Midsummer

Next: Thursday 24 June 2027

24 June, Midsummer Day, and the eve before it, kept with bonfires on hilltops.

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Folklore from the old calendars

A chaplet of roses at Tong No longer kept ShropshireEvery year a garland of flowers was placed on the effigy of a Vernon in Tong church.
A cheese through the Midsummer fire at Newton No longer kept GlamorganOld people at Newton in Glamorgan remembered meeting at a small stone enclosure near the village well on Midsummer Eve and throwing a small cheese across through the flames of the fire.
A coal under the plantain root Lore and belief LondonAt noon on Midsummer Day 1694 Aubrey came upon twenty-two or twenty-three young women, most of them well dressed, on their knees in the pasture behind Montague House as if they were weeding.
A Midsummer Eve supper for the man she would marry Lore and belief EnglandAn unmarried woman who fasted on Midsummer Eve could lay a clean cloth at midnight with bread, cheese and ale, sit down as if to eat and leave the street door open.
A Midsummer fire in the open street No longer kept EnglandOn Midsummer Eve, in most country places and here and there in towns, old and young gathered round a large fire made in the open street.
A quarter-pound of pepper for Waterton Farm No longer kept GlamorganWaterton Farm near Coity, Bridgend, was held by an odd tenure: suit of court and a quarter of a pound of pepper paid to the lord of the manor.
A red rose for Highhead at Midsummer No longer kept CumberlandIn the reign of Edward III Highhead Castle, near Dalston, was held by the service of bringing a red rose to the king's exchequer in Carlisle every year on the feast of St John the Baptist.
Bede’s Well on Midsummer Eve No longer kept County DurhamAbout a mile west of Jarrow stood Bede's Well, where until about 1740 sick children were brought to be dipped; a crooked pin was dropped in and the well was laved dry between each dipping.
Birch trees at the Chester doors No longer kept CheshireOn St John the Baptist's Eve the people of Chester brought in a multitude of young birch trees and planted them before their doors to wither.
Bonefires before shops on St Peter’s Eve No longer kept EnglandOn St Peter's Eve, as on Midsummer Eve and some other nights, people made bonfires in front of their shops and houses.
Bonfires of amity in London No longer kept LondonStow, quoted by Hone, described how in June and July, on the eves of feast days, bonfires were made in the London streets with every man giving wood or labour.
Broughton on Midsummer Eve No longer kept NorthumberlandNorthumbrian households sat down on Midsummer Eve to broughton, two cakes baked with thin slices of cheese between them.
Burning bones to drive off the dragons Lore and belief EnglandSome medieval writers said the St John's Eve fires were made to drive away the dragons and evil spirits in the air.
Burnt names and a looking-glass on Midsummer Eve Lore and belief EnglandOn Midsummer Eve lovers wrote their names on a paper at twelve o'clock, burned it, and carefully gathered up the ashes.
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.
Changelings taken on St John’s Eve Lore and belief North WalesIn North Wales the fairies were thought to be busiest at stealing babies and leaving their own in the cradle on Nos Wyl Ifan, St John's Eve.
Children at the well on St John’s Eve at Barnwell No longer kept CambridgeshireBarnwell, then a village just outside Cambridge, was said to take its name from the children who played about a well there on St John the Baptist's Eve.
Colm’s Day fair at Largs No longer kept AyrshireEvery Midsummer Largs held a fair called St Colm's Day, where Highlanders and Lowlanders met to trade for the whole year.
Crowning the tin-mine poles No longer kept CornwallIn Cornwall the boundary of each tin mine was marked by a long pole with a bush at the top.
Elder flowers from Midsummer Day Lore and belief EnglandElder flowers gathered on Midsummer Day, dried and powdered, were a receipt for keeping young.
Farthing Loaf Day No longer kept WorcestershireBy an old bequest of a local spinster, a farthing loaf was given on Midsummer Eve to everyone born in Church Street, Kidderminster, rich or poor, who cared to claim it, and the day was known as Farthing Loaf Day.
Fires to bless the apples No longer kept Herefordshire, SomersetOn Midsummer Eve people in Herefordshire and Somerset lit fires in the fields and along the lanes to bless the apples.
Grass rent to Mannan on Barrule No longer kept Isle of ManOn Midsummer Eve the Manx carried green meadow grass to the top of Barrule as rent to Mannan-beg-mac-y-heir.
Green birch on the sign-posts at Little Brickhill No longer kept Buckinghamshire, LondonThe herbalist William Coles remembered riding through Little Brickhill, a town on the London road between Dunstable and Stony Stratford, and finding nearly every sign-post decked with green birch.
