In the farming calendar, June is one of the busiest months of the year with long days consisting of haymaking and sheep-shearing. All the farms helped one another including the women who made sure that everyone was well fed. Agricultural workers would travel the countryside looking for sheep-shearing work. The men toiled from four o’clock in the morning until eight o’clock at night and slept in straw filled barns. Ten thousand sheep could be sheared in a month which meant that there was little time for merry making. The last day of the sheep-shearing season was known as Black Ram Night when all the workers received their final pay and enjoyed a well earned feast of roast ram.
The Summer Solstice and Midsummer’s Day can easily be muddled up as they take place not too far apart from one another, but they are not the same thing. At the Summer Solstice the sun reaches its pinnacle in the sky, seemingly pausing for a moment, before descending into the second half of the year when the length of the days gradually begins to shorten. The date of this astronomical phenomenon can vary, taking place around the 21st June. Midsummer, on the other hand, was a quarter day when bills and rents had to be settled. It is also known as the Feast of St John the Baptist or Johnsmas and takes place on the 24th of June, the day chosen by the Church for St John's ‘earthly’ birthday; six months before the birth of Jesus. St John’s Day is the oldest feast day in the Church calendar falling on what the ancient Romans believed was the Summer Solstice. In the Gospels of the New Testament, John was the son of Elizabeth, a cousin of the Virgin Mary. In the gospel story, both Mary and Elizabeth were pregnant at the time they were visiting one another. It is said that St John was conceived at the Autumn Equinox and was born at the Summer Solstice and Jesus was conceived at the Spring Equinox and was born at the Winter Solstice. John paved the way for the coming of Jesus by preaching and baptising converts in the River Jordan. He was beheaded for denouncing the incestuous affairs of King Herod Antipas. St John the Baptist is the only saint besides the Virgin Mary to have feast days for both his birth and death. His cult was extremely popular in the Middle Ages with almost five hundred churches being dedicated to him in England. One of his many patronages was the Knights Hospitallers.
For the Anglo Saxons, the terms Midsummer and St John’s Eve were interchangeable. There was an Old English word ‘sunstede’ which meant ‘standing still’ but it was more common to refer to this time of year as Midsummer rather than ‘Summer Solstice’. The Celtic peoples were aware of the Summer Solstice, but it was not as important to them as it was to the people of Scandinavia and the Orkney and Shetland Islands where there was a strong Norse influence. Before the invention of the manmade calendar all festivals followed a luni-solar calendar, meaning that they took place on full moons and not on solar ‘dates’. The ancient Romans struggled to calculate the exact time of the solstices and only a small number of people such as the Druids would have had a deep and accurate knowledge of the celestial skies. Time keeping for the everyday folk was so much easier when they followed the path of the moon because they could physically see when the moon was full in the sky (on a clear night of course!). With the arrival of Christianity, the Feast of St John absorbed all pre-existing pagan traditions associated with this time of year.
The nature of a Midsummer ritual was one of purifying, protecting and blessing. These practices were the cornerstones of ‘Saining’, from the old English ‘senian’ meaning to mark the sign of the cross, to bless or to consecrate. In basic terms the aim of these practices was to remove the bad to make room for the good by implementing ritual signs or acts, exorcising bad luck, prayers, incantations, crafting charms, sprinkling holy water or stale urine (‘maistir’ in Scottish Gaelic) using flowers, herbs and woods with specific healing or protective properties such as rowan crosses or throwing herbs on a fire, kindling a sacred fire for its cleansing smoke or lighting candles. People believed that supernatural forces caused illness and bad luck so the need to protect was an integral part of pre-Christian beliefs. These beliefs continued in one form or another long after the arrival of Christianity, always evolving to reflect the needs and worldview of the time. The timing of these Midsummer rituals depended not only on the weather but also on whether they needed to be repeated. The rituals could be performed at any time between St John’s Eve on the 23rd of June and St Peter and St Paul’s Eve on 28th June.
The earliest written account of a Midsummer fire ritual comes from the 13th century and by the late Middle Ages, Midsummer fires were a common sight all across northern Europe. Traditionally there were three types of fires; the bonfire which was made with clean bones but no wood; a wake fire which was made with clean wood but no bones and lastly St John’s fire was made from old bones and whose burning stench was said to keep dragons away. A fire could also be fuelled with turf, furze and old planks of wood covered in tar. Everyone in the village contributed to the fire and anyone who refused brought bad luck onto themselves.
The communal fires were usually lit at midnight on St John’s Eve by an elder of the village. A prayer was said before lighting the fire as well as holy water being sprinkled on it. On this night, holy water was also sprinkled around homes, family members, farm buildings, livestock and crops while reciting prayers to invoke God's blessing on everyone and everything.
