The Wicca Book of Days for June 27

Celebrating Summer

 

The Initium Aestatis – “Beginning of Summer” in Latin – was celebrated in ancient Rome on June 27. Although not much is known about the precise form that this summer festival took it is likely to have featured corn in some way, for Aestas, the Goddess of Summer, was depicted adorned with ears of corn, and the Roman poet Ovid in his Metamorphoses (Book II, line 25) describes “Summer, lightly clad, crowned with a wreath of corn ears: attending Sol, the Sun God. Aestas’s name is the root of the English word aestival, or estival, which means  “of summer,” or “in summer.”

 

Sweet Summer Corn

Relish the flavor of summer by roasting corn on an open fire(or if not practical on your grill). Carefully peel back the husks, without detaching them, so that you can remove the cornsilk. The replaced the husks and soak the ear(s) of corn in water for an hour. Roast for 10 – 15 minutes on a rack over the fire.