Midsummer’s Day is celebrated today in many countries. 10 things you might not know about Midsummer.
But wait. Shouldn’t the middle of summer be celebrated on the day of the summer solstice, three or four days earlier? One possible reason is that in Roman times when they used the Julian calendar, the summer solstice was on this date.
The Romans celebrated midsummer in a big way with much drinking and merrymaking. It was also the festival of the goddess Fors Fortuna.
When Christianity arrived, this day was assigned as a feast of St John the Baptist.
Rural communities saw it as a reason for celebration because it was the midpoint of the growing season, and therefore farmers celebrated the harvest to come.
Midsummer’s Eve was widely celebrated with bonfires and it was a time when young women would traditionally try to divine who their future husbands would be.
Midsummer was traditionally a time for gathering herbs, especially Saint John's wort, which was believed to have protective powers against evil spirits.
Midsummer’s day is a public holiday in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Quebec. In Sweden, there have been proposals to move the country’s national day to this date.
In England, Midsummer Day is traditionally one of the quarter days, when servants were hired, school terms started, and rents were due.
In Austria, the Midsummer solstice is celebrated with a procession of ships down the Danube through the wine-growing Wachau Valley north of Vienna.
In Celtic tradition it’s a day when fairies are about, and is second only to Halloween when it comes to the supernatural. Rubbing fern spores on eyelids the night before was said to ensure you’d see a fairy on Midsummer’s day, with the caveat that you should wear your clothes inside out or carry rue in your pocket so as not to be stolen away by them.
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