Girl goes on a summer solstice smorgasbord

[susannewilliams]

In Germany, Summer Solstice is a big custom with lots of huge fires and merriment.

I did almost a sort of pilgrimage, starting with the Externstones in the Teutoberger Forest the week before the Solstice.

Then another visit there on the Solstice itself, and finally a fast drive through the amazing german countryside past 100ft Summer-fires, to light a beacon on our own hill.

Quite a session.

I'll post to each part separately...

:-)

[susannewilliams]

Externsteine - Part 1

The week before the big event we found peace and quiet...in the place where my forebears slaughtered the 20,000 Romans, and fed them to The Hungry Lords. (you saw the pics, here the video)


http://youtu.be/5GS8E2ALnRw

[susannewilliams]

Externsteine part 2

The weekend was full of crazy drummers and other kinds of madness. But I found a quiet place for the night..


The darkening sky!

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5465/9180542349_025586494c.jpg


A very cozy bed! 1 foot deep of pine chippings, courtesy of the loggers. Just me and my trusty blanket and the tarp as a ground sheet.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3770/9182759156_5458f1ea09.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5491/9182756862_46ce59cc18.jpg

[susannewilliams]

Then the next day I visited with my wonderful friends Sue & Willi. They were out with a student and I was lucky to be able to fly away on drums and flute

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2805/9182717722_1c4dde8c06.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7397/9182717370_4a84bf67be.jpg

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http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7452/9182716060_b93fb4d7de.jpg

[susannewilliams]

After that I drove many hours home to our Valley....

Taking in some of the amazing Summer-solstice Bonfires....just look at the SIZE of this thing

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7446/9182760610_218a94efae.jpg

[saxonaxe]

Nice video Susanne, the sound track is so atmospheric..:) If I was going to ambush someone..that's the place !!:happy-clapping: ;)

[susannewilliams]

And finally I got to our Valley and ran up to our local lookout-point to lit the summit beacon for the Summer Solstice

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3721/9182756518_7a19507c95.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7459/9180540153_eae04269de.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3701/9182757110_4ee4e2dc69.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3791/9182760342_7d6c28dae0.jpg


http://youtu.be/YDWZaxxNAaQ

[susannewilliams]

BTW - does anyone know how I can get my pictures to be a bit bigger on the screen?

[susannewilliams]

aha maybe this is the trick

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7294/9180542379_447d7e0176.jpg

[saxonaxe]

I'm far from being a computer techie, but I post my photos via Imgur.com On there you have the choice of making the photo any of 3 different sizes Original, large thumbnail or small square.
I know you can really custom resize them on other sites, but I'm too thick to do that, so a choice of 3 works for me. In my posts the photos are 'large thumbnail'...:)

Ha! you've cracked it I see..T^

[susannewilliams]

Yup

[OakAshandThorn]

T^ I've seen similar festivities on Béaltainne...not so much with Alban Hefin - perhaps the Solstice celebrations are more Germanic-based :confused2:.

[susannewilliams]

Germanic and also nordic. Jul and Midsomer are the big things. Oh and Krampus-Rauhnachten and the Wild Hunt of course in the Winter. They take that pretty seriously.

[OakAshandThorn]

Germanic and also nordic. Jul and Midsomer are the big things. Oh and Krampus-Rauhnachten and the Wild Hunt of course in the Winter. They take that pretty seriously.
'The Wild Hunt'...with Mother Holda?
For me it's Samhain, Imbolg, Béaltainne, and Lughnassadh - the four Celtic Fire Festivals, corresponding to the agricultural cycle ;). Some folks celebrate the equinoxes and solstices as well to have a full calendar. :)