Hen’s eggs on the witches’ night Lore and belief EnglandMidsummer Eve was counted or called the witches' night, and on it hen's eggs were broken so that people might see what their fortune would be.
John Baptist brings grass beef and peas No longer kept EnglandMidsummer, the feast of St John the Baptist, brought the first grass-fed beef and green peas to the farmer's table.
Kelton Hill horse fair No longer kept KirkcudbrightshireOn the first Tuesday after 17 June, Old Style, the village of Rhonehouse or Kelton Hill held a horse fair that its minister thought perhaps the largest in Scotland.
Laying out the Dolemoors No longer kept SomersetOn the Saturday before Old Midsummer Day the two common moors called Dolemoors, in the parishes of Congresbury, Week St Lawrence and Puxton, were shared out among those with rights in them.
Letters in a basin on Midsummer Eve Lore and belief DorsetA Dorset girl who wanted her husband's initial wrote the alphabet on scraps of paper at bedtime and floated them face down in a basin of water.
Lida, the gentle months for sailing Lore and belief EnglandThe heathen English called both June and July Lida, meaning gentle or fit for sailing, because the breezes were mild and the seas could be sailed in both.
Midsummer boughs at the stall door Lore and belief EnglandReginald Scot, listing the charms people used against witches, wrote that they hung boughs hallowed on Midsummer Day at the door of the stall where the cattle stood.
Midsummer cushions No longer kept NorthumberlandIn Northumberland on Midsummer Day stools were dressed with a cushion of flowers.
Midsummer men Lore and belief EnglandOn Midsummer Eve girls set sprigs of orpine in clay on a slate or potsherd and called them Midsummer men.
Midsummer torches in Cornwall No longer kept CornwallBorlase, quoted by Hone, wrote that on Midsummer Eve the Cornish people lit bonfires and walked round them with torches tarred and pitched at the end.
Midsummer water parties in West Cornwall No longer kept CornwallOn the coast of the far west of Cornwall great bonfires were lit on the evening of 24 June, and next day the country people gathered in crowds to go out on the water.
Pouring lead for a husband’s trade Lore and belief EnglandA chapbook owned by Brand's editor gave a way for a girl to learn what trade her future husband would follow.
Shoes in the form of a T Lore and belief DorsetA Dorset man writing for the Year Book said Midsummer Eve was the great night for girls to find out whom they would marry.
Sir Thomas Parkyns’s wrestling No longer kept NottinghamshireSir Thomas Parkyns, a Nottinghamshire squire, was a keen wrestler who trained his servants and neighbours, showed them off in public and wrote a book called The Cornish Hug Wrestler.
Snake stones at Midsummer Lore and belief Cornwall, Scotland, WalesBorlase found it a common belief in most of Wales, throughout Scotland and in Cornwall that about Midsummer Eve snakes met together in companies.
St Colm’s market at Auldearn No longer kept NairnshireOn 21 June the village of Auldearn held St Colm's market, the first of its three yearly markets.
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.
St John’s great candlestick Lore and belief EnglandThe scarlet lychnis, which flowered about 24 June, was the flower of St John the Baptist's feast.
St John’s verses and bonfire at Eton No longer kept BuckinghamshireThe account of Eton School written in 1560 describes how, for as long as the custom lasted, the boys on St John the Baptist's Eve decorated their beds with pictures and wrote verses on the life and deeds of the saint, fair copies of which were pinned to the bed-posts for the learned to read.
St John’s wort over the Welsh door No longer kept WalesPennant's manuscript notes that in Wales people had the custom of sticking St John's wort over their doors on the eve of St John the Baptist.
St John’s worts on the rafters Lore and belief WalesAs late as the middle of the nineteenth century Welsh households foretold who would die first by hanging St John's worts from the rafters, one named for each person in the house.
St Margaret’s dragon lent to St Sepulchre’s No longer kept LondonThe parish of St Margaret, Westminster, kept a dragon for the Midsummer Eve processions and was paid when a City parish borrowed it.
St Peter’s Eve fires in Ireland No longer kept IrelandSir Henry Piers, quoted by Hone, wrote that in Ireland on the eves of St John the Baptist and St Peter every town had a bonfire late in the evening.
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.
The black dog at Whiteborough No longer kept CornwallBrand recorded that a Midsummer bonfire was once made on Whiteborough, a burial mound on St Stephen's Down near Launceston.
The Bredogue No longer kept IrelandOn St John's Eve, and on some other feasts, people in the south of Ireland dressed a broomstick as a figure called a Bredogue.

Folklore from the old calendars

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