The summer solstice is a looonng day in Paris. And although the official sunrise and sunset are 5:46 am and 9:58 pm, respectively, the first light in the sky appears at 5:04 am and the last traces of twilight are slipping away at 10:40 pm. That's a lot of sunlight!
Awed by the great power of the sun, people from around the world and from different cultures and times have celebrated the Summer Solstice. Also known as Midsummer, St. John's Day and Litha, it is longest day of the year and it is also the first day of the sun's decline into winter. The Celts and the Slavs celebrated the Summer Solstice with dancing and bonfires in the hopes of increasing the sun's energy. In China, they honor Li, the Chinese Goddess of Light. The Druids celebrated the day as the Wedding of Heaven and Earth.
The Summer Solstice is still celebrated around the world and in Paris, it is celebrated with music. The Fête de la Musique began in Paris in 1982 when an American musician, Joel Cohen, who was employed by a French radio station, proposed an all-night music celebration at the moment of the summer solstice. His idea evolved into a festival to promote music by encouraging professionals and amateurs alike to perform in the streets and in order to be sanctioned by the official Fête de la Musique organization in Paris, all concerts must be free to the public and the performers donate their time for free.
We were very excited to learn about this event, and on the official website, you can access the music programs by arrondissement. We were thrilled to discover that many concerts were right here in our neighborhood. Ron invited some coworkers to join us and we made plans to have dinner and then wander the streets in search of musicians.
We knew that a band would be playing in Place de la Convention, right in front of our apartment, so I was kind of paying attention to the goings on during the day. At about 3:00 pm. the music started. It sounded like it was piped in from somewhere as there were no bands playing yet, and the music was varied; electronica to Ravel's Bolero. There was definitely some excitement in the air as well!
I knew Ron would be getting home close to 7:30 pm, so I went out on the balcony to see the goings on and hopefully catch a glimpse of him coming out of the metro. As I stepped onto the balcony, I startled a pigeon, which is kind of unusual. So I glanced around and lo and behold, a pigeon nest with eggs!
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| Mama built a nest in our little olive tree! |
The crowds were already starting to settle in to the square:
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| The band is setting up behind the trees on the left - but no Ron yet! |
I went back inside for my longer lens and when I returned, there was Ron!
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| He sees me, he smiles, he watches where he's going and he waves. Unlike she - she never takes her eyes off me - and I didn't notice her until I downloaded the images! |
Our friends arrived, we went to dinner then we started wandering. The very first thing I discovered was that the music I thought was being piped in was actually very large and very good quality speakers on someone's balcony:
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| What the hell??? |
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| At Place de la Convention - lots of people came to hear the music and the kidlets were dancing! |
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| This DJ was mixing tunes for the folks outside Moka Cafe on Rue de la Convention |
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| A little further down the street - on the corner of Rue Olivier de Serres |
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| Same band as above - the crowd was really enjoying the band's Pink Floyd cover |
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| A little further up Rue de la Convention - on the corner of Rue de Dantzig |
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| These guys played a lot of covers of popular rock songs |
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| They took advantage of street construction and placed themselves inside the barriers! |
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| Dancing in the streets! |
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| A folk soloist on the corner of Rue de la Convention and Rue Dombasle |
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| Another small group at Parc George Brassens |
For kicks, I took this photo at 10:38 pm just to show how much light was still in the sky!
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| The longest day of the year - still not dark at 10:38 pm! |
Our last musical stop was at another location in Parc Georges Brassens. There were several artists scheduled and they played traditional French music but by the time we got there, only one man was playing:
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| These kidlets were singing along, swaying and clapping! |
It was a school night and Ron and his coworkers needed to head home and get ready for another work day. We parted ways and as we headed back up Rue de Vaugirard, I took one last photo of the crowds:
By 11:00 pm it was dark, but the music would continue until 1:00 am! Thank goodness it was a cool night and we had earplugs!
I had great fun just walking the streets and happening upon performances. Surprisingly, everything we saw was good - if any of these folks were amateurs, they were GOOD amateurs. I am so glad the rain stopped early in the day and the Fête de la Musique was a success!
This is a very interesting post. Although I've heard of the summer solstice, of course, I never paid much attention to what it really involved. It's hard to believe you had that long a day of light. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThe Fete de la Musique was such fun to experience with you, Ron and Chris! Your pictures really captured the festival splendidly! This festival should be a celebration celebrated in the States! Over eighteen hours of light in Paris is wonderful, but quality sleeping hours definitely suffer.
ReplyDeleteYou should give your new neighbor, Ms. Pigeon, a name since she will be with you for a few weeks! How about Magali?
I like that name!
ReplyDeleteAnd I was thinking the same thing - music festivals on the solstice would be a lot of fun in the states, but we would have difficulty walking to all of them!