Midsummer men

23 June

Lore and belief

On Midsummer Eve girls set sprigs of orpine in clay on a slate or potsherd and called them Midsummer men. Next morning the way the stalk leaned told whether a lover would be true, and a pair set up for two sweethearts would bow towards each other if the match was to be. The same night girls sowed hemp seed at midnight, looked for the dead black roots under mugwort to sleep on, or baked a dumb cake in silence, all to see or dream of their future husband.

They set the orpine in clay upon pieces of slate or potsherd in their houses, calling it a Midsummer Man.

From Chambers's Book of Days, vol. 1, p. 816. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

The Marching Watch No longer kept LondonIn medieval London a watch of at least two thousand men paraded the city on Midsummer Eve and again on the eves of St Peter and St Paul.
The Midsummer watch at Nottingham No longer kept NottinghamshireUntil the reign of Charles I every householder of means in Nottingham sent a man, armed with pike, musket or halberd, to keep a general watch on Midsummer Eve.
Struell Wells on Midsummer Eve No longer kept UlsterAt Stoole, as Hone calls Struell, near Downpatrick, crowds gathered from midnight on Midsummer Eve at a mount sacred to St Patrick with three holy wells.
Catching fern seed Lore and belief EnglandBecause the seed of the fern is too small to see, people reasoned that whoever held it would become invisible.
Watching in the church porch Lore and belief EnglandIn England it was believed that anyone who sat up fasting all night in the church porch on St John's Eve would see the spirits of those who were to die in the parish in the coming year.
The soul’s ramble on St John’s Eve Lore and belief IrelandChambers records the Irish belief that on St John's Eve every person's soul leaves the body and travels to the place where it will finally part from it in death.
St John’s Eve fires in Ireland Still kept IrelandDonald McQueen of Skye told of seeing the Irish St John's Eve fires in 1782.
The Ripon welcome table No longer kept YorkshireAt Ripon on Midsummer Eve, every householder who had moved into a new neighbourhood during the year set a table in the street before his door with bread, cheese and ale for anyone who cared to come.

Midsummer men

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