Grianstad: Summer Solstice 2026

an eve of story and song from the Bonny Shoals in celebration of high summer!

High summer approaches! Come join us around the fire for an evening of story and song from the Bonny Shoals of Herring.

Grianstad, translated from Irish, means “sun stop”. It is the moment of balance between dark and light days, in which, according to Celtic lore, the sun appears to stop at the moment of solstice.

We’ll gather this night in homage of the peak of sun, their blazing fire and passion, their steady eaons of generous, life-giving light. In revering this, in gathering in gratitude, we connect to a central the pan-cultural gods of our natural world, and the entanglement of reciprocity we are inextricably bound within. Forgetting this constant generosity, and our belonging to it, is a root mentality of colonial violence. Let us remember how to say thank you in the old ways: seasonal, cyclical, holy ourselves as soil & starshine, created by trickster-elegant-cosmic-wisdom with the capacity for thriving, just, egalitarian lifeways.

We will also gather this eve to put our hands to the ancestral art of making fire by friction. We’ll learn hand drill and create a fire from the alchemy of wood, air and many hands working together.

Then we will feast! And tune our ears to the stories and songs of our Euro-Celtic-Nordic Isles ancestors. Through these stories and songs we can revive bone memory, awaken cells and organs still tuned to the numinous, animate intelligence of earth.

Our recent Beltaine celebration validated our instinct to bring in more music, more play, and livelier ritual (the raising of poles is also a Grianstad tradition!). Come ready to enjoy the peak of light in fine collective form as we adapt Old Ways to the Now.

Deets:

~ June 21, 4:30-9:30

- Landwell Community 663 Ferguson Rd, Sebastopol, CA 95472

~ 4:30- 5:30  pm: Community Music & Hand drill fire by friction lesson and collective fire lighting

~ 5:30 - 7:  potluck

~ 7 - 9:30 pm:  storytelling and song 

Please bring:

- a potluck dish, with ingredient label (local / homemade gaily encouraged!)

- bowl/plate/mug/utensils/water

- chair or ground cloth as needed (seating will be hay bales or ground)

- headlamp

- your musical instruments for jamming together

- layers 

A note on canine kin:

LandWell has requested that we reiterate that we cannot have dogs at our events, unless the animal is a documented service animal. Help us stay in good relationship with our hosts by leaving your dog friends at home. Thank you!

SUGGESTED DONATION:

$30-$20

~ No one turned away for lack of funds ~

PLEASE READ:

-These beautiful gatherings have continued to grow over the last three years, and we are so stoked to be tending the fire for community gathering and decolonial ancestral connection with you all. Due to the size, and in hope to better support the gatherings we have reached a threshold where RSVP'ing before hand is becoming necessary. Having a more clear sense of our numbers before hand gives us the opportunity to give our hosts a more clear picture of our numbers, garner support for parking and registration support, and set the space accordingly. Thank you for supporting us to make these events even better by taking a moment to get a ticket in advance.

*** Tickets HERE! ***

ALSO, it takes many hands to make these gathering come to fruition. We’d love to gather a few more folks in to take on support roles (and of course no ticket payment expected for those who lend a hand) — if you’re interested in weaving in, respond to this email (the sooner the better!) and we’ll loop you in to our supporter crew. Thank youuuu!