Bard Bits: Midsummer Muchness
Recently our little town ran a big event that drew in over 9,000 over the weekend: Ren Fair, where a celebration of Renaissance takes place. There are jousting knights, meandering minstrels, dazzling dancers, and of course, Queen Elizabeth I strolls among her subjects. The best part is how much of the crowd dons appropriate costumery. And there is a huge range of interpretation. Purists huff at the elf ears that many people wear, saying it’s not representative of the era, but a wag a finger and spout a differing opinion in defense of the fairy folk traipsing among the attendees.
“Ah, but fairies represent the imaginative offerings from Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
There is no denial or rebuttal, and I silently rack a discussion point, vowing to find my fairy within for next year’s faire.
Another celebration of Midsummer was watching The Summer Book with Glenn Close last night. The film is based on Tove Jansson’s book, and it is a sensitive, quiet portrayal of a family celebrating life as they cope with death. Tove Jansson is famous for her Moomin books, which I read as a child, and they are still popular today.
In the film, Glenn Close plays the aged, wise grandmother who serves as the bridge between her grieving son and his six-year-old daughter, Sophia. While there isn’t much dialogue, when words are expressed, they have great significance. The tradition of spending summer at the family cabin is definitely affected by the recent death of Sophia’s mother, yet Glenn, as the stalwart grandmother, perseveres to keep going for Sophia’s sake.
At one point the family celebrates Midsummer, complete with flower crowns and fireworks, despite the rainy day. The symbolism is poignant as the father attempts to light the bottle rockets, but the damp weather has prevented two of three rockets to ignite.
Midsummer in the US is not typically celebrated with the gusto found in European countries such as England and in Scandinavia. However, it is a nice calendar marker that summer as basically begun, and that is a quiet celebration in itself.
Pam Webb 