Echoes of Antiquity: Celebrating Summer Day

“What is Summer Day? It is the day when our forefathers, before Christianity had even emerged, would celebrate alongside the Romans and ancient Greeks, the gods of flowers, of groves. As winter melts away and spring approaches, smiling, slender, and tall like a figure from a Botticelli painting, the human heart is relieved of its burden, enjoying a peace, a sweet happiness. In this joy, our ancestors felt a duty to give thanks to the gods who brought these blessings. And thus was born the revered festival known as Summer Day.

In a few days in Albania, the last faithful of paganism, followers unwittingly and unknowingly, will adorn with summer branches the hawthorns, the oleanders, the laurels, all the honored groves. They will cut green branches and place them atop their homes. Let us not allow these ancient festivals of our race to be lost. They do no harm to anyone. They bring a refined joy into the home. In a place where the life of the young is so sad, boys and girls have a rare chance to frolic. For the adults, Summer Day has a delicate and rare poetic flavor.”

~ Faik Konica 

Happy Summer Day!