Balder The Beautiful, Vol. I. by Sir James George Frazer

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[Lady Wilde's account of the Midsummer fires in Ireland.]

Lady Wilde's account of the midsummer festival in Ireland is picturesque
and probably correct in substance, although she does not cite her
authorities. As it contains some interesting features which are not
noticed by the other writers on Ireland whom I have consulted, I will
quote the greater part of it in full. "In ancient times," she says, "the
sacred fire was lighted with great ceremony on Midsummer Eve; and on
that night all the people of the adjacent country kept fixed watch on
the western promontory of Howth, and the moment the first flash was seen
from that spot the fact of ignition was announced with wild cries and
cheers repeated from village to village, when all the local fires began
to blaze, and Ireland was circled by a cordon of flame rising up from
every hill. Then the dance and song began round every fire, and the wild
hurrahs filled the air with the most frantic revelry. Many of these
ancient customs are still continued, and the fires are still lighted on
St. John's Eve on every hill in Ireland. When the fire has burned down
to a red glow the young men strip to the waist and leap over or through
the flames; this is done backwards and forwards several times, and he
who braves the greatest blaze is considered the victor over the powers
of evil, and is greeted with tremendous applause. When the fire burns
still lower, the young girls leap the flame, and those who leap clean
over three times back and forward will be certain of a speedy marriage
and good luck in after-life, with many children. The married women then
walk through the lines of the burning embers; and when the fire is
nearly burnt and trampled down, the yearling cattle are driven through
the hot ashes, and their back is singed with a lighted hazel twig. These
rods are kept safely afterwards, being considered of immense power to
drive the cattle to and from the watering places. As the fire diminishes
the shouting grows fainter, and the song and the dance commence; while
professional story-tellers narrate tales of fairy-land, or of the good
old times long ago, when the kings and princes of Ireland dwelt amongst
their own people, and there was food to eat and wine to drink for all
comers to the feast at the king's house. When the crowd at length
separate, every one carries home a brand from the fire, and great virtue
is attached to the lighted _brone_ which is safely carried to the house
without breaking or falling to the ground. Many contests also arise
amongst the young men; for whoever enters his house first with the
sacred fire brings the good luck of the year with him."[524]

[Holy water resorted to on Midsummer Eve in Ireland.]

In Ireland, as elsewhere, water was also apparently thought to acquire a
certain mystical virtue at midsummer. "At Stoole, near Downpatrick,
there is a ceremony commencing at twelve o'clock at night on Midsummer
Eve. Its sacred mount is consecrated to St. Patrick; the plain contains
three wells, to which the most extraordinary virtues are attributed.
Here and there are heaps of stones, around some of which appear great
numbers of people, running with as much speed as possible; around others
crowds of worshippers kneel with bare legs and feet as an indispensable
part of the penance. The men, without coats, with handkerchiefs on their
heads instead of hats, having gone seven times round each heap, kiss the
ground, cross themselves, and proceed to the hill; here they ascend, on
their bare knees, by a path so steep and rugged that it would be
difficult to walk up. Many hold their hands clasped at the back of their
necks, and several carry large stones on their heads. Having repeated
this ceremony seven times, they go to what is called St. Patrick's
Chair, which are two great flat stones fixed upright in the hill; here
they cross and bless themselves as they step in between these stones,
and, while repeating prayers, an old man, seated for the purpose, turns
them round on their feet three times, for which he is paid; the devotee
then goes to conclude his penance at a pile of stones, named the Altar.
While this busy scene is continued by the multitude, the wells and
streams issuing from them are thronged by crowds of halt, maimed, and
blind, pressing to wash away their infirmities with water consecrated by
their patron saint, and so powerful is the impression of its efficacy on
their minds, that many of those who go to be healed, and who are not
totally blind, or altogether crippled, really believe for a time that
they are by means of its miraculous virtues perfectly restored."[525]

[The Midsummer fires in Scotland; fires on St. Peter's Day (the
twenty-ninth of June).]

