It's Midsummer, let's get woo woo and celebrate

All the traditions to get your witchy on

Jun 19, 2026

This weekend brings the longest day. The summer solstice lands on Sunday 21st June this year, at 9.24am to be precise, which is the exact moment the sun reaches its highest point in the sky before it begins, ever so slowly, to slip back the other way. So this is it. Peak sun. The garden at its possible best and the evenings have stretched out as far as they can before it’s all downhill to autumn. It’s delicious but also, I find, a bit sad, like when you have to try and make the most of the last days of a summer holiday whilst still feeling a sense of looming dread.

There is something ceremonial about midsummer, this turning point that humans have been marking with fire, flowers and mischief for thousands of years, so here are some ideas how you can celebrate it too if you fancy joining me with a little woo woo. I’ve also included some Midsummer (or rather Midsommar like the movie) inspired fashion, because why the cauldron not.

What is Solstice / Midsummer

Midsummer traditionally falls around the summer solstice, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s often mistaken as a celebration of endless light. In reality, it is a celebration of impermanence. The word itself comes from the Latin sol sistere “sun standing still” because for a few days around the solstice the sun’s rising position barely shifts. It pauses, or stands still. I sort of love this, seeing it as a time to make like the sun and pause too. It reflects what I’ve been saying about trying to remember to enjoy your garden really.

The flowers

Midsummer flowers are all about the sun. The traditional solstice plants are the ones that look like little suns themselves, or that are at their peak right now so daisies, roses, lavender, chamomile etc. If you want to bring the garden inside and mark the day properly, cut a great armful of whatever is looking good and stuff it in a jug. Abundance is the name of the game.

Bring on the woo-woo

Midsummer’s Eve has always been considered one of the most magical nights of the year: a night when, as the folklore goes, the veil between our world and the world of the fae grows thin and all sorts of enchantment becomes possible.

A few of my favourite traditions I’ve been reading about, with the firm caveat that this is folklore and superstition, not fact, and absolutely not medical advice:

Bonfires: Fires are a big theme here. In Northern Europe, midsummer was marked with enormous fires, believed to purify and protect. The fires were said to keep demons away as well as bring good luck to lovers - a win win in my book. The brave (or the foolish) would leap through the embers for luck in love. I am not suggesting you leap over anything.

Dance: Dancing is a big part of the celebrations. It’s linked to ancient sun worship and it’s all about the revelry.

Gather some herbs: Herbs gathered on Midsummer’s Eve were believed to possess extra healing and magical powers. St John’s Wort, yarrow, mugwort and vervain were all traditionally harvested at this time.

Flower crowns: Weaving a crown of seasonal flowers isn’t just a festival cliché but an ancient midsummer custom, traditionally worn for protection and joy. It was said wearing a wreath of flowers symbolised fertility and rebirth.

Take a dawn garden walk: Get up before everyone else, and wander the garden barefoot with a cup of tea. Notice the bird song, smell the air, welcome the sun how gorgeously mindful.

Fairy offerings: If you want to keep the Fae on side, the old custom is to leave a little something out for them: milk and honey, or honeyed water and a sprig of thyme in the garden and walk away without looking back.

Who wants a husband?: Traditionally, unmarried women would pick seven different flowers in silence and place them beneath their pillow to dream of their future spouse.

Make sun water: This is SO up my street. Moon water gets all the attention, but moon water is a full-moon job, charged under the moonlight.

Wear something floaty: It’s boiling, so wear what you damn well like, but if you want to go all in, then it’s got to be something floaty for essential barefoot wafting and/or dancing around some kind of fire. Flower crown optional but encouraged.

And then it turns

That’s the bittersweet bit, isn’t it. This weekend is the peak, and from Monday the days begin, imperceptibly at first, to shorten again.

So light a candle. Wear a crown. Leave something out for the fairies. Waft in a dress. Stay up to watch the light go.

Happy solstice, my loves! xxx

Come and meet me!

I’m going to be hosting a little meet and greet at Missoma (Marylebone store) on 15th July. Come for a glass of fizz, ask me your garden design dilemmas, and have a swoon at some of my fave jewellery pieces I wear every day...and a goodie bag too! Would love to see you there! **Tickets here