Midsummer night's dreams revisited... (From Gazette & Herald)

Midsummer night's dreams revisited...

THIS coming Friday, June 24, has long been regarded as a very important date in the rural calendar.

Not only is it Midsummer Day, it is also the feast of St John the Baptist, whilst the previous day is the Eve of St John, Mugworth Digging Night, Need Fire Night and, of course, the Eve of Midsummer.

It follows that there were several celebrations on these days, most of which seem to have been abandoned.

In times gone by, various charms were practised on the eve of midsummer to discover the name of one's future spouse.

Lads in Yorkshire would go onto the moors and attempt to gather spores from the bracken in the hope that their magic could attract the girl of their dreams.

This was by no means an easy task because they were not allowed to touch the spores by hand; they had to shake the bracken, usually with a stick, so that the spores dropped onto a white cloth or into a pewter dish.

In some areas of the north, the pages of an open Bible were substituted as the receptacle.

Some ardent lovers used a hazel twig to shake the spores into the receptacle but this was very difficult.

Bracken spores are tiny and the slightest whiff of wind would whisk them away, whilst an added hazard was that they had to be gathered in the darkness between eleven and midnight.

In some areas, however, it was important that no artificial means were used to make the spores fall - they had to be allowed to fall of their own accord, otherwise the charm would not work.

Another fairly common belief was that bracken spores made the collector invisible and gave them power over all other living things.

This curious notion was widespread across the whole of Europe, including England, with variations saying that the successful collector of bracken seed was also likely to find buried treasure or even a vein of gold lying beneath the surface of the earth.

It seems there were many good reasons to go collecting bracken seeds on the eve of midsummer.

Another charm was effected by digging beneath the mugwort. This is a very common but inconspicuous plant which grows along our verges, beneath our hedgerows and on waste ground.

It is rather like a miniature shrub with a somewhat dowdy appearance, but, in July and throughout the summer, it does produce attractive yellow flowers while growing to a height of between two and four feet (24-120 cm).

It has a strong scent, rather like that of a honeycomb, and, for that reason, it was considered magical.

On the eve of midsummer, men would dig beneath the roots - because it was thought the mugwort produced a type of coal which made the possessor immune to things like lightning strikes, plagues and unsightly spots on the skin.

The secret was to find a mugworth root, dig it up and keep it preserved, although it must be said that some countryfolk used the plant as a substitute for hops in making a very tasty, but somewhat bitter, beer.

Among its other uses was making a stuffing for cooked geese or as a moth repellent in clothes!

Some people would even burn the leaves because the scent fumigated a sick room. A most versatile plant.

This was not the only plant which lovers sought on Midsummer Eve.

St John's Wort, whose leaves are so like those of a dandelion, was collected and hung near doorways and windows of houses in Yorkshire in the belief that it would protect the property and its inhabitants against evil of all kinds, including witches.

Young girls would also go out on that evening to collect hempseed, believing it would reveal the name of their true love.

Midsummer Eve was also known as Need Fire Night. At the time, fire was a precious commodity, even in the middle of summer, because it provided heat, light and cooking facilities.

If the family fire was allowed to die out, it could be very difficult to get it going again, there being no such things as matches or fire-lighters, and, so, on the eve of midsummer, fire was carried from house to house by teams of runners.

They would light any fires which had been allowed to die out, but it was then the duty of the householders to make sure they continued to burn.

Midsummer Day was one of the year's quarter days when rents were due, whilst in Derbyshire it was a well-dressing day, although most wells are decorated earlier in the year.

Here in the north, however, it was the day to avoid cutting one's thistles; if you did, they would multiply to cause you further problems. The recommended time to cut them is July - "cut thistles in July and they will die". The old saying goes: "Cut your thistles before St John, and you'll have two instead of one."

References to St John the Baptist remind us that King Herod gave a feast at which Salome pleased him so much that he offered to give her anything she wished.

She said she wanted the head of John the Baptist on a plate at table. King Herod, therefore, ordered the execution of the man who is now a saint.

That was two years before Christ's crucifixion but his feast day continues to be celebrated on Midsummer Day.

Updated: 13:42 Wednesday, June 22, 2005