In Scotland the traces of midsummer fires are few. We are told by a
writer of the eighteenth century that "the midsummer-even fire, a relict
of Druidism," was kindled in some parts of the county of Perth.[526]
Another writer of the same period, describing what he calls the
Druidical festivals of the Highlanders, says that "the least
considerable of them is that of midsummer. In the Highlands of
Perthshire there are some vestiges of it. The cowherd goes three times
round the fold, according to the course of the sun, with a burning torch
in his hand. They imagined this rite had a tendency to purify their
herds and flocks, and to prevent diseases. At their return the landlady
makes an entertainment for the cowherd and his associates."[527] In the
northeast of Scotland, down to the latter half of the eighteenth
century, farmers used to go round their lands with burning torches about
the middle of June.[528] On the hill of Cairnshee, in the parish of
Durris, Kincardineshire, the herdsmen of the country round about
annually kindle a bonfire at sunset on Midsummer Day (the twenty-fourth
of June); the men or lads collect the fuel and push each other through
the smoke and flames. The custom is kept up through the benefaction of a
certain Alexander Hogg, a native of the parish, who died about 1790 and
left a small sum for the maintenance of a midsummer bonfire on the spot,
because as a boy he had herded cattle on the hill. We may conjecture
that in doing so he merely provided for the continuance of an old custom
which he himself had observed in the same place in his youth.[529] At
the village of Tarbolton in Ayrshire a bonfire has been annually kindled
from time immemorial on the evening of the first Monday after the
eleventh of June. A noted cattle-market was formerly held at the fair on
the following day. The bonfire is still lit at the gloaming by the lads
and lasses of the village on a high mound or hillock just outside of the
village. Fuel for it is collected by the lads from door to door. The
youth dance round the fire and leap over the fringes of it. The many
cattle-drovers who used to assemble for the fair were wont to gather
round the blazing pile, smoke their pipes, and listen to the young folk
singing in chorus on the hillock. Afterwards they wrapped themselves in
their plaids and slept round the bonfire, which was intended to last all
night.[530] Thomas Moresin of Aberdeen, a writer of the sixteenth
century, says that on St. Peter's Day, which is the twenty-ninth of
June, the Scotch ran about at night with lighted torches on mountains
and high grounds, "as Ceres did when she roamed the whole earth in
search of Proserpine";[531] and towards the end of the eighteenth
century the parish minister of Loudoun, a district of Ayrshire whose
"bonny woods and braes" have been sung by Burns, wrote that "the custom
still remains amongst the herds and young people to kindle fires in the
high grounds in honour of Beltan. _Beltan_, which in Gaelic signifies
_Baal_, or _Bel's-fire_, was antiently the time of this solemnity. It is
now kept on St. Peter's day."[532]

[The Midsummer fires in Spain and the Azores; divination on Midsummer
Eve in the Azores; the Midsummer fires in Corsica and Sardinia.]

All over Spain great bonfires called _lumes_ are still lit on Midsummer
Eve. They are kept up all night, and the children leap over them in a
certain rhythmical way which is said to resemble the ancient dances. On
the coast, people at this season plunge into the sea; in the inland
districts the villagers go and roll naked in the dew of the meadows,
which is supposed to be a sovereign preservative against diseases of the
skin. On this evening, too, girls who would pry into the future put a
vessel of water on the sill outside their window; and when the clocks
strike twelve, they break an egg in the water and see, or fancy they
see, in the shapes assumed by the pulp, as it blends with the liquid,
the likeness of future bridegrooms, castles, coffins, and so forth. But
generally, as might perhaps have been anticipated, the obliging egg
exhibits the features of a bridegroom.[533] In the Azores, also,
bonfires are lit on Midsummer Eve (St. John's Eve), and boys jump over
them for luck. On that night St. John himself is supposed to appear in
person and bless all the seas and waters, driving out the devils and
demons who had been disporting themselves in them ever since the second
day of November; that is why in the interval between the second of
November and the twenty-third of June nobody will bathe in the sea or in
a hot spring. On Midsummer Eve, too, you can always see the devil, if
you will go into a garden at midnight. He is invariably found standing
near a mustard-plant. His reason for adopting this posture has not been
ascertained; perhaps in the chilly air of the upper world he is
attracted by the genial warmth of the mustard. Various forms of
divination are practised by people in the Azores on Midsummer Eve. Thus
a new-laid egg is broken into a glass of water, and the shapes which it
assumes foreshadow the fate of the person concerned. Again, seven
saucers are placed in a row, filled respectively with water, earth,
ashes, keys, a thimble, money, and grass, which things signify travel,
death, widowhood, housekeeping, spinsterhood, riches, and farming. A
blindfolded person touches one or other of the saucers with a wand and
so discovers his or her fate. Again, three broad beans are taken; one is
left in its skin, one is half peeled, and the third is peeled outright.
The three denote respectively riches, competence, and poverty. They are
hidden and searched for; and he who finds one of them knows accordingly
whether he will be rich, moderately well-off, or poor. Again, girls take
slips of paper and write the names of young men twice over on them.
These they fold up and crumple and place one set under their pillows and
the other set in a saucer full of water. In the morning they draw one
slip of paper from under their pillow, and see whether one in the water
has opened out. If the names on the two slips are the same, it is the
name of her future husband. Young men do the same with girls' names.
Once more, if a girl rises at sunrise, goes out into the street, and
asks the first passer-by his Christian name, that will be her husband's
name.[534] Some of these modes of divination resemble those which are or
used to be practised in Scotland at Hallowe'en.[535] In Corsica on the
Eve of St. John the people set fire to the trunk of a tree or to a whole
tree, and the young men and maidens dance round the blaze, which is
called _fucaraia_.[536] We have seen that at Ozieri, in Sardinia, a
great bonfire is kindled on St. John's Eve, and that the young people
dance round it.[537]

