Happy March 1st, Summer Day!

HAPPY SUMMER DAY

Summer Day is a very ancient celebration. It is a pagan, not a religious holiday. It is a festivity that comes from antiquity.

Summer Day, known as the festival of nature’s renewal and the continuity of life, is a national holiday, and therefore, it is also an official celebration. It is celebrated on March 1st according to the Julian calendar.

Today, this calendar is known as the Gregorian Calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII, who, with his decree “Inter gravissimas” on February 24, 1582, reformed the Julian Calendar. Despite the reforms, the 10-day difference between the Gregorian and Julian calendars has now increased to 13 days.

Summer Day was and remains a pan-Albanian celebration, observed both in the South and the North.

Here’s how Faik Konica explained Summer Day: “It is the day on which our ancestors, before Christianity was even born, celebrated together with the Romans and the Ancient Greeks, the gods of flowers, willows, and springs.

When winter melts away, when summer approaches—smiling, slender, and tall as in a Botticelli painting—the human heart is relieved of a burden, experiencing peace and a sweet joy. In this delight, our ancestors felt an obligation to honor the gods who brought these blessings. And so, the beautiful festival that we call Summer Day was born.

In a few days in Albania, the last faithful followers of paganism—unintentionally and unknowingly—will wrap “verore” bracelets around the branches of hawthorn, juniper, laurel, and all the revered willows. They will cut green branches and place them over the roofs of their homes.

Let us not allow these ancient celebrations of our race to disappear. They harm no one. They bring pure joy into homes. In a country where the lives of the little ones are often sorrowful, young boys and girls have a rare chance to rejoice. For the grown-ups, Summer Day holds a refined and rare poetic charm!”

CREATED by:

“KORÇA BOOM”