It's nearly time for Litha/the Summer Solstice! This year it's on Thursday 20th June. The actual moment/time of the solstice will be 9.51 BST/3.51pm CDT. You can find your local time here: https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/summer-solstice.html
In the past I've written several posts with ideas for celebrating the sabbats. I decided to stop writing more in-depth posts last year (because I'd already covered them) but continue to share about my celebrations and write more sabbat themed posts if I felt inspired to.
This Beltane I wrote a post called Salads for Beltane and Extra + Ideas!. I enjoyed writing that, so I thought I'd do a similar one for Litha, since summer is starting and we're in "salad season"! I've called the post Salads for Litha/Summer because they would be good for any time during the summer. I'm also sharing some extra ideas for celebrating. :)
Here are my most recent Litha posts:
Happy Litha!: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2022/06/happy-litha.html
Shifting into Summer (includes some links about Litha): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2023/06/shifting-into-summer.html
Note: If you're in the Southern Hemisphere, it's almost time for Yule/the Winter Solstice! You might like this post:
Happy Yule!: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2022/12/happy-yule.html
My main celebration for the sabbats is making/having food and drink. As with Beltane, I usually have salad for Litha. It fits the theme because it's the beginning of summer and the days are (hopefully!) getting warmer and brighter. I like to drink lemonade as well. (If you're not keen on salad, you can find some alternative celebration suggestions in my previous Litha posts and under the Extra Ideas section below.)
Salads
All the salads mentioned in the Beltane post would also be good for Litha: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2024/04/salads-for-beltane-extra-ideas.html
Tomato and Onion Salad
One of my favourite salads to make for Litha is a tomato and onion one from The Kitchen Witch book by Soraya. You can see a pic here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2016/07/litha-2016.html
It's quite simple to make, the recipe is made up of tomato and onion, garlic, salt and black pepper, lemon juice and olive oil. I most often use brown/yellow onion but it's also good with red onion, which I've used for Litha some years. I was inspired to use red onion after making kachumbari for Beltane (see below). Last Litha I made it with both brown and red onion.
Here's a similar recipe for Italian tomato onion salad, that I linked to in past posts for Litha (and the Beltane salads post): https://thisitaliankitchen.com/italian-tomato-onion-salad/
And here's a cucumber and tomato salad: https://www.wholesomeyum.com/cucumber-tomato-salad/
Kachumbari (Kenyan/East African Tomato and Onion Salad)
Kachumbari is a Kenyan/East African tomato and onion salad (popular in Kenya but also other East African countries such as Uganda and Tanzania). I first made it for Beltane in 2019 and it's now one of my favourite things to make for that sabbat (I also like to make guacamole). You can see 2024's here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2024/05/beltane-2024.html
As I said in my Salads for Beltane post, the "base" for kachumbari is tomato and onion but you can add other things too. Most recipes I've seen use red onion but use the type you prefer. :)
Here's a link to my favourite recipe by Precious Core (her version has avocados and cucumber in): https://www.preciouscore.com/kachumbari/
Visit the Beltane salads post for a couple of links to another kachumbari recipe and one for kachumber, a similar Indian salad.
Cucumber Salad
Cucumber salad would aso be a good one to make. I put cucumber in my kachumbari but haven't made one where it's the main ingredient as yet. Here are a few recipes:
Creamy Cucumber Salad (low carb and gluten free): https://www.wholesomeyum.com/recipes/best-creamy-cucumber-salad-recipe-low-carb-gluten-free/
Middle Eastern Salad (Zalata)- this is based around cucumbers: https://hildaskitchenblog.com/recipe/middle-eastern-salad-zalata/
Cucumber Avocado Salad (Precious Core): https://www.preciouscore.com/cucumber-avocado-salad/
Easy Cucumber Salad: https://downshiftology.com/recipes/cucumber-salad/
And here are a few more salad recipes:
Vegetable Greek Salad (from Don't Waste the Crumbs, one of my fave recipe sites): https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/vegetable-greek-salad/
Chopped Nicoise Salad from Natalie Mason: https://natalie-mason.com/chopped-nicoise-salad/
Cameroonian Vegetable Salad and Salad Cream (Precious Core): https://www.preciouscore.com/cameroonian-vegetable-salad-and-salad-cream-video/
Southwestern Salad from The Pioneer Woman (found this through a Honey We're Home newsletter): https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a46686157/southwestern-salad-recipe/
Simple Summer Pasta Salads (Mix and Match Mama): https://mixandmatchmama.com/2024/05/simple-summer-pasta-salads/
Simple Summer Salad Recipes (Little House Living): https://www.littlehouseliving.com/simple-summer-salad-recipes.html
32 Salads That Make a Meal (FoodieCrush): https://www.foodiecrush.com/healthier-salads-april/
If you eat a low carb or keto diet, you can find some suitable recipes here: https://www.wholesomeyum.com/category/low-carb-salads/
And if you can't eat gluten, you can find some gluten free salads at the links below:
https://www.healthygffamily.com/recipe_category/salads/
https://eatwithclarity.com/category/meal-type/salads/
Also, I shared a couple of links for salad dressings in the Beltane post.
Hope that you gave some inspiration if you want to make a salad for Litha! :) I'm going to make the tomato and onion salad this year and have it for lunch with some other food (things like chicken, bread, crisps and dip). I did consider the Cameroonian vegetable salad but it has more ingredients and I just wanted to make a simpler salad. I'll make the Cameroonian one for lunch another time.
I'll also make lemonade. My favorite type to make is "Hello Kitty lemonade" (the recipe is from a Hello Kitty book!). I'll do a post about my celebrations next week (or the week after if I don't get time since I've got another post to do on my Falling Petals blog).
As with the salads for Beltane, these would be good for the entire summer season. If you prefer, you could buy a salad. Or if you'd like some alternative suggestions, see the Extra Ideas section below. :)
Extra Ideas
Apart from making food and drinks, one of my fave ways to celebrate the sabbats (at least in the warmer months) is to go to the countryside or the beach and take sunset pics. For Litha I normally like to go up to my favourite nature reserve on a hill, but this year I'm planning to go to the park instead.
I also like to light a candle since Litha is a fire festival. Orange and yellow are good colours but in recent years I've just been using white because they're easier to get.
A picnic would also be fun, depending on the weather. It's not been feeling much like almost summer lately (with some colder weather and feeling more autumn like!) but it's not really unusual for this time of year in the UK. While we've had quite a lot of rain, it's warmed up some days and there have been more sunny days lately.
If you'd like some more food ideas, here are a few recipes:
Diana from The Chic Life has a recipe for a vegan taco salad bowl: https://thechiclife.com/2021/11/healthy-vegan-taco-salad-bowl-recipe.html
Litha Recipes: 16 Summer Solstice Drinks, Dinners and Desserts: https://otherworldlyoracle.com/litha-recipes/
Recipes to Celebrate Litha: https://awesomeon20.com/recipes-to-celebrate-litha/
Check out my posts linked above for more celebration ideas and here are a couple more posts to inspire you:
How to Celebrate Litha (post from 2023): https://thegildedteafling.com/blogs/wheel-of-the-year/how-to-celebrate-litha-embracing-the-summer-solstice-in-2023
11 ideas for celebrating: https://morella-ulalume.com/summer-solstice-ideas/
Happy Litha! (Or Happy Yule!) :)
Photo is my salad and lunch from last year's Litha.
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