‘In the honour of God and of St John, to the fruitfulness and profit of our planting and our work, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.’
Other prayers were recited such as the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary and the Gloria. People walked around the fire in a sunwise direction while saying the rosary. Others kept tally by holding small pebbles in their hands and throwing them into the fire one at a time as each prayer was said.
Fires could be seen across the northern hill-tops and formed a chain across the landscape from west to east. From where they stood, elders of the community would foretell the future by how many fires they could see and by what the fires looked liked.
It was traditional in Ireland to have a human effigy made from old clothes stuffed with straw and sitting by the fire. As the night drew on it was set alight and thrown into the flames. It is not known why this was done, but it could possibly be a relic of an ancient Midsummer sacrifice. In Cornwall, a young girl who was chosen to be the ‘Lady of the Flowers’ threw a sickle shaped bouquet of herbs and flowers into the fire. Again, the symbol of the sickle could be reminiscent of a much older ceremony. The Cornish called this day Golowan, a contraction of Gool Jowan meaning the Feast of St John. Golow in Cornish means ‘light’.
On the Shetland Isles, the Johnsmas fires were built on top of piles of stones along with a base of fish and animal bones, peat, straw, seaweed, flowers, feathers, tufts of wool and broken household items. A wooden bowl filled with fish oil was placed on top of the pile and set alight. On the islands of Orkney, flames were kindled with heather from an ember that was brought from a homestead. Midsummer fires were not widespread in Wales and were only found in Glamorgan, the Dyfi Valley and Montgomeryshire. Here the fires were small and built with three or nine different woods, herbs and flowers. Symbols of prosperity were thrown onto the fires as well as weeds to symbolically keep them away from the crops.
‘In one bunch together bound
Flowers for burning here are found,
Both good and ill.
Thousandfold let good seed spring,
Wicked weeds fast withering
Let this fire kill.’
After prayers had been said the merrymaking began with feasting, storytelling, music and dancing around the fire in a sunwise direction, symbolising the sun’s journey across the sky.
As the flames died down, boys and young men jumped over the fire, competing with one another to see who could jump over the highest flames. If a man was preparing to go on a long journey he would jump over the fire backwards and forwards three times to ensure success on his travels. Holding flowers while you jumped brought a person extra luck. A man who was to marry would jump across the fire to purify himself. When the flames were at their smallest, young women jumped over to secure a good husband and those who were pregnant jumped for an easy birth and a healthy child. Children were carried across by their parents and courting couples joined hands and jumped together to ensure a long and happy marriage with healthy children. Jumping over the Midsummer fire brought good health, protected against accidents and illnesses, as well as warding against witches and the evil eye for a whole year. At the end of the festivities, young men would grab a brand from the fire and race each other home without it dropping or extinguishing. The first to do this would have good luck throughout the year.
Dairy cows were very valuable and easily susceptible to witchcraft and sickness. They were herded into fields that were situated on the windward side of the fires so that the protective, fertile and cleansing smoke could blow over them as well as any crops. Embers or ash from the sacred fires were sprinkled around the fields where they grazed. Cattle were either herded through the smoke coming from two parallel fires or were guided over the smouldering embers of the St John’s fire. Singeing their tails with a hazel twig or throwing ash over them ensured their wellbeing and kept the fairies from stealing their milk. Rowan twigs were tied to their tails with red thread as a protection charm. In some areas the hazel twigs were seen to hold great power and were kept afterwards to use for driving cattle to watering places. Handfuls of burning gorse or furze were also passed over and under cows and horses to purify and protect. Ash, embers or charred sticks from the St John’s fires were placed in the milking shed to protect the milk and butter. Farmers drew a cross on the dairy door with a charred stick from the fire as well as on churns and firkins (small wooden tubs usually used for storing butter or lard) to keep evil influences away. A burning torch was taken around the livestock and milking sheds while reciting prayers or incantations for protection as with all of these other rituals. The sacred ash was mixed with water and given to sick animals as a cure, especially in northern Ireland where it was given to animals who were victims of ‘Elf Shot’ (an Anglo Saxon term for the belief that certain illnesses were caused by elves shooting invisible arrows at cattle and people). Ashes in water were also drunk by people for a cure all or used to bathe wounds with. The ashes were believed to bring good luck and healing. To not bring ashes home to sprinkle around each room was to invite bad luck. Ashes were kept safe to be added to the next year’s fire and in Cornwall, the ash increased the potency of a charm. Cattle were bled at Midsummer with the blood being mixed with water and given to them as a tonic.
In 18th century Ireland, people ran around streets and fields with burning straw hung from poles which was believed to purify the air. Blazing brands were taken around homes and outbuildings as it was thought that evil spirits were out on St John’s Eve. In Cornwall, men walked the streets with burning tar barrels on top of poles and in Penzance they carried canvas torches dipped in tar and attached to chains which they swung around their heads until they burnt out. Afterwards the men danced in a line shouting ‘An eye! An eye !’ until two men formed an arch (the eye) to start ‘threading the needle’.
