Midsummer Magic
This evening is St. John's Eve, or Midsummer's Eve. This is the night the summer solstice was originally celebrated the width and breadth of old Europe, before Christianity appeared to regulate everything according t0 the saints. Tonight there will be bonfires all over Spain, but they will no longer be lit to frighten away evil spirits from the sun. Tonight they will be lit first for the spectacle of an enormous bonfire reflecting light from the fading sky, and then when it dies down, to roast the traditional sardines (or not-as-expensive spare ribs and sausages). Later on, when most people's throats have been dampened by wine, merry-goers will jump over the glowing coals three times, ensuring that witches don't bother them during the following year. Of course, the clinics and ER's will see a few visits from burn victims, who thought the wine they showered their stomachs with would protect them from a stronger element.
Some groups of young people have been preparing for a couple of weeks, picking up used lumber and odd fixtures no one wants any more. The law says you can't burn anything other than wood, but who's going to see the old armchair in the middle of the pyre? Some even go to the woods and gather whatever dry firewood they can. Now, if they had been asked to gather firewood to keep the house warm during the winter....... But that's not as much fun. Some cities have municipal bonfires. Everything is taken care of legally and ambulances are on hand. A Coruña has the biggest municipal and private celebrations on Riazor beach. Groups gather in the evening and light their own small bonfires on the sand, while the large one is taken care of by the city government. Other towns have areas where they're allowed. But a lot of people have their own small bonfires on their property, and late at night you can smell woodsmoke from the neighbors' gardens.
Another custom is that of collecting herbs and flowers. Unfortunately, I know the herbs by sight and not by name so I can't enumerate them here. The only one I know by both is wild chamomile, which grows freely along lanes and paths in sunny patches. The herbs and sweet-smelling flowers are collected and put in a pail with water, originally collected from seven springs but now culled from the faucet. The concoction is then left outside all night and in the morning you're supposed to wash your face with it. The herbs and flowers are supposed to help any skin illnesses, their efficacy augmented by the magic of midsummer night.
We don't usually light a bonfire because we don't really have a good area for that. Some years we go to a friend's house or join a group we know who light one. But every year we collect the herbs. At first it was my mother and me, then it was me. Then my daughter came along and we would go together. Now, my daughter joins forces with a friend from a neighboring village and they collect together for both houses.
Another custom is to mimic the mischief witches are blamed for and change things from one place to another. This afternoon I am going to put away all the flower pots I have in front of my house so I won't have to go looking for them all over the village tomorrow. The custom used to be to take and change the cart from one house with the cart from another. That has since been amplified and now the norm is to take anything which is not nailed down or cemented in place. Including gates which can be lifted off the frame. One year, long before we were married, my husband participated along with other friends in the village. Two or three decided to take the donkey of another friend to a different stable. Along the way, they met the friend and told him to take it to a neighbor's stable. The friend said the donkey looked familiar and the others said it was his neighbor's. The friend had already drunk his share of wine, so he acquiesced and took it to the stable the others had told him about. In the morning he went and got his donkey back (along with a slipper slap from his mother for not recognizing his own property).
In a neighboring village a man was tired that his cart was always taken on St. John's Eve and that he always had to go look for it all over the place. One year he decided to sleep in it so he could wake up and run off the local boys. The cart was filled with hay and was comfy. He fell asleep and woke up the next morning. But he wasn't in the barn. He was on the cart in the middle of the stream behind the village. Let's say he was a deep sleeper.
Another year when I was still single I was at a bonfire in the village when a group of smaller kids ran by with a gate. Shortly after a neighbor came and asked if we had seen her gate. Fingers pointed and she went looking after the boys. That same night my sister-in-law joined the fun and was at the local place where they tend to leave most of what is borrowed. In our village it's the abandoned house at the corner of two roads. Someone had climbed onto the balcony and was pulling up a piece of farm machinery with a rope. She and a few others yelled, "Higher! Pull it higher!". The next morning she went with my future husband to take it down. It had turned out to belong to their parents.
Tonight I'm going to take everything in and lock the gate. On second thought, better let the dog run loose, too.
Some groups of young people have been preparing for a couple of weeks, picking up used lumber and odd fixtures no one wants any more. The law says you can't burn anything other than wood, but who's going to see the old armchair in the middle of the pyre? Some even go to the woods and gather whatever dry firewood they can. Now, if they had been asked to gather firewood to keep the house warm during the winter....... But that's not as much fun. Some cities have municipal bonfires. Everything is taken care of legally and ambulances are on hand. A Coruña has the biggest municipal and private celebrations on Riazor beach. Groups gather in the evening and light their own small bonfires on the sand, while the large one is taken care of by the city government. Other towns have areas where they're allowed. But a lot of people have their own small bonfires on their property, and late at night you can smell woodsmoke from the neighbors' gardens.
Another custom is that of collecting herbs and flowers. Unfortunately, I know the herbs by sight and not by name so I can't enumerate them here. The only one I know by both is wild chamomile, which grows freely along lanes and paths in sunny patches. The herbs and sweet-smelling flowers are collected and put in a pail with water, originally collected from seven springs but now culled from the faucet. The concoction is then left outside all night and in the morning you're supposed to wash your face with it. The herbs and flowers are supposed to help any skin illnesses, their efficacy augmented by the magic of midsummer night.
We don't usually light a bonfire because we don't really have a good area for that. Some years we go to a friend's house or join a group we know who light one. But every year we collect the herbs. At first it was my mother and me, then it was me. Then my daughter came along and we would go together. Now, my daughter joins forces with a friend from a neighboring village and they collect together for both houses.
Another custom is to mimic the mischief witches are blamed for and change things from one place to another. This afternoon I am going to put away all the flower pots I have in front of my house so I won't have to go looking for them all over the village tomorrow. The custom used to be to take and change the cart from one house with the cart from another. That has since been amplified and now the norm is to take anything which is not nailed down or cemented in place. Including gates which can be lifted off the frame. One year, long before we were married, my husband participated along with other friends in the village. Two or three decided to take the donkey of another friend to a different stable. Along the way, they met the friend and told him to take it to a neighbor's stable. The friend said the donkey looked familiar and the others said it was his neighbor's. The friend had already drunk his share of wine, so he acquiesced and took it to the stable the others had told him about. In the morning he went and got his donkey back (along with a slipper slap from his mother for not recognizing his own property).
In a neighboring village a man was tired that his cart was always taken on St. John's Eve and that he always had to go look for it all over the place. One year he decided to sleep in it so he could wake up and run off the local boys. The cart was filled with hay and was comfy. He fell asleep and woke up the next morning. But he wasn't in the barn. He was on the cart in the middle of the stream behind the village. Let's say he was a deep sleeper.
Another year when I was still single I was at a bonfire in the village when a group of smaller kids ran by with a gate. Shortly after a neighbor came and asked if we had seen her gate. Fingers pointed and she went looking after the boys. That same night my sister-in-law joined the fun and was at the local place where they tend to leave most of what is borrowed. In our village it's the abandoned house at the corner of two roads. Someone had climbed onto the balcony and was pulling up a piece of farm machinery with a rope. She and a few others yelled, "Higher! Pull it higher!". The next morning she went with my future husband to take it down. It had turned out to belong to their parents.
Tonight I'm going to take everything in and lock the gate. On second thought, better let the dog run loose, too.
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