[The Midsummer fires in the Abruzzi; bathing on Midsummer Eve in the
Abruzzi; the Midsummer fires in Sicily; the witches at Midsummer.]

Passing to Italy, we find that the midsummer fires are still lighted on
St. John's Eve in many parts of the Abruzzi. They are commonest in the
territory which was inhabited in antiquity by the Vestini; they are
rarer in the land of the ancient Marsi, and they disappear entirely in
the lower valley of the Sangro. For the most part, the fires are fed
with straw and dry grass, and are kindled in the fields near the
villages or on high ground. As they blaze up, the people dance round or
over them. In leaping across the flames the boys cry out, "St. John,
preserve my thighs and legs!" Formerly it used to be common to light the
bonfires also in the towns in front of churches of St. John, and the
remains of the sacred fire were carried home by the people; but this
custom has mostly fallen into disuse. However, at Celano the practice is
still kept up of taking brands and ashes from the bonfires to the
houses, although the fires are no longer kindled in front of the
churches, but merely in the streets.[538] In the Abruzzi water also is
supposed to acquire certain marvellous and beneficent properties on St.
John's Night. Hence many people bathe or at least wash their faces and
hands in the sea or a river at that season, especially at the moment of
sunrise. Such a bath is said to be an excellent cure for diseases of the
skin. At Castiglione a Casauria the people, after washing in the river
or in springs, gird their waists and wreath their brows with sprigs of
briony in order to keep them from aches and pains.[539] In various parts
of Sicily, also, fires are kindled on Midsummer Eve (St. John's Eve),
the twenty-third of June. On the Madonie mountains, in the north of the
island, the herdsmen kindle them at intervals, so that the crests of the
mountains are seen ablaze in the darkness for many miles. About
Acireale, on the east coast of the island, the bonfires are lit by boys,
who jump over them. At Chiaromonte the witches that night acquire
extraordinary powers; hence everybody then puts a broom outside of his
house, because a broom is an excellent protective against
witchcraft.[540] At Orvieto the midsummer fires were specially excepted
from the prohibition directed against bonfires in general.[541]

[The Midsummer fires in Malta ]

In Malta also the people celebrate Midsummer Eve (St. John's Eve) "by
kindling great fires in the public streets, and giving their children
dolls to carry in their arms on this day, in order to make good the
prophecy respecting the Baptist, _Multi in nativitate ejus gaudebunt_.
Days and even weeks before this festival, groups of children are seen
going out into the country fields to gather straw, twigs, and all sorts
of other combustibles, which they store up for St. John's Eve. On the
night of the twenty-third of June, the day before the festival of the
Saint, great fires are kindled in the streets, squares, and market
places of the towns and villages of the Island, and as fire after fire
blazes out of the darkness of that summer night, the effect is
singularly striking. These fires are sometimes kept up for hours, being
continually fed by the scores of bystanders, who take great delight in
throwing amidst the flames some old rickety piece of furniture which
they consider as lumber in their houses. Lots of happy and reckless
children, and very often men, are seen merrily leaping in succession
over and through the crackling flames. At the time of the Order of St.
John of Jerusalem, the Grand Master himself, soon after the _Angelus_,
used to leave his palace, accompanied by the Grand Prior, the Bishop,
and two bailiffs, to set fire to some pitch barrels which were placed
for the occasion in the square facing the sacred Hospital. Great crowds
used to assemble here in order to assist at this ceremony. The setting
ablaze of the five casks, and later on of the eight casks, by the Grand
Master, was a signal for the others to kindle their fires in the
different parts of the town."[542]

[The Midsummer fires in Greece; the Midsummer fires in Macedonia and
Albania.]

