~ June 21
O mother sun! Come to us here!
O father cloud! Go to them there!
Over there the forests are aflame,
and we are drowning in water here!
O brother wind, blow these clouds away!
O sister clouds, rain on our neighbors!
We have had enough of rain.
Come back to us, mother sun!
-Folksong from Lithuania
On the year’s longest day, the Baltic people of Lithuania and Latvia rose early to begin the celebration of Saule, the sun mother. On this day, she was believed to dance, wearing silver shoes, on the hilltops. Dew gathered this morning has potent qualities, the Baltic peoples held, because it was imbued with the energy of the sun.
The Baltic people expressed their loving dependence upon the sun in hundreds of thousands of folksongs or dainas preserved in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. There, one can read songs like this one, in which the sun is addressed almost as a member of the family. This intimacy with the divine is an especially charming feature of Baltic tradition. On this day, let us imagine dancing like the dear sun her-self, gaily celebrating the season of light.
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