John Hillman on the summer celebration that progress forgot

After a year in which modern capitalism has left us feeling slightly cold and a bit let down, kind of like an average British summer, the prospect of reconnecting with our ancient pagan traditions has extra-strong appeal.

This sentiment is in evidence across northern Europe this week as millions of people prepare to dust down their maypoles and head out into the countryside to celebrate Midsummer’s Eve, a pagan tradition that’s as old as mistletoe itself.

Whether you’re heading to the Salisbury Planes in England, the Fete de la Saint-Jean festivities held in towns and villages across rural France, or one of the hundreds of bonfire burning rituals across Scandinavia and the Baltic states, now’s your chance to follow in the footsteps of your ancestors and celebrate a date that, until the industrial revolution, was one of the most important in our calendar.

St. John’s Eve, or The Feast of St. John, takes place on the 24th June, the date chosen to celebrate the pagan summer solstice. This is the point when the Earth’s axis is most inclined towards the sun, just as Christmas celebrates the old pagan winter solstice festival of Yule.

A few hundred years ago none of us would have been doing very much work this week, instead we would all be drinking beer singing songs and watching maidens perform numerous fertility rituals such as the maypole dance.

These traditions are still closely observed in Scandinavia, where almost continuous daylight, at this time of year, is still seen as a cause for wide celebration. Unfortunately for us in the UK such frolics were gradually discouraged over the years before those rather serious Victorians finally succeeded in putting everyone in big cities where their lives could be governed by the factory clock rather than the mystic machinations of the solar system.

So those of you feeling let down, why not pack a bag and head out into northern Europe, look for the lakes and the smell of burning cedar wood; you might just find something you forgot you ever had, a strong connection to an older way of life that until quite recently was as much a part of you as your credit card is now.

image credit: Graeme newcomb

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