Editing Wheel of the Year (section)

===Summer Solstice (Midsummer / Litha)===
{{Main|Midsummer|Summer solstice}}
The [[summer solstice]], falling on or about 21 June in the Northern hemisphere, is celebrated by neopagans  under various names, including ''[[Midsummer]]'' and ''Litha''. A name used by neo-druids is ''[[Alban Hefin]]''.

The name ''Litha'', is found in [[Bede]]'s ''[[The Reckoning of Time]]'' (''{{lang|la|De Temporum Ratione}}'', eighth century), which preserves a list of the (then-obsolete) Anglo-Saxon names for the months of the [[early Germanic calendar]]. ''{{lang|ang|Ærra Liða}}'' (''first'' or ''preceding'' ''{{lang|ang|Liða}}'') roughly corresponds to June in the [[Gregorian calendar]], and ''{{lang|ang|Æfterra Liða}}'' (''following'' ''{{lang|ang|Liða}}'') to July. Bede writes that "Litha means ''gentle'' or ''navigable'', because in both these months the calm breezes are gentle and they were wont to sail upon the smooth sea".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beda |first1=Venerabilis |title=Bede, the reckoning of time |date=1999 |publisher=[[Liverpool University Press]] |location=Liverpool |page=54 |isbn=9781846312663}}</ref>

In some neo-druid traditions the festival is called ''Alban Hefin''. The sun in its greatest strength is greeted and celebrated on this holiday. While it is the time of greatest strength of the solar current, it also marks a turning point, for the sun also begins its time of decline as the wheel of the year turns. Arguably the most important neo-druidic festival, due to the focus on the sun and its light as a symbol of divine inspiration. Neo-druid groups frequently celebrate this event at Stonehenge.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.druidry.org/druid-way/teaching-and-practice/druid-festivals/summer-solstice-alban-hefin/deeper-alban-hefin|title=Deeper into Alban Hefin|date=2012-01-18|website=Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids|access-date=2019-02-20}}</ref>