Celebrations are an unconscious way that we make friends with cycles: parties like the summer solstice –the San Juan festival in some areas– are a way of celebrate the wheel of life, says Anna Solyom.

In ancient cultures around the world, the summer solstice represents renewal and the beginning of a new life cycle and it has been a special moment of celebration through magic and rituals of gratitude to the abundance of nature and the light of the sun. Flowing with nature and its cycles is key to living with balance and vitality. These summer solstice rituals will help you reconnect with her and her vital forces.

When is the summer solstice in 2025

The summer solstice of 2025 takes place on Saturday June 21 around 4:42 Spanish peninsular time according to the National Astronomical Observatory and marks the moment when summer begins in the northern hemisphere. It will be a summer that will last, according to experts, about 93 days and 16 hours, and will conclude with the autumn equinox on Monday, September 22.

In the southern hemisphere, the winter solstice occurs on the same day, so that autumn says goodbye to give way to the winter season.

The summer solstice is the time of year when the day is longer and the night is shorter. And, when the summer solstice occurs in the northern hemisphere, the North Pole is most inclined towards the Sun, while the South Pole is at its furthest point from the great star. As we move towards the September equinox, the days will become shorter in the northern hemisphere and longer in the southern hemisphere, turning the tables on the eternal evolution of the seasons.

Why and how to celebrate the solstice

The sun and fertile energy are at their peak and the plants are more full of vitality and totally renewed. It’s a day for celebrate a new beginning and thank both the Sun and the Earth: to thank the Sun for its vital force and illumination and Mother Earth for her love, fertility, capacity for renewal, sustenance and abundance.

The Sun and the Earth, together, create a perfect synergy that provides us with everything we need to grow, live and evolve. Through celebrations and rituals, we express gratitude for these gifts.

Symbolism and spiritual meaning

In this vital moment when the Earth is at its maximum splendorradiating vitality, strength and abundance, all these energies are available to all the beings that inhabit it.

Can feel all these energies flow through you taking a moment of silence and contemplation in nature, because everything that happens in the cosmos is being reflected in you at all levels of your being: in your physical, mental, energetic and spiritual body.

That’s why there is something so magical about the summer solstice. It is the peak of the extroverted and radiantof the expansion of consciousness, of joy, nutrition and renewal. It is a perfect time to express ourselves with maximum coherence, manifesting and aligning what we want with what we express, in explore new beginnings and possibilities.

When we cannot perceive these wonderful vital forces of nature in us, it is because we have disconnected from it. The rituals of celebration and gratitude to Mother Earth will reconnect us with her and give us a inexhaustible source of energy and vitalityawareness of abundance, more empathy and more happiness.

Traditional rituals related to the solstice

The ancient cultures They honored the cosmic cycles and the fertile energy of nature, because they knew that their survival depended on harmonizing with the seasons and they celebrated the summer solstice with rituals to bring abundant harvests, give thanks for the light and keep evil away.

The Greeks dedicated the solstice to their goddess of the hearth, Hestiaand the Romans Vesta already Junothe goddess of childbirth and fertility. The ancient Egyptians celebrated it by honoring the sun god, Ra.

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The Celts and pagan traditions celebrated the Litha nightwhich means «fire», honoring the Sun through celebrations in which they sang and danced around bonfires to increase the growing season and bring a good harvest in autumn.

Then, they took purifying baths and they did water cures in fountains, waterfalls and rivers. The element «water» symbolizes rebirth and gives rise to a new beginning.

Rituals for the night of Saint John

Our culture celebrates it with Saint John’s nightwhich originally, in pre-Christian times, was celebrated on June 21. The celebration begins with collecting magical flowers and herbs to thank the fertile energy of the Earth and ends with dancing and jumping over the fire to purify and regenerate the spirit.

These ideas can help you when preparing your rituals for the summer solstice. Take note:

The ideal time for your solstice celebration

The energy of the solstice is present from June 20 to June 24. Find the ideal time and the ideal environment and company.

Perhaps you want to celebrate the solstice with friends, family or in a circle with other beings, or perhaps you prefer to do a more intimate and reserved ritual. You can also do both on two different nights.

Feel it honestly, creating a space of harmony and well-being and Celebrate it however you want, listening to your heart. It is a very transformative moment.

Connect with nature and spend time outdoors

On the day of the summer solstice, or the day on which you intend to celebrate it, connect with nature with your favorite outdoor activity.