In Greece, the custom of kindling fires on St. John's Eve and jumping
over them is said to be still universal. One reason assigned for it is a
wish to escape from the fleas.[543] According to another account, the
women cry out, as they leap over the fire, "I leave my sins behind
me."[544] In Lesbos the fires on St. John's Eve are usually lighted by
threes, and the people spring thrice over them, each with a stone on his
head, saying, "I jump the hare's fire, my head a stone!" On the morning
of St. John's Day those who dwell near the coast go to bathe in the sea.
As they go they gird themselves with osiers, and when they are in the
water they let the osiers float away, saying, "Let my maladies go away!"
Then they look for what is called "the hairy stone," which possesses the
remarkable property not only of keeping moths from clothes but even of
multiplying the clothes in the chest where it is laid up, and the more
hairs on the stone the more will the clothes multiply in the chest.[545]
In Calymnos the midsummer fire is supposed to ensure abundance in the
coming year as well as deliverance from fleas. The people dance round
the fires singing, with stones on their heads, and then jump over the
blaze or the glowing embers. When the fire is burning low, they throw
the stones into it; and when it is nearly out, they make crosses on
their legs and then go straightway and bathe in the sea.[546] In Cos the
lads and lasses dance round the bonfires on St. John's Eve. Each of the
lads binds a black stone on his head, signifying that he wishes to
become as strong as the stone. Also they make the sign of the cross on
their feet and legs and jump over the fire.[547] On Midsummer Eve the
Greeks of Macedonia light fires after supper in front of their gates.
The garlands, now faded, which were hung over the doors on May Day, are
taken down and cast into the flames, after which the young folk leap
over the blaze, fully persuaded that St. John's fire will not burn
them.[548] In Albania fires of dry herbage are, or used to be, lit
everywhere on St. John's Eve; young and old leap over them, for such a
leap is thought to be good for the health.[549]

[The Midsummer fires in America.]

From the Old World the midsummer fires have been carried across the
Atlantic to America. In Brazil people jump over the fires of St. John,
and at this season they can take hot coals in their mouths without
burning themselves.[550] In Bolivia on the Eve of St. John it is usual
to see bonfires lighted on the hills and even in the streets of the
capital La Paz. As the city stands at the bottom of an immense ravine,
and the Indians of the neighbourhood take a pride in kindling bonfires
on heights which might seem inaccessible, the scene is very striking
when the darkness of night is suddenly and simultaneously lit up by
hundreds of fires, which cast a glare on surrounding objects, producing
an effect at once weird and picturesque.[551]

[The Midsummer fires among the Mohammedans of Morocco and Algeria.]