In Scotland, heather faggots were burned on Midsummer fires and to ensure a successful crop the farmer then walked around his fields with a heather torch in a sunwise direction before the heather had burned out. In other areas they walked, as a family, around their fields with burning bundles of reeds or straw on top of poles or pitchforks which they planted in the ground and left to burn out naturally. The purpose being to protect and bless the crops. The farmer also said prayers to obtain God’s blessing on his crops. He then scattered the ashes around the fields the following morning.
As well as the communal fires there were also individual homestead fires which specifically benefited family farms. These were quiet affairs with no music or dancing but instead focused on rituals for protecting the home and family farm. These fires were lit close to the home and afterwards the family would join the communal fire. If a family member had recently died then no fire or celebration was had. The embers or ash from either of these fires were placed in each corner of every field. If a glowing ember was thrown into a field and could not be seen then this was a good sign that the crops were high. If the ember was stolen on this night then it was believed that the crops’ high yield was stolen with it. In Wales, ash was scattered around the home for luck and in Brittany, half burned logs from the fire were taken back home and kept as a protection against lightning. These logs were placed under the box bed along with the remains of the Yule Log. This was also done in Ireland but the charred fragments were placed in the household hearth instead. Dozens of oil lamps were left to burn all night as a protection against fairies, witches and devils. Henry VII and Henry VIII were both recorded to have had Midsummer fires in their halls. The tradition of the Midsummer fire gradually died out in the 20th century with some of the last places being Whalton village in Northumberland, Durness in the north west Highlands of Scotland and the Shetland Isles. The tradition of the Midsummer fires on St John’s Eve and St Peter’s Eve lasted the longest in areas where people still believed that the fires held protective properties.
In some regions of Europe, burning barrels of tar were pushed along streets and flaming cartwheels were rolled down steep hills. These were relics that descended from the prehistoric symbol of the sun wheel which not only represented the sun itself moving across the sky but also invoked the sun’s great cosmic powers of life, fertility, growth and abundance. The earliest written evidence of the burning cartwheel ritual comes from south west France in the 4th century. In the Acts of St Vincent, it is said that the charred pieces of a wheel that was rolled down a hill were reassembled in a temple of a sky god, most likely the god Taranis. However, there is no mention of when this ritual took place. Later in the 5th century, a monk writing in Gloucestershire mentions a burning wheel on St John’s Eve. We know that women waited at the bottom of the hill where there was often a stream or river and the men were at the top where they stuffed a cartwheel with straw until it was completely covered. After it was set alight it was guided down the hill with sticks. The purpose of this ritual was to predict the outcome of the harvest. If the flames died out before reaching the bottom of the hill or if it veered off course then it was a bad omen for the harvest, but if the wheel kept burning all the way down then the harvest would be a success. More recent customs of rolling eggs or bannocks down a hill are reminiscent of this earlier ritual.
This is the end of part 1 and as I have so much to share there will be a part 2 coming over the next few days. I hope that you found this as interesting as I did. The last handful of books in the bibliography will give you a clue as to what I will be talking about in part 2.
Wishing you a beautiful Summer Solstice and St John’s Eve.
Brightest blessings,
Elissa
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR PARTS 1 & 2
Saining For Gaelic Polytheists by Marissa Hegarty (2022)
Celtic Pilgrimages by Elaine Gill & David Everett (1997)
A Calendar Of Country Customs by Ralph Whitlock (1978)
A Year Of Festivals by Geoffrey Palmer & Noel Lloyd (1972)
Folklore And Customs Of Rural England by Margaret Baker (1974)
English Traditional Customs by Christina Hole (1975)
Maypoles, Martyrs & Mayhem by Quentin Cooper & Paul Sullivan (1994)
A Dictionary Of British Folk Customs by Christina Hole (1976)
A Chronicle Of Folk Customs y Brian Day (1998)
Winters In The World by Eleanor Parker (2022)
A Calendar Of Scottish National Festivals, Volume Two by F, Marian McNeill (1959)
The Year In Ireland by Kevin Danaher (1972)
The Celtic Calendar by Brian Day (2003)
Stations Of The Sun by Ronald Hutton (1996)
The Magical Properties Of Plants And Where To Find Them by Tylluan Penry (2018)
The Magical Lore Of Herbs by Marion Davies (1994)
Discovering The Folklore Of Plants by Margaret Baker (2021)
Ireland’s Wild Plants by Niall Mac Coitir (2008)
Treasury Of Flower Lore by Josephine Addison & Cherry Hillhouse (1997)