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Take off your shoes, hug a tree, sow your summer seeds, collect flowers and plants for your macerates and home remedies, make a flower crown, walk on the beach, bathe in a forest or walk through the mountains.

Delight in the beauty that surrounds you and the strength of the full sun.

Say hello to the sun

Start your day with a sun salutations yoga practice. You can look at the sun during the first seconds of its rise and be grateful for so much vitality, light and life.

Clean and purify your house (and your mind)

This is the ideal time to clean. Take advantage of it and clean the house and get rid of all the things, material and mental, that you will no longer use in the new cycle that begins right now.

Use purifying plants such as sage or palo santo, or purifying essential oils such as rosemary, lemongrass, tea tree, juniper, lemon, myrtle and myrrh.

Cook the rainbow

Cook inspired by what nature now offers, with lots of love and color. Take advantage of all this abundance that nature offers us at this moment and incorporates all the colors of the rainbow on your plates through flowers, fruits and vegetables.

Make flower water such as elderberry or roses.

celebrate the sun, the earth and the summer

The solstice invites us to show our gratitude to the light of the sun, the earth and the summer. Begin your summer solstice ritual with this gratitude.

You can do it in as many ways as you can think of: singing, dancing, playing the drum, reciting a poem, writing, meditating or whatever your heart asks of you. Below you will find a specific meditation to do during the summer solstice and connect with this magical moment.

Look for a place where fire and water may be present. If you are indoors, it will help to have a candle and a bowl of water.

Don’t miss the fire

The fire element is vital in this ritual. Use fire to burn and say goodbye to everything you no longer need: material things and also beliefs, fears and situations that you want to eliminate.

Write it on paper and then burn it visualizing the closure of that stage.

Project your dreams and set the intention to achieve them

Create an intention with an action to improve your life and bring light, love and abundance into your life and the world. The desires and intentions created between June 20 and 24 are the ones that have the most strength to manifest.

It is also a good time to create a journal with your thoughts, sensations, intentions, thanks.

The moment invites new beginnings.

Charge your crystals

The day of the solstice and up to three days after, are the most powerful times to charge your quartz (white quartz or rose quartz) or other crystals and also to meditate.

Create your sacred space

Create an altar or mandala with seasonal flowers and fruits, leaves, twigs, acorns, dried pine cones, quartz, candles and other elements of nature symbolizing the circle of life, connection with the cosmos, purification and renewal.

Use seasonal flowers and herbs such as calendula, rose, jasmine, chamomile, mugwort, honeysuckle, thyme, yarrow, or St. John’s wort.

Sage eliminates anger and bad energy. It also offers strength, wisdom and clarity on the path to your intentions.

Light the candles of the altar or the mandala. Sit before your altar or in the mandala circle and light a candle for yourself too, symbolizing your light.

Holy water to close your ritual

A bath in the sea or a bath at home with sea salt is the best way to close the ritual and take everything released with the purification of fire. The water element will regenerate you and prepare you to begin the new cycle.

Ritual for the night of the summer solstice

Here you have an example of a specific ritual for the night of the solstice that includes many of the elements previously proposed for your rituals.

What do you need

• 1 candlepreferably yellow or orange
• 1 bowl and 1 jug with water vitalized in the sun, That is, with water that has been receiving the sun’s rays since it rose on the 20th. You can leave it in the sun and calm until the 24th.
• 1 glass
• 1 pencil
• 1 paper
• Purifying herbs or essential oils

How to do the ritual

1. Create your sacred space and sit comfortably in front of it or in the circle with your friends surrounding the bonfire or mandala and take your crystals, essential oils, pencil, paper, a candle, a bowl of water, and other elements you choose for your ritual. Light your candle.
2. close your eyes, relax your body and observe your breathing.
3. Feel the weight of your pelvis rooting in the soil and receiving the fertile energy of the earth.
4. Thank the sun and the earth for so much light, abundance and fertility. Breathe deeply.
5. Review your goals: What things do you want to attract into your life, what habits do you want to change, what version of yourself do you want to reach for the new cycle, what and who you should say goodbye to, forgive, etc.
6. Open your eyes and write on paper everything that you no longer need, that has not served you or that does not make you feel good. It includes habits, fears, memories, thoughts, emotions, situations and relationships.
7. Burn the paper in the bonfire or with the candle along with some of these herbs: hypericum (St. John’s wort), sagebrush, lavender, rosemary,…