A Midsummer's Celebration
by Mike Nichols



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The young maid stole through the cottage door,
And blushed as she sought the Plant of pow’r; —
“Thou silver glow-worm, O lend me thy light,
I must gather the mystic St. John’s wort tonight,
The wonderful herb, whose leaf will decide
If the coming year shall make me a bride.”


In addition to the four great festivals of the Pagan Celtic year, there are four lesser
holidays as well: the two solstices, and the two equinoxes. In folklore, these are
referred to as the four “quarter days” of the year, and modern Witches call them the
four “Lesser Sabbats”, or the four “Low Holidays”. The summer solstice is one of them.


Technically, a solstice is an astronomical point and, due to the calendar creep of the
leap-year cycle, the date may vary by a few days depending on the year. The summer
solstice occurs when the sun reaches the Tropic of Cancer, and we experience the
longest day and the shortest night of the year. Astrologers know this as the date on
which the sun enters the sign of Cancer.


However, since most European peasants were not accomplished at reading an ephemeris or
did not live close enough to Salisbury Plain to trot over to Stonehenge and sight down
its main avenue, they celebrated the event on a fixed calendar date, June 24. The
slight forward displacement of the traditional date is the result of multitudinous
calendrical changes down through the ages. It is analogous to the winter solstice
celebration, which is astronomically on or about December 21, but is celebrated on the
traditional date of December 25, Yule, later adopted by the Christians.


Again, it must be remembered that the Celts reckoned their days from sundown to
sundown, so the June 24 festivities actually begin on the previous sundown (our June
23). This was the date of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Which brings up
another point: our modern calendars are quite misguided in suggesting that ‘summer
begins’ on the solstice. According to the old folk calendar, summer begins on May Day
and ends on Lammas (August 1), with the summer solstice, midway between the two,
marking midsummer. This makes more logical sense than suggesting that summer begins on
the day when the sun’s power begins to wane and the days grow shorter.


Although our Pagan ancestors probably preferred June 24 (and indeed most European folk
festivals today use this date), the sensibility of modern Witches seems to prefer the
actual solstice point, beginning the celebration on its eve, or the sunset immediately
preceding the solstice point. Again, it gives modern Pagans a range of dates to choose
from with, hopefully, a weekend embedded in it.


Just as the Pagan Midwinter celebration of Yule was adopted by Christians as
“Christmas” (December 25), so too the Pagan Midsummer celebration was adopted by them
as the Feast of John the Baptist (June 24). Occurring 180 degrees apart on the wheel of
the year, the Midwinter celebration commemorates the birth of Jesus, while the
Midsummer celebration commemorates the birth of John, the prophet who was born six
months before Jesus in order to announce his arrival.


Although modern Witches often refer to the holiday by the rather generic name of
“Midsummer’s Eve”, it is more probable that our Pagan ancestors of a few hundred years
ago actually used the Christian name for the holiday, “St. John’s Eve”. This is evident
from the wealth of folklore that surrounds the summer solstice (i.e., that it is a
night especially sacred to the faerie folk), but which is inevitably ascribed to “St.
John’s Eve”, with no mention of the sun’s position. It could also be argued that a
coven’s claim to antiquity might be judged by what name it gives the holidays.
(Incidentally, the name ‘Litha’ for the holiday is a modern usage, possibly based on a
Saxon word that means the opposite of Yule. Still, there is little historical
justification for its use in this context.) But weren’t our Pagan ancestors offended by
the use of the name of a Christian saint for a pre-Christian holiday?


Well, to begin with, their theological sensibilities may not have been as finely honed
as our own. But secondly and more importantly, St. John himself was often seen as a
rather Pagan figure. He was, after all, called “the Oak King”. His connection to the
wilderness (from whence “the voice cried out”) was often emphasized by the rustic
nature of his shrines. Many statues show him as a horned figure (as is also the case
with Moses). Christian iconographers mumble embarrassed explanations about “horns of
light”, while modern Pagans giggle and happily refer to such statues as “Pan the
Baptist”. **And to clench matters, many depictions of John actually show him with the
lower torso of a satyr, cloven hooves and all! Obviously, this kind of John the Baptist
is more properly a Jack in the Green!** Also obvious is that behind the medieval
conception of St. John lies a distant, shadowy Pagan Deity, perhaps the archetypal Wild
Man of the wood, whose face stares down at us through the foliate masks that adorn so
much church architecture. Thus, medieval Pagans may have had fewer problems adapting
than we might suppose.


