Where it sits on the Wheel
Litha is the summer solstice, the longest day and the exact opposite point to Yule. It is the Wheel's high-water mark: everything is at its fullest, and from this day the light begins to shorten again.
What it means in modern Wicca
Litha is kept as a festival of fullness, strength and enjoying what's ripe, with the built-in knowledge that this is the turn. Traditions using the Holly King and Oak King myth stage their second exchange here, the Oak King of the waxing year giving way. Some Wiccans find Litha the most bittersweet sabbat; others simply treat it as the best party of the year.
Where the name comes from
'Litha' is borrowed from Līða, an Old English month name recorded by Bede for the two months either side of midsummer. It was not the name of a festival, and its use as a sabbat name is entirely modern, popularised in the 20th century, partly through Tolkien's use of the word in The Lord of the Rings appendices. Midsummer itself, however, is one of the most widely and reliably documented festivals in European history.
Midsummer fires
Midsummer bonfires are recorded across Britain, Ireland and much of Europe, generally attached to St John's Eve on 23 June. Records describe fires on hilltops, burning wheels rolled downhill in some regions, herbs gathered at midsummer for their supposedly heightened potency (St John's wort and vervain especially) and communal feasting. These are Christian-era customs of long standing, whatever older material may lie beneath them.
You may have heard…
That Stonehenge was built as a midsummer temple and that ancient druids celebrated there. The monument is aligned on the solstice axis and midwinter may well have mattered as much as midsummer; it also predates the Iron Age druids by roughly two thousand years. Modern druid ceremonies there date from the 20th century.
Correspondences
Colours: gold, deep green, sunflower yellow, cornflower blue. In nature: full leaf, long dusk, swifts, garden herbs at their strongest, meadow grass. Foods: summer fruit, salads, chilled herbal drinks, honey, anything eaten late outside. Objects: fresh herbs, a wheel or circle shape, a candle for the fire you probably can't light, sun-warmed stones. Themes: peak light, gratitude, generosity, the turn.
Simple ways to observe it
• Watch the sun set on the longest day, or simply sit in sunlight for five minutes. • Snip a few leaves from a garden or shop-bought herb and dry them on a windowsill for the winter. • Stay up into the long dusk with people you like. • Name three things going well right now, out loud, without qualifying any of them. • Note the sunset time, and note it again at Yule.
A beginner practice
Sit outside at the warmest part of the day. Close your eyes and feel the warmth on your skin for five slow breaths, then open them and look at whatever is directly in front of you as though you'd been asked to describe it later. Wicca is frequently this simple.
Where traditions differ
Some Wiccans keep the astronomical solstice, some keep 24 June with older Midsummer Day custom, and some avoid 'Litha' altogether in favour of Midsummer. All three are common.