As we approach the Summer Solstice here in the Northern Hemisphere I've seen social media posts beginning to appear opposing the name Litha for the Pagan festival. It happens at the Autumn Equinox too when people start to wish each other Happy Mabon. The Mabon name is a different discussion to the name Litha for the Solstice though - there is at least an old historical precedence.
I like Litha as a name for the Summer Solstice/Midsummer. It stems from Bede who wrote that the Old English called June Ærra Līþa, before Midsummer, and July Æftera Līþa, after Midsummer. The þ letter is pronounced 'th'. So Litha is, according to Bede, an Old English name for Midsummer. The same applies to Yule - the Old English name for December was Ærra Gēola and January was Æfterra Gēola. The G is pronounced as a Y, hence Yule. As an Englishman, I'm really happy to see these traditions continued. It's part of the history of the English language. It also shows how important the Solstices were to the Old English. You could argue (and people do...) that we have to take Bede's opinion for this, but to me that's a choice - you either think that's interesting, let's explore it, you're skeptical of it, or you discard it. Either way, the writing exists and I'm very thankful to Bede, because, without those words, we would have nothing at all.
There are also some confused posts asking why it's called Midsummer. There is another Old English tradition that may answer this. They only recognised two seasons, Summer and Winter. Summer was planting to harvest, Winter was the fallow months. Midsummer and Midwinter marked the important midpoints and were marked with long celebrations, Mid can also mean 'with' in Old English so could also suggest being deeply 'within' or 'with' those seasons, rather than an exact midpoint. Now we have four seasons, and also celestial seasonal markers with the Equinoxes, whilst some mark the seasons with signs from nature and agriculture, and we are trying to shoehorn that with an older system that only had two seasons.
The truth is I don't mind what people call the festivals - that's entirely up to the individual. The important thing to me is that they are celebrated.
So have a blessed Solstice my friends, however you name it!
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