High Days - Midsummer

The marking of Midsummer, the longest day of the year when the sun is at its strongest, is an ancient practice that can potentially be traced back almost two millenia into the past¹. However, many of those midsummer customs did not take place on the soltice itself ( 21st of June), but on St John's feast day on the 24th of June². On a personal note, I wonder if the celebration itself was preserved, but simply moved to a far less Pagan date.

The earliest mention of a midsummer celebration can be attributed to the Acts of St Vincent in the 4th century which described the practice of the Pagans of Aquitaine rolling a flaming wheel downhill to a river. Afterwards, St Vincent records that the wheel pieces were reassembled in the temple of a 'sky god'³. The long tradition of the spoked wheel being used as a symbol of the sun in Northern European folklore, only serves to further underline the solar focus of this festival⁴.

Midsummer was also associated with divination in folk custom⁵, and certain types of plant that are collected on Midsummer are ascribed greater powers⁶. The feast of St John was also typically marked by the lighting and jumping of fires, however, these fires are believed to have been of Germanic/Scandinavian cultural origin as opposed to Celtic. Like their flamey Celtic counterparts though, these more Germanic fires were also jumped for purification⁷.

According to Pagan author, Carl McColman, for modern Pagans, Midsummer is when the Goddess is swollen with pregnancy (here symbolising crops), and when the Oak King is at the height of his power. Pagans often adopt older midsummer traditions for their more modern celebrations⁸.



Words - 298

1Hutton, R. (1996). Beltane. In The stations of the sun: A history of the ritual year in Britain (pp. 320). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

2Ibid.

3Hutton, R. (1996). Beltane. In The stations of the sun: A history of the ritual year in Britain (pp. 311). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

4Ibid.

5Hutton, R. (1996). Beltane. In The stations of the sun: A history of the ritual year in Britain (pp. 312). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

6Ibid.

7Hutton, R. (1996). Beltane. In The stations of the sun: A history of the ritual year in Britain (pp. 319-320). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

8McColman, C. (2002). Chapter 13 - The Wheel of the Year. In The complete idiot's guide to paganism. Indianapolis, IN: Alpha.