Midsummer
Categories: Neopagan holidays | Danish culture | Norwegian culture | Swedish culture
Midsummer, or Litha as it was known by the ancient Germanic peoples and to this day by modern Pagans, refers the period of time centered upon the summer solstice and the religious celebrations that accompany it. Also called "Midsommar" in Swedish, Midsummer-related holidays, traditions and celebrations, many of which are non-Christian in origin (apart from the designation "St John's Day"), are particularly important in Finland and Sweden, but found also in other parts of Northern Europe, Great Britain and elsewhere.
Solstitial celebrations still center upon June 24, which is no longer the longest day of the year. The difference between the Julian calendar year (365.2500 days) and the tropical year (365.2422 days) continue to move the day associated with the actual astronomical solstice forward approximately one day in approximately every seven centuries.
In the 7th century, Saint Eligius (died 659/60) warned the recently-Christianized inhabitants of Flanders against these pagan solstitial celebrations. According to the Vita by his companion Ouen, he would say:
- "No Christian on the feast of Saint John or the solemnity of any other saint performs solestitia [summer solstice rites] or dancing or leaping or diabolical chants."
Indeed, as Saint Eligius demonstrates, Midsummer has been Christianized as the feast of Saint John the Baptist: notably, unlike all other saints' days, this feast is celebrated on his birthday and not on the day of his martyrdom, which is separately observed as the "Decollation of John the Baptist" on August 29. The day of Saint John the Baptist is not marked by Christian churches with the emphasis one might otherwise expect of such an important saint.
The celebration of Midsummer's Eve was from ancient times linked to the summer solstice. People believed that at midsummer plants had miraculous and healing powers and they therefore picked them on this night. Bonfires were lit to protect against evil spirits which were believed to roam freely when the sun was turning southwards again. In later years, witches were also thought to be on their way to meetings with other evil powers.
In Sweden Midsummer celebration originates from the time before Christianity, it was celebrated as a sacrifice time in the sign of the fertility.
The solstice itself has remained a special moment of the annual cycle of the year since neolithic times. The concentration of the observance is not on the day as we reckon it, commencing at midnight or at dawn, but the pre-Christian beginning of the day, which falls on the previous eve. Midsummer's Eve is in Sweden and Finland considered the greatest festival of the year, comparable only with Walpurgis Night, Christmas Eve, and New Year's Eve.
Contents |
"Litha"
This holiday is also called Litha, especially in the recreated calendar used in the revived Germanic religion of Asatru. For a discussion of the history of the term, see Litha.
Denmark
In Denmark the solstitial celebration is called Sankt Hans aften ("St. John's Eve"). It was an official holiday until 1770 and in accordance with the Danish tradition of celebrating a holiday on the evening before the actual day, it takes place on the evening of June 23. It is the day where the medieval wise men and women (the doctors of that time) would gather special herbs that they needed for the rest of the year to cure people.
It has been celebrated since the times of the Vikings and of Odin and Thor, by visiting healing water sources and making a large bonfire to ward away evil spirits. Today the water source tradition is gone. Bonfires on the beach, speeches, picnics and songs are traditional, although bonfires are built in many other places where beaches may not be close by (i.e. on the shores of lakes and other waterways, parks, etc.). In the 1920s a tradition of putting a witch made of straw and cloth on the bonfire emerged as a remembrance of the church's witchburnings from 1540 to 1693 (but unofficially a witch was lynched as late as 1897). This burning sends the witch to Bloksbjerg, the mountain 'Brocken' in the Harz region of Germany where the great witch gathering was thought to be held on this day.
Holger Drachmann and P.E. Lange-Müller wrote a beautiful midsommervise (Midsummer hymn) in 1885 called "Vi elsker vort land..." ("We Love Our Land") that is sung at every bonfire on this evening.
Norway
Like in Denmark, Sankthansaften is celebrated on 23 June. The day is also called Jonsok, which means "Johannes wake," important in Catholic times with pilgrimages to churches and holy springs. Right up to 1840 there was, for instance, a pilgrimage to the stave church in Røldal (southwest Norway) whose crucifix was said to have healing powers.
In parts of Norway a custom of arranging mock marriages, both between adults and between children, is still kept alive. The wedding was meant to symbolise the blossoming of new life. Such weddings are known to have taken place in the 1800s, but the custom is believed to be older.
In the last century Midsummer's Eve was largely celebrated in the local communities, but during the 1990s it has developed into a more private party with family and friends gathering round a bonfire to dance.
Sweden
In Sweden Midsummer celebration origins from the time before Christianity, it was celebrated as a sacrifice time in the sign of the fertility.
In Sweden, Midsummer's Eve and Midsummer's Day is moved to the third Friday and Saturday of June, in order to make a dependable long weekend. The main celebrations takes place on the Friday, the traditional events include raising and dancing around a huge (phallic) maypole. Before the maypole is raised, greens and flowers are collected and used to cover, to "may", the entire pole.
