo in terms of public opinion according to Jerry.

I asked him about Mura, the new Japanese place on Fifth Avenue.  Jerry made a face. I too have heard mixed.

"The only place we eat sushi is Blue Ribbon Sushi." Jerry’s Wife said.

Our dinner at Belleville was pleasant as always. The Steak Frites was delicious, as was the Salade Nicoise. My only caveat is that they’re using  canned tuna instead of fresh. But it’s a good Italian canned tuna I’m guessing.

I love the decor, the ambiance at Belleville. If the food stays the same we’re still gonna be the occasional regulars that we are.

Thursday June 21: Brooklyn Reading Works presents
poets Michael Ruby and Nancy Graham reading texts based on Beckett. The
Old Stone House at 8 p.m. Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets.


Saturday June 23: Stoopendous, a celebration of the summer solstice on
the stoops and sidewalks of Park Slope. For more information:
stoopendous.org

An 18-month-old baby was killed after being hit by a car in Brooklyn Sunday afternoon. Cops say the a 86-year-old woman was backing out of her Midwood driveway when the infant boy ran behind the car.

Meanwhile, just a few blocks away, five people were hurt in East Flatbush, including three pedestirans that were run over by an out-of-control cab driver.

Unbelievable.

From the New York Times:

An 18-month-old boy was killed when he was run over by a neighbor’s car in a Flatbush driveway yesterday shortly after 5 p.m., reports the New York Times.

The boy was taken to Kings County Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The neighbor, who was backing the car out on East 26th Street near Avenue I, was unaware of the accident and drove away from the scene.

It is unclear whether the toddler was being supervised when he was hit. No charges are expected to be filed against the neighbor, the police said.

Stoopendous, a celebration of the summer solstice, is this Saturday, June 23rd. Have you seen the signs?

What are you doing to mark the day? It can be something small like opening a bottle of wine and a carton of lemonade for you and your neigbors.

Or something a bit more organized like a drumming circle, a cocktail party or ice cream fest, a recycling event, a musical performance, a poetry reading, a stoop sale.

There are lots of ideas at stoopendous.org. Check it out.

Matthew Schlanger and Nyack Weed Killer were the first people we knew who lived in Park Slope. We visited them once in the 1980’s and were thoroughly confused. What is Park Slope? Where are we? We scurried back to the East Village…

Then we moved here and they moved across the street into an identical apartment and we saw a lot of them. We even had impromptu Sunday suppers of the “what’s in your fridge?” variety. They moved to Nyack two or three years ago and Smartmom was sad. She called them, as a joke, the Deserters. She missed NWK’s window boxes and frequent conversation with the two, who were Smartmom’s friends from college.

Matt has a company called BLACK HAMMER, which is a leading developer of CD ROMs, web sites, games, and trade show exhibits. He is also a video artist and is having a show in Nyack. Here’s the scoop:

Hopper House Art Center
82 North Broadway
Nyack, New York
June 30 – July 22nd.
Reception: July 8th 2-5 p.m.
Talk: 3 p.m.

You could have parked yourself at Old First Church on Sunday all day during Seventh Heaven and enjoyed quite a variety of music.

I know I did.

In the morning, Chocolate Chip Music, Helen Richman’s children’s concert series, presented a woodwinds concert of Peter and the Wolf, with dramatic narration by a woman with lovely English accent.

In the afternoon, there was great soul singing by kids from The Urban Academy, an well-regarded NYC high school, directed by Park Slope’s Ethan Schlesser.

Then it was Club Loco’s turn. The church’s monthly teen concert series presented quite a few of the bands that played Club Loco in the winter/spring of 2007, including Dulaney Banks, Tola, Cool and Unusual, Banzai, and others (names to come).

Listening to such a diverse range of music in front of Old Frist made me realize what a musical community has arisen out of there.

While Club Loco was playing in front of the church, Richman Studio for Flute and Piano was inside having their end of the year recital.

The Daily News reports that Thor Equities has dropped plans for a highly profitable residential component to its Las Vegas-style amusement park project in Coney Island.

