House Meridies · The Hearth

Meridies

South · Summer · Fire · Midday

Mascot: Aurel the fennec fox · Head of House: Professor Crimblebrew Muddlenook

Passion · Courage · Vitality · Transformation

Our season, month by month: festivals and holidays around the world, the turning of the year, and what to look for in the night sky — north and south, because our scholars live under both.

When it is our season
While summer belongs to Meridies, this house hosts. Any scholar of the house can help plan an event around any date on this calendar: a festival, a meteor shower, a turning of the year. The plans and the rules live here in The Hearth; when the event is ready, it is announced in the Quadrivium, with Meridies credited as its planners.

June(in the south: winter begins)

Around the world

Dragon Boat Festival (movable, June) — racing boats and rice dumplings in China and beyond
Midsummer, near the solstice — bonfires and maypoles in Sweden and across Scandinavia
Litha — a modern name for the summer-solstice feast, kin to Midsummer
Matariki (movable, June–July) — the Māori New Year in New Zealand, marked by the rising of the Pleiades
Inti Raymi, Jun 24 — the Inca Festival of the Sun, still celebrated in Cusco, Peru

In the sky

June solstice, Jun 21 — the longest day in the north, the shortest in the south; the far north has no true night
Southern lights: mid-season for Tasmania, southern New Zealand, and Patagonia

Look for

North: the Summer Triangle (Vega, Deneb, Altair) rising; Scorpius low in the south
South: Scorpius and Sagittarius high — the Milky Way's core overhead on dark nights

July(in the south: midwinter)

Around the world

Tanabata, Jul 7 — Japan's star festival, wishes hung on bamboo
Canada Day, Jul 1 · Independence Day, Jul 4 (USA) · Bastille Day, Jul 14 (France)
Obon season (mid-July in many regions, August in others) — Japan honors its ancestors

In the sky

Delta Aquariid meteors, peak Jul 28–30 — a gentle, long shower; best from the south and tropics

Look for

North: the Summer Triangle overhead, the Milky Way arching across; Sagittarius low in the south
South: the galactic core near the zenith — the finest sky of the southern year

August(in the south: late winter)

Around the world

Lammas and Lughnasa, Aug 1 — the first-harvest festivals of Britain and Ireland
Yam Festival, August — West Africa's new-yam harvest celebrations, where thanks is given before the first yam of the year is eaten
Obon, mid-August in much of Japan — lanterns guide the ancestors home
Ferragosto and the Assumption, Aug 15 — Italy's great summer holiday
Raksha Bandhan (movable, August) — brothers and sisters, India
Hungry Ghost Festival (movable, August) — offerings across China and Southeast Asia

In the sky

Perseid meteor shower, peak Aug 12–13 — the beloved summer shower; best from the northern hemisphere
2027 special: total solar eclipse, Aug 2, 2027 — totality crosses southern Spain, North Africa and Egypt; near Luxor the Sun goes dark for over six minutes, the longest totality on land until 2114. Never look at the Sun without proper eclipse glasses.
Southern lights: the far-south season runs on toward September

Look for

North: Perseus rising late, carrying the Perseids' radiant; the Triangle still high
South: Sagittarius westering, the Southern Cross sinking in the southwest

Dates marked (movable) follow lunar or church calendars and shift each year — check the year before planning an event around one. Solstice and equinox days can shift by one day across time zones.

Plan An Event