Raising and dancing around a maypole is primarily an activity that attracts families, even though it traditionally was a fertility ritual. Dancing around the pole is often accompanied by traditional music and the wearing of traditional folk costumes. The year's first potatoes, pickled herring, sour cream, and possibly the first strawberries of the season are on the menu.
Because Midsummer is one of the times of the year when magic is believed to be strongest, it was considered a good night to perform rituals to look into the future. Today, this tradition survives and young girls pick bouquets of seven or nine different flowers and put them under their pillow in the hope of dreaming about their future husband. However, the magic of midsummer was not to be toyed with and in old folklore a number of precautions existed to help people avoid evil forces.
By many Swedes this holiday is seen as a holiday of partying, and as the start of the summer. Also, quite interestingly, many swedes would rather have Midsummer's Eve as their National Day.
Finland
Before 1316, the summer solstice was called Ukon juhla, after an old Finnish god Ukko. In Karelia, people had many bonfires side by side, the biggest of which was called Ukko-kokko (the "bonfire of Ukko"). At present the midsummer holiday is known as Juhannus, or midsommar for the Swedish-speaking minority, and is the year's most notable occasion for drunkenness and revels.
Most of Finland burns bonfires (kokko) at lakesides and eats smoked fish from the same lakes. In the coastal areas that are the stronghold of the Finland-Swedish, these are supplanted by a maypole tradition transferred from Sweden and pickled herring.
When Finland was Christianized, the holiday was named after John the Baptist (Johannes) in order to give a Christian meaning for the pagan holiday. The traditions, however, remained quite unchanged and survive in modern-day Finland although they have lost their original purposes. In folk magic, still well known but no longer seriously practiced, midsummer was a very potent night and the time for many small rituals, mostly for young maidens seeking suitors.
Midsummer in Finland is celebrated at least as intensely as in Sweden. A great many people get indecently drunk and happy. The statistics of the number of people drowned and killed in accidents are morbidly counted every year while the number of assaults also peaks.
Latvia
Midsummer is called Jani in Latvia. It is a national holiday and Latvians consider Jani about as important as Christmas. Just like Christmas, Jani has been commercialised in recent years.
In summary, midsummer is celebrated on a large scale by almost everyone in Latvia. Wherever you go in Latvia during Jani, you'll see solsticial bonfires. Celebration consists of lot of traditional elements (eating Jani cheese, drinking beer, singing hundreds of Latvian folk songs dedicated to Jani, jumping over the bonfire, wearing wreaths/crowns made of flowers (for the women) and oak leaves (for the men)) together with modern commercial products and ideas.
Lithuania
At the beginning of the 20th century, solstitial bonfires were common all over Lithuania, but Soviet years have repressed such customs.
Ireland
In the Irish calendar, Midsummer is one of the four Irish Quarter days that divide the official calendar, and the evening before (St. John's Eve) is called Bonfire Night.
Italy
The feast of Saint John the Baptist has been celebrated in Florence from ancient times, certainly in the Renaissance, with festivals sometimes lasting the three days from 21 to 24 June. Saint John the Baptist was, and is, the patron saint of the city, which was such an important State in the XI-XV-XVI centuries.Germany
On June 20th 1653 the Nuremberg town council issued the following order: :"Whereas experience heretofore hath shown, that after the old heathen use, on John's day in every year, in the country, as well in towns as villages, money and wood hath been gathered by young folk, and thereupon the so-called sonnenwendt or zimmet fire kindled, and thereat winebibbing, dancing about the said fire, leaping over the same, with burning of sundry herbs and flowers, and setting of brands from the said fire in the fields, and in many other ways all manner of superstitious work carried on---Therefore the Hon. Council of Nürnberg town neither can nor ought to forbear to do away with all such unbecoming superstition, paganism, and peril of fire on this coming day of St. John."
United Kingdom
In Britain from the 13th century Midsummer was celebrated on Midsummer Eve (St. John's Eve, June 23) and St. Peter's Eve (June 28) with the lighting of bonfires, feasting and merrymaking. The tradition largely fell to the Reformation, but persisted in rural areas up until the nineteenth century before petering out. See also Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
June 24, Midsummer Day, the feast of St John the Baptist, is one of the quarter days in England.
USA
The NYC Swedish Midsummer celebrations in Battery Park, New York City, attracts some 3,000-5,000 people annually, which makes it one of the largest celebrations after the ones held in Leksand and at the Skansen Park in Stockholm.
It is also celebrated locally in Minnesota, which has a substantial Scandinavian element.
Neopaganism
Midsummer, usually referred to by the traditional name, Litha, is one of the eight solar holidays or sabbats of Neopaganism. It is celebrated on the solstice or close to it.
The holiday is considered the turning point at which summer reaches its height and the sun shines longest, but at the same time it is said we are reminded that the days will soon begin to shorten.
Among the Neopagan sabbats, Midsummer is preceded by Beltane and followed by Lughnasadh or Lammas. See also Wheel of the Year.
External link
- Midsummer at the Open Directory Project
Reference
- The Stations of the Sun, Ronald Hutton, Oxford 1996ang:Middansumer
bg:Еньовден da:Midsommer de:Mittsommerfest fi:Juhannus sv:Midsommar