The $2 billion residential project was controversial and had come under attack from city officials and residentsm who believed it would alter Coney Island’s character by including waterfront housing . Thor had originally earmarked 950,000 square feet for residential space.

Now, the plan will have no residential component and no 50-story tower on Stillwell Ave., as had been proposed.

In honor of Stoopendous, a Celebration of the Summer Solstice in Park Slope, here is some information about ancient solstice rituals.

Most societies in the northern hemisphere, ancient and modern, have celebrated a festival on or close to Midsummer. This and more information is from: www.religioustolerance.org/summer_solstice.htm

Ancient Celts: Druids, the priestly/professional/diplomatic corps in Celtic countries, celebrated Alban Heruin (“Light of the Shore”). It was midway between the spring Equinox (Alban Eiler; “Light of the Earth”) and the fall Equinox (Alban Elfed; “Light of the Water”). “This midsummer festival celebrates the apex of Light, sometimes symbolized in the crowning of the Oak King, God of the waxing year. At his crowning, the Oak King falls to his darker aspect, the Holly King, God of the waning year…” 13 The days following Alban Heruin form the waning part of the year because the days become shorter.

Ancient China: Their summer solstice ceremony celebrated the earth, the feminine, and the yin forces. It complemented the winter solstice which celebrated the heavens, masculinity and yang forces.

Ancient Gaul: The Midsummer celebration was called Feast of Epona, named after a mare goddess who personified fertility, sovereignty and agriculture. She was portrayed as a woman riding a mare.

Ancient Germanic, Slav and Celtic tribes in Europe: Ancient Pagans celebrated Midsummer with bonfires. “It was the night of fire festivals and of love magic, of love oracles and divination. It had to do with lovers and predictions, when pairs of lovers would jump through the luck-bringing flames…” It was believed that the crops would grow as high as the couples were able to jump. Through the fire’s power, “…maidens would find out about their future husband, and spirits and demons were banished.” Another function of bonfires was to generate sympathetic magic: giving a boost to the sun’s energy so that it would remain potent throughout the rest of the growing season and guarantee a plentiful harvest. 6

Ancient Rome: The festival of Vestalia lasted from JUN-7 to JUN-15. It was held in honor of the Roman Goddess of the hearth, Vesta. Married women were able to enter the shrine of Vesta during the festival. At other times of the year, only the vestal virgins were permitted inside.

Ancient Sweden: A Midsummer tree was set up and decorated in each town. The villagers danced around it. Women and girls would customarily bathe in the local river. This was a magical ritual, intended to bring rain for the crops.

Christian countries: After the conversion of Europe to Christianity, the feast day of St. John the Baptist was set as JUN-24. It “is one of the oldest feasts, if not the oldest feast, introduced into both the Greek and Latin liturgies to honour a saint.” 16 Curiously, the feast is held on the alleged date of his birth. Other Christian saints’ days are observed on the anniversary of their death. The Catholic Encyclopedia explains that St. John was “filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother’s womb…[thus his] birth…should be signalized as a day of triumph.” 16 His feast day is offset a few days after the summer solstice, just as Christmas is fixed a few days after the winter solstice. 1 “Just as John was the forerunner to Jesus, midsummer forecasts the eventual arrival of” the winter solstice circa DEC-21.

Essenes: This was a Jewish religious group active in Palestine during the 1st century CE. It was one of about 24 Jewish groups in the country — the only one that used a solar calendar. Other Jewish groups at the time included the Sadducees, Pharisees, Zealots, followers of John, and followers of Yeshua (Jesus). Archaeologists have found that the largest room of the ruins at Qumran (location of the Dead Sea Scrolls) appears to be a sun temple. The room had been considered a dining room by earlier investigators, in spite of the presence of two altars at its eastern end. At the time of the summer solstice, the rays of the setting sun shine at 286 degrees along the building’s longitudinal axis, and illuminate the eastern wall. The room is oriented at exactly the same angle as the Egyptian shrines dedicated to the sun. Two ancient authorities — the historian Josephus and the philosopher Filon of Alexandria — had written that the Essenes were sun worshipers. Until now, their opinion had been rejected by modern historians. 19