Traditional calendars divide the year into 8 seasons marked by solstices, equinoxes and the cross-quarter days between them. The exact dates can vary slightly year to year and in many cultures are rationalised to specific dates. Between Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox is a cross-quarter day around August 6: Māras or Māras Diena, Mara's Day or Great Mother Day (she is actually assigned 4 days through the year, as befits a GreatGoddess!) in Latvian culture; Lughnasadh in the Celtic/British tradition, Lammas is the Christianised version; Freyfest or Hlæfæst is a version of the Nordic tradition (I'm unclear on an original name for this day in the Nordic tradition, but they surely marked it.- see more on my blog post, which should be up soon after the video). The exact dates and details vary, but across Northern European cultures, this is a late summer/beginning of autumn celebration, often associated with harvest. For me, as with all of the 8 seasonal markers, it is about noticing the shifts and progression in the life cycle. I tend to spend several days thinking about the season, the meanings both symbolic and practical, gathering photos and video, thinking about the season ending and the one to come as well as celebrating where we are, right now! For this day I've chosen a slow, meditative look at parts of my gardens- a gentle wind among flowers with bees of all sizes and flower flies coming and going. I'll also have a short of a brief slow-walk on the farm and a blog post with photos to link it all. -working on that right now, try to make it fast..lol Check this blog post for more thoughts on the day: https://cohanmagazine.blogspot.com/2021/08/blog-post.html

The gentle music -Escape-which enhances this video is graciously provided by Sappheiros under a Creative Commons license (CC BY 3.0) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqdpEkoB_c8 https://www.youtube.com/c/Sappheiros BreakingCopyright-Royalty Free Music