In England, it was the ancient custom on St. John’s Eve to light large bonfires after
sundown, which served the double purpose of providing light to the revelers and warding
off evil spirits. This was known as “setting the watch”. People often jumped through
the fires for good luck. In addition to these fires, the streets were lined with
lanterns, and people carried cressets (pivoted lanterns atop poles) as they wandered
from one bonfire to another. These wandering, garland-bedecked bands were called a
“marching watch”. Often they were attended by morris dancers, and traditional players
dressed as a unicorn, a dragon, and six hobbyhorse riders. Just as May Day was a time
to renew the boundary of one’s own property, so Midsummer’s Eve was a time to ward the
boundary of the city.


Customs surrounding St. John’s Eve are many and varied. At the very least, most young
folk plan to stay up throughout the whole of this shortest night. Certain courageous
souls might spend the night keeping watch in the center of a circle of standing stones.
To do so would certainly result in either death, madness, or (hopefully) the power of
inspiration to become a great poet or bard. (This is, by the way, identical to certain
incidents in the first branch of The Mabinogion.) This was also the night when the
serpents of the island would roll themselves into a hissing, writhing ball in order to
engender the “glain”, also called the “serpent’s egg”, “snake stone”, or “Druid’s egg”.
Anyone in possession of this hard glass bubble would wield incredible magical powers.
Even Merlyn himself (accompanied by his black dog) went in search of it, according to
one ancient Welsh story.


Snakes were not the only creatures active on Midsummer’s Eve. According to British
faery lore, this night was second only to Halloween for its importance to the Wee Folk,
who especially enjoyed a ridling on such a fine summer’s night. In order to see them,
you had only to gather fern seed at the stroke of midnight and rub it onto your
eyelids. But be sure to carry a little bit of rue in your pocket, or you might well be
“pixie-led”. Or, failing the rue, you might simply turn your jacket inside out, which
should keep you from harm’s way. But if even this fails, you must seek out one of the
“ley lines”, the old straight tracks, and stay upon it to your destination. This will
keep you safe from any malevolent power, as will crossing a stream of “living”
(running) water.


Other customs included decking the house (especially over the front door) with birch,
fennel, St. John’s wort, orpin, and white lilies. Five plants were thought to have
special magical properties on this night: rue, roses, St. John’s wort, vervain, and
trefoil. Indeed, Midsummer’s Eve in Spain is called the “Night of the Verbena
(Vervain)”. St. John’s wort was especially honored by young maidens who picked it in
the hopes of divining a future lover.



And the glow-worm came
With its silvery flame,
And sparkled and shone
Through the night of St. John,
And soon has the young maid her love-knot tied.

There are also many mythical associations with the summer solstice, not the least of
which concerns the seasonal life of the God of the sun. Inasmuch as I believe that I
have recently discovered certain associations and correspondences not hitherto
realized, I have elected to treat this subject in some depth in another essay. Suffice
it to say here, that I disagree with the generally accepted idea that the Sun God meets
his death at the summer solstice. I believe there is good reason to see the Sun God at
his zenith—his peak of power—on this day, and that his death at the hands of his rival
would not occur for another quarter of a year. Material drawn from the Welsh mythos
seems to support this thesis. In Irish mythology, midsummer is the occasion of the
first battle between the Fir Bolgs and the Tuatha De Danaan.


Altogether, Midsummer is a favorite holiday for many Witches in that it is so
hospitable to outdoor celebrations. The warm summer night seems to invite it. And if
the celebrants are not, in fact, skyclad, then you may be fairly certain that the long
ritual robes of winter have yielded place to short, tunic-style apparel. As with the
longer gowns, tradition dictates that one should wear nothing underneath—the next best
thing to skyclad, to be sure. (Incidentally, now you know the real answer to the old
Scottish joke, “What is worn beneath the kilt?”)


The two chief icons of the holiday are the spear (symbol of the Sun God in his glory)
and the summer cauldron (symbol of the Goddess in her bounty). The precise meaning of
these two symbols, which I believe I have recently discovered, will be explored in the
essay on the death of Llew. But it is interesting to note here that modern Witches
often use these same symbols in their Midsummer rituals. And one occasionally hears the
alternative consecration formula, “As the spear is to the male, so the cauldron is to
the female.” With these mythic associations, it is no wonder that Midsummer is such a
joyous and magical occasion!



Permission is given to re-publish this document only as long as no information is lost
or changed, credit is given to the author, and it is provided or used without cost to
others.

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**- I didn't find any images supporting this, although I did look. I don't know how true this comment is. I did find a website also supporting this idea, but again, I'm not sure how true it is. I'm not very familiar with Christianity. Here is the website: [x]

This was taken from a Yahoo! Group called "Magic Light."