‘This was taken during the city’s White Nights festival. There were girls standing in the streets, eyes closed, arms outstretched. Others were singing, dancing and drinking champagne. This girl didn’t move for a long time’It was 21 June 2012, the longe…
‘This was taken during the city’s White Nights festival. There were girls standing in the streets, eyes closed, arms outstretched. Others were singing, dancing and drinking champagne. This girl didn’t move for a long time’
It was 21 June 2012, the longest day of the year, and around a million people were in St Petersburg for the White Nights festival. This annual city-wide event celebrates the brief period when skies reach twilight but never darkness. In most of western Europe – including France, where I’m from – pagan sun celebrations have largely been forgotten, although there are gatherings at Stonehenge in Britain and the midsummer celebrations in Sweden. However, in the northern regions of eastern Europe, the rituals remain, steeped in centuries of tradition. In these places, there is little-to-no sun for many months of the year. So when it comes, everyone worships it.
This image is part of Solstice, an ongoing body of work documenting pagan summer rituals. In over a decade, I’ve travelled through Russia, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland studying how different communities celebrate the summer solstice, marking the return of light after so many months in near-complete darkness.
Continue reading...