Summer Solstice was celebrated differently on Bømlo. There were no bonfires or feasts or gatherings of the clan. Not together anyway. Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, started earlier than any other day on the island. It was a day to celebrate life and it’s exuberance. The sun represented masculine energy and so the village was left to the men.

Summer Solstice in the village was a day for celebration. Men shared their work, their hobbies, gave their time to each other and to the children. Even during this advanced century, today traditional roles were ignored and there was laughter, learning, and a lot of love. Ragna was doted on by her father and uncle. The men spent the day with their sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, and for those whose fathers were no longer with them, men like Oddvar who had no children, spent the day as surrogates. They were all one family.

“DA! I wanna go too!” Cuyler chuckled in the cool darkness inside the house. “Nay Ragna, you’re not old enough yet. Besides, who will keep me and Uncle Oddvar from getting into trouble?”

“But Revna and Runa are going!” Cuyler sighed. “Yes and it’s their first year going, too. And in a few years it will be your turn. And didn’t last year you do nothing but complain that it wasn’t fair you had to share the day with them and you didn’t get me all to yourself?”

Ragna huffed and Cuyler chuckled. He knew it was hard for Ragna being 6 years younger. Her sisters always got to do things together and she always had to stay behind. “Come on my little Ember, let’s go light the fire for the oven and we’ll start making sun bread! We’ll make it how you like it.”

“Come along Ragna! Out of the forge, you’ve made enough nails for the day,” Uncle Oddvar called. Ragna, bless her, loved to help but the metal just didn’t respond to her. He led her out of the forge, across the village center, and behind the clan longhouse to the training ground. She’d been trained since she was little how to use a knife, both practically and to defend herself, but she’d been begging to learn more. So Cuyler and Oddvar had decided that today they would show her. She was 11, she would be 12 in a few months. Crossing under the fence, Cuyler waved Ragna over and handed her a very plain and dulled short sword. The balance was good, but the weight might be a bit much for her, but it was good to start with. “See that training dummy, Ragna, you’re going to whack at it, just that one. It doesn’t move. I want you to get a feel for it first.”

Ragna’s eyes lit up, she took the sword and held it out, she stepped back with her left foot bringing her body side on to the target like she’d seen the others do when she watched. She brought the sword way too far over her head and slammed it into the head of the target with a grin. Oddvar glanced at Cuyler with a chuckle, Ragna was blood thirsty. “Small movements Ragna. Leave the head cleaving as a last resort.” Oddvar walked over to the target and corrected her approach, her grip, her center of balance. Ragna picked it up like breathing and at the end of the day she was working with moving targets.

Ragna McKenzie