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Summer Solstice Has Religious Significance For Local Druids

Summer Solstice main altar.

Tonight marks the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, known as the summer solstice. It's also the first official day of summer. But for some, the day has a religious significance, as well.

The Black Bear Grove is a group of druids based in Bloomington. They celebrated the summer solstice over the weekend with a ritual in the Hoosier National Forest.

The group honors ancient Indo-European religious traditions, but they're known as neo-paganists, which just means "new" paganism with some modern alterations.

"We're kind of rewriting it for modern day, since most people aren't hunters and gatherers or farmers," says grove member Sidney Bolam. "You know, we have to have a paganism that gonna work for stay-at-home moms and engineers and historians and things like that."

Members gather together at least eight times a year for High Day rituals, including this week's summer solstice. Their rituals are always open to the public, and include personal offerings to the three kindreds: ancestors, nature spirits and all gods and goddesses.

Bolam says the rituals usually include what's called a working. For example, the most well-known working is the Maypole for Beltane celebration.

For this year's summer solstice, the working was a little different in honor of the victims of the Orlando mass shooting last week.

"We asked that all people have an opportunity for love and peace, and that all other people respect everyone's boundaries on that," Bolam says. "So we as a group did a healing ritual for everyone who needs it, in asking the universe for less violence."

Bolam says although the Black Bear Grove has already celebrated together, members will do their own rituals at home during the actual summer solstice Monday night.

Coincidentally, this year is the first time since 1948 that summer solstice falls on the same day as a full moon.

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