Historically, the summer solstice was a day of cultural and agricultural significance. In ancient Greece, it started the one-month countdown to the Olympic games, while in China, celebrations of the Earth and the “yin” or feminine force, were held around the summer solstice. Bonfires were common in many communities during solstice celebrations, as it was believed that they aided the strength of the sun for the remaining crop season. And in a particular stretch along the Moselle River in medieval Germany, the townspeople had a tradition where they’d decorate an old wagon wheel with straw before setting it alight and rolling it into the river.
But my favorite solstice tradition takes place right here in the US, in our northernmost state. For the last 120 years, Fairbanks, Alaska has held the Midnight Sun Baseball Game on the summer solstice, attracting tourists from around the globe. The first pitch is thrown around 10pm as the sunlight lingers well past midnight, bright enough to play without any artificial lighting. Tickets go quickly and sunglasses are encouraged.
It's the third week of June. Today, Anthony Doerr shares a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson called “Bed in Summer.” Stevenson was a much-loved Scottish novelist, poet, and travel writer, best known for books like Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Anthony Doerr is our guest this month on Something I Heard. Doerr is author of the novel Cloud Cuckoo Land, a pair of celebrated story collections, and All the Light We Cannot See, which won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
