FEATURE
A
Midsummer
night’s dream
I
t may be hard to believe but we’ve
already approached the longest day of
the year, on June 21st.
After that date, the days will get
progressively shorter again – although
fortunately, only by a few minutes each
day.
Midsummer’s Day is probably best
known for the annual Druid ceremonies,
but in fact the day is an important one to
Pagans of all persuasions.
Primarily a Celtic fire festival, it
represents the middle of summer, and
the start of the gradual march to winter.
That’s why our ancestors from thousands
of years ago built their huge stone circles
and other monuments that are aligned to
the sunrise on Midsummer’s Day.
The most famous of these is the iconic
one at Stonehenge, where the sun rises
over the heel stone, framed by the giant
trilithons on Midsummer morning.
Historically, Midsummer fires would
have been be lit in high places all over
the countryside, and in some areas of
Scotland, these were still being lit well
into the 18th century, especially in rural
areas.
As part of the festival, domestic
animals of the land were blessed with
fire, generally by walking them around
the flames in a sun-wise direction. It
was also the custom for people to jump
high through the fires, and according
to folklore, the height reached by the
best jumper, would be the height of the
harvest that year.
After Christianity became adopted in
Britain, the festival became known as St
John’s day and was still celebrated as an
important day in the Church calendar, as
the birthday of St John the Baptist.
Traditionally St John’s Eve (like the eve
of many festivals) was seen as a time
when the veil between this world and the
next was ultra-thin, and when powerful
forces roamed around. Vigils were often
held during the night and it was said
that if you spent a night at a sacred site
during Midsummer Eve, you would gain
the powers of a bard – although on the
down side you might end up utterly mad,
dead, or be spirited away by the fairies!
So - not too difficult to see where
Shakespeare got the inspiration for his
famously surreal and slightly crazy play A
Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Indeed St John’s Eve was a time when
fairies were thought to be abroad and
at their most powerful – which may be
worth bearing in mind on June 21st if
you are of a superstitious persuasion.
Oh and if you on the lookout for love,
tradition suggests it may be a good idea
to place a rose, verbena, trefoil or rue
under your pillow before bed. They are
thought to be at their most potent at this
time, and were traditionally placed under
a pillow in the hope of important dreams
… especially dreams about future lovers.
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