Midsummer Day

 

Midsummer Day

Midsummer Day falls on 24^th June, following the summer solstice, the longest day, on 21^st June, though Pagans continue to celebrate the longest day as midsummer. It is the astronomical longest day of the year. The change came about with the advent of Christianity when St John’s Day was celebrated on 24^th June, six months before the birth of Christ.

Many hundreds of people go to Stonehenge hoping to see the ancient stones lining up perfectly with the rays of the sun. Ancient Britons used to dance around the stones, an activity associated with sun worship.

There are many legends associated with Midsummer.  One such says that if you go to an ancient oak at Broadwater, in West Sussex, you might see skeletons emerge from the earth to caper round the tree until dawn.

Five miles away from Broadwater is Chanctonbury Ring, a Bronze Age hillfort on the South Downs. It is said to have been created by the Devil who can be evoked by running widdershins seven times round the clump of trees. When the Devil appears he offers a bowl of soup in return for the summoner’s soul. This can be done at any time of the year – you don’t have to wait until the summer solstice!

The Druids, some of whom will attend at Stonehenge, were the priests of the ancient Celts. They believed the Summer Solstice was the meeting of heaven and earth, of light and dark.

In the evening before the Summer Solstice the Druids believed that mistletoe berries growing on oak trees, both of which they held sacred, would turn golden. Pliny recorded that Druids would climb the tree and use a golden sickle to cut the berries. They believed the berries would cure illnesses, encourage fertility and make people resistant to fire.

Another old custom involved three young women. Two of them would make a dumb cake, so called because no-one was allowed to speak while it was mixed and baked. The third maiden would put the cake under their pillows and the youths they dreamt of would become their husbands.

An odd legend from Wales, Cornwall and Scotland says that groups of snakes gather on Midsummer’s Eve, put their heads together and hiss to create a large foamy bubble around one of their heads.  With a great deal more hissing the bubble would traverse the length of the chosen snake’s body and exit as a small glass ring. Any human finding this ring would acquire great wealth and power.

This Midsummer morning has dawned bright and sunny, in Berkshire, at least, so perhaps the Druids and the many hundreds of other visitors will have experienced a magical sunrise.