T. Narbutas wrote: "The name Rasa probably reflects the belief that water, like dew, is born from the depths: the seas, the earth, etc." In ancient traditions dew principally revealed life. The amount of dew on the morning of the feast foretold the size of that year's harvest. Before the sunrise on Solstice morning, dew possesses exceptional healing powers. Washing in the dew, especially in the rye fields, increases one's beauty. In some places girls used to wake before dawn to wash in the dew, and returned to bed hoping to dream of their future husbands. At night, people dragged sheets across the fields, collecting dew, which was then used for healing. S. Daukantas wrote: "Before the feast everybody went to the holy rivers and lakes, where they washed and bathed, hoping to stay young. Whoever did everything they could suddenly discovered themselves to be immensely wise and possessing the power to see evil people, charlatans and witches. No other holiday was as joyous, because--as according to the pasakos (folk tales) and rumors--the sun dances across the sky!"

At this time of year, herbs, especially medicinal ones, possess the greatest possible healing power. On the eve of the feast, girls collect herbs, which is called 'kupoliauti'. This practice yields the alternative name for the holiday: Kupolines. The flowers called, 'kupoles' include daisies, St. John's weed, bilberries, and other yellow flowers. The verb 'kupeti' means to grow well; to rise from the soil.

A kupole is set up in the centre of the festival: the top of the kupole, which represents the world tree, has a three-pronged branch. In Eastern Lithuania the people still say that a kupole is a magical tree, whose one branch blossoms like the sun, the other branch--like the moon, and the final branch --like the stars. Lithuanians in Prussia crowned their kupoles with wreaths and multicoloured, fluttering ribbons. They set up their kupoles at the edge of their homesteads, near the fields of rye. Girls who want to get married predict their weddings in the following manner: with their backs to the kupole, they throw their wreaths over their heads. The number of throws before the wreath catches on the branches of the kupole indicate the number of years one must wait before their marriages.

Rasa is also the festival of woven wreaths. Women weave ritual wreaths out of flowers, which they they wear. They also decorate houses, doors, and gates with wreaths. Men wear oaken wreaths. At night, they young people set their wreaths to float with candles on them A man's and a woman's wreath floating side-by-side indicates their impending marriage.

A gate built for the festival demarcates the festival area from the outer world. Everyone who passes through the gate becomes a participant. the men dance a circle around one post of the gate, while the women--around the other one: the boys and girls greet each other where the circles meet.

Old hearth fires are extinguished with clean water and a new fire is ignited at an aukuras, a sacrificial bonfire. People greet each other, wish each other well, greet the sun and honor nature at this fire. Holding hands, couples jump over the embers of the bonfires: if they do not break their grip, they will remain together. Newlyweds bring embers from the fire into their homesteads, thereby inviting harmony and goodness into their homes and lives. In addition to plain bonfires, bonfires are set up aloft, on platforms. Burning wheels are also rolled down hillsides. Straw dolls representing everything old and aged are burned in the festival bonfires.

For a single blink of an eye at midnight, the fern blossoms. The brave search for this magical blossom alone and in silence, resisting nocturnal supernatural dangers, for the Gods, Goddesses, Giants and other spirits also celebrate Rasa. Whoever finds the fern blossom gains eternal happiness for himself or herself. During the night, the young people hold a vigil to greet the morning sun. At dawn the sun begins its magical dance, revealing all the colors of the rainbow.

During the night and day, people wander through the fields, visiting the grain. They carry burning logs and sing holiday dainas, folk songs. This blesses the grain. Everybody also eats together. The goods include beer, cheese, and eggs laid out on a table set on the ground and decorated with herbs.

The Summer Solstice was not only a public celebration. Perusing a deeper relationship with Nature, the Lithuanians individually sought to commune with her. J. Petrulis describes the behaviour of a craftsman named Butvila, who every Summer Solstice abandoned his jobs and disappeared for two weeks. Upon his return, Butvila once said that he could not survive the year in which he could not himself stop to contemplate the stoppage of the sun.

Vydunas revived the public celebration of the Solstice in 1881 on the hill of Rambynas. During the years of Lithuanian independence, the popularity of the holiday steadily grew. Visuomis-Sidlauskas popularized the celebration in Bradesiai on the shores of Lake Sartai. he attempted to revive the ancient Lithuanian religion in the Thirties. The celebrants gathered at up to twelve different bonfires, all of which were visible from the highest hill in the area. In 1979 students from the University of Vilnius celebrated Rasa on the shores of the same lake.

In the sixties in Soviet Lithuania, the founders of Ramuva revived the solstice celebration in Kernave, original capital of the Medieval Lithuanian. Since then, the celebration has again spread its roots in Lithuania. With the resurgence of personal liberty under Glasnost and since the restoration of Lithuanian independence this ancient holiday has assumed national recognition and respect.

Order of celebration: (1) dancing around the gates, (2) dancing around the kupolas, (3) misc., games, predictions, circle dance, (4) vaises (ritual meal), (5) greeting the setting sun, (6) lighting the bonfires and offerings, (7) visiting and blessing the fields and trees, (8) principal bonfire, burning of the More (straw doll symbolizing the old), circle dances around the bonfire, (9) swimming and bathing, a boat with a bonfire sails to shore, symbolizing the nocturnal trip of the sun, (10) casting the wreaths (11) greeting the moon and the stars, (12) worship of the rising sun and bathing in the morning dew.