Darned Pagan Ancestors!

[ursangnome]

Since I was a teenager, I have suffered from seasonal insomnia. In the summertime, I sometimes don't sleep very well. It typically isn't a major problem, though this week was a bit problematic.

With the solstice, though, I'm left wondering if my sleeplessness is related to my resisting the ancestral urge to jump through bonfires at this time of year, or something.

(My ancestral people are used to a Solstice day nearly two and a half hours longer than what I experience in Boston. This year, my parents aren't seeing sunset until 10:20 local time, which is just wacky.)

Comments

[auntiemame67.livejournal.com]

(this is Vikki, btw) :)

So were your Pagan ancestors peasants? What area are your folk from? My ancestors were Italian and Lithuanian peasants, and up with the sun and down with the sun. I find I cannot sleep much past the time I know the sun has come up, and I completely stink at napping unless I am very sick or it's pouring out.

[umbran.livejournal.com]

My folks were both born in Latvia, and there's no noble blood I'm aware of. So, yeah, it is pagan peasants all the way down. I used to go to the St John's Day celebrations with my folks, and while I was too young, there was definitely bonfire-jumping going on.

Mind you, my resistance to sleeping in is clearly more personal habit than breeding. I only developed an early clock when I started needing to be in an office at a particular hour. And napping - I'm all for it!

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Doesn't seem to be a problem I've inherited from my Irish ancestors. It'd be interesting to study how widespread this is.