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What is Midsummer? |
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Midsummer
One of the most magical times of year is Midsummer, also known as the Summer Solstice. It is the longest day of the year alongside the shortest night and is distinguished as the first day of summer.
The actual date of the longest day occurs each year either on or within a few days either side of 21st June, but Midsummer is generally celebrated on the eve of
the 21st.
Some get up before the dawn of the longest day to watch the sun rise and take advantage of the long sunlight hours to party and dance well into the evening.
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Flower Fairies™ and Midsummer
Midsummer has long been celebrated as the time of greatest light and abundance in nature. Flower Fairies know that there are many more weeks of warmth, light, flowers, fruits and grains to come before the year turns to winter and the greater darkness of Midwinter. It is a time of plenty and bountiful feasts are enjoyed everywhere in Flower Fairyland.
The Flower Fairies favourite pastime is dancing and having parties and balls, which they do often, but their particular favourite time of year is midsummer and therefore their most wonderful balls are held on the Midsummer's Eve.
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The Flower Fairies™ Midsummer Ball
Summer is a very busy time of year for Flower Fairies as they must tend their flowers, water them, polish their leaves and dust their petals to perfection so that everyone can enjoy them. However they do make time to have fun at midsummer to thank the sun for shining its light and warmth on their flowers, helping them grow.
The Flower Fairies Midsummer Ball is the highlight of the social calendar and they celebrate their blossoms and blooms at their most spectacular. |
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The fairies make sure they look their best at the ball by making new clothes from leaves and petals.
They also share the task of cooking lovely food for the ball; fruit pies, poppy seed bread and honey cakes are baked, herbs and seeds gathered for salads, and fruits pressed for juices and smoothies.
It is such a busy time of year but the Flower Fairies love it. They want all the other fairies and their animal and bird friends to admire their beautiful flowers for which they work so hard. Each year the Flower Fairies have a competition for best kept flower, so there is a lot of very excited fluttering and extra polishing during the day. Whoever wins becomes the Midsummer Queen for the ball and begins the dancing.
The Flower Fairies spend the whole Midsummer Ball dancing round and round in a circle and sometimes in chains through the hedgerow and between the trees, gently wearing down the grass beneath their feet. |
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How to find Flower Fairies™
Flower Fairies are very shy creatures and you are unlikely to see them unless you are very, very lucky. They live hidden in the midst of the stems, leaves, petals and branches of their special flower or tree, but it may be possible to spot them among the flowers, woodlands, hills and streams where they grow.
Fairies sometimes leave traces of where they have had a party or ball. As mentioned above, the fairies often dance in circles and wear the grass down with their tiny feet. This is where toadstools like to grow, following the circle of the fairies footsteps, creating what are called fairy rings. Fairy rings are good places to make a wish. |
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Flower Fairies drink herb tea sweetened with honey from acorn cups that can often be found on the woodland floor or lying on the mossy carpets within old tree stumps, another favourite spot for fairy parties.
If you hear the alarm call of a bird as you walk by it is their warning to fairies to hide, so they really are very hard to spot. It is believed that if you look through nature, for example through a piece of grass folded into a circle or a hole in a stone, you will be able to see fairies.
The best way to encourage Flower Fairies to visit is to look after the flowers and trees in your garden and to always treat nature with respect. Never pick wild flowers as you might be destroying a fairies home, or drop litter on the ground as they really don't like mess. If you leave a few crumbs or seeds for them on a leaf outside as a gift, you can make them especially welcome to live in your garden or window box. This may even increase your chances of seeing these wonderful nature sprites.
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