St. John’s Tide Bonfire and Celebration at Ashwood
There will be a gathering of people on Thursday June 24, 7:30 PM at Rosewood ECC for social time and a bonfire, to be lit at dusk. We will collect dry Christmas greens and brush at the fire circle after June 11. If you would like more information, to share ideas about the celebration, or help plan a special activity for children, please call Susan Junge (236-0505).

Everyone is encouraged to work this festival into their family life on whatever scale feels most comfortable. If you can’t join us at Ashwood, maybe you can have a campfire at home with a few friends on June 24th.

This is a high summer festival that occurs after the solstice, once the shortening of daylight can be observed. It has been celebrated from ancient times with diverse stories picturing the earth and all it’s life forms reaching up into the heavens, communing with the spiritual world. The soil expands with the heat, water rises into clouds, plants grow tall, and animals raise their young in the time of warmth and nourishment. We human beings have turned gratefully towards the sun too. We enjoy the long warm days, the ripening fruits and vegetables, and the more frequent opportunities to socialize with each other during what most of us call ‘summer vacation’. All this stretching upwards also means that our imaginations explore higher ideals of who we are and can become. In this spirit we join around the bonfire: to celebrate what is good and beautiful in our world and in ourselves, and to affirm our intentions to continue creating out of this love.
 Happy St. John’s Tide!