The custom of kindling bonfires on Midsummer Day or on Midsummer Eve is
widely spread among the Mohammedan peoples of North Africa, particularly
in Morocco and Algeria; it is common both to the Berbers and to many of
the Arabs or Arabic-speaking tribes. In these countries Midsummer Day
(the twenty-fourth of June, Old Style) is called [Arabic: _l'ansara_].
The fires are lit in the courtyards, at cross-roads, in the fields, and
sometimes on the threshing-floors. Plants which in burning give out a
thick smoke and an aromatic smell are much sought after for fuel on
these occasions; among the plants used for the purpose are giant-fennel,
thyme, rue, chervil-seed, camomile, geranium, and penny-royal. People
expose themselves, and especially their children, to the smoke, and
drive it towards the orchards and the crops. Also they leap across the
fires; in some places everybody ought to repeat the leap seven times.
Moreover they take burning brands from the fires and carry them through
the houses in order to fumigate them. They pass things through the fire,
and bring the sick into contact with it, while they utter prayers for
their recovery. The ashes of the bonfires are also reputed to possess
beneficial properties; hence in some places people rub their hair or
their bodies with them.[552] For example, the Andjra mountaineers of
Morocco kindle large fires in open places of their villages on Midsummer
Day. Men, women, and children jump over the flames or the glowing
embers, believing that by so doing they rid themselves of all misfortune
which may be clinging to them; they imagine, also, that such leaps cure
the sick and procure offspring for childless couples. Moreover, they
burn straw, together with some marjoram and alum, in the fold where the
cattle, sheep, and goats are penned for the night; the smoke, in their
opinion, will make the animals thrive. On Midsummer Day the Arabs of the
Mnasara tribe make fires outside their tents, near their animals, on
their fields, and in their gardens. Large quantities of penny-royal are
burned in these fires, and over some of them the people leap thrice to
and fro. Sometimes small fires are also kindled inside the tents. They
say that the smoke confers blessings on everything with which it comes
into contact. At Salee, on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, persons who
suffer from diseased eyes rub them with the ashes of the midsummer fire;
and in Casablanca and Azemmur the people hold their faces over the fire,
because the smoke is thought to be good for the eyes. The Arab tribe
Ulad Bu Aziz, in the Dukkala province of Morocco, kindle midsummer
bonfires, not for themselves and their cattle, but only for crops and
fruit; nobody likes to reap his crops before Midsummer Day, because if
he did they would lose the benefit of the blessed influence which flows
from the smoke of the bonfires. Again, the Beni Mgild, a Berber tribe of
Morocco, light fires of straw on Midsummer Eve and leap thrice over them
to and fro. They let some of the smoke pass underneath their clothes,
and married women hold their breasts over the fire, in order that their
children may be strong. Moreover, they paint their eyes and lips with
some black powder, in which ashes of the bonfire are mixed. And in order
that their horses may also benefit by the fires, they dip the right
forelegs of the animals in the smoke and flames or in the hot embers,
and they rub ashes on the foreheads and between the nostrils of the
horses. Berbers of the Rif province, in northern Morocco, similarly make
great use of fires at midsummer for the good of themselves, their
cattle, and their fruit-trees. They jump over the bonfires in the belief
that this will preserve them in good health, and they light fires under
fruit-trees to keep the fruit from falling untimely. And they imagine
that by rubbing a paste of the ashes on their hair they prevent the hair
from falling off their heads.[553]

[Beneficial effect ascribed to the smoke of the fires; ill luck supposed
to be burnt in the Midsummer fires; the Midsummer festival in North
Africa comprises rites concerned with water as well as with fire; the
Midsummer festival in North Africa is probably older than
Mohammedanism.]

In all these Moroccan customs, we are told, the beneficial effect is
attributed wholly to the smoke, which is supposed to be endued with a
magical quality that removes misfortune from men, animals, fruit-trees,
and crops. But in some parts of Morocco people at midsummer kindle fires
of a different sort, not for the sake of fumigation, but in order to
burn up misfortune in the flames. Thus on Midsummer Eve the Berber tribe
of the Beni Mgild burn three sheaves of unthreshed wheat or barley, "one
for the children, one for the crops, and one for the animals." On the
same occasion they burn the tent of a widow who has never given birth to
a child; by so doing they think to rid the village of ill luck. It is
said that at midsummer the Zemmur burn a tent, which belongs to somebody
who was killed in war during a feast; or if there is no such person in
the village, the schoolmaster's tent is burned instead. Among the
Arabic-speaking Beni Ahsen it is customary for those who live near the
river Sbu to make a little hut of straw at midsummer, set it on fire,
and let it float down the river. Similarly the inhabitants of Salee burn
a straw hut on the river which flows past their town.[554]

Further it deserves to be noticed that in Northern Africa, as in
Southern Europe, the midsummer festival comprises rites concerned with
water as well as with fire. For example, among the Beni-Snous the women
light a fire in an oven, throw perfumes into it, and circumambulate a
tank, which they also incense after a fashion. In many places on the
coast, as in the province of Oran and particularly in the north of
Morocco, everybody goes and bathes in the sea at midsummer; and in many
towns of the interior, such as Fez, Mequinez, and especially Merrakech,
people throw water over each other on this day; and where water is
scarce, earth is used instead, according to the Mohammedan principle
which permits ablutions to be performed with earth or sand when water
cannot be spared for the purpose.[555] People of the Andjra district in
Morocco not only bathe themselves in the sea or in rivers at midsummer,
they also bathe their animals, their horses, mules, donkeys, cattle,
sheep, and goats; for they think that on that day water possesses a
blessed virtue (_baraka_), which removes sickness and misfortune. In
Aglu, again, men, women, and children bathe in the sea or springs or
rivers at midsummer, alleging that by so doing they protect themselves
against disease for the whole year. Among the Berbers of the Rif
district the custom of bathing on this day is commonly observed, and
animals share the ablutions.[556]

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