Midsummer Fires

As we've just had the Midsummer solstice, here is a poetic celebration of the many different customs of Midsummer. gleaned from Ronald Hutton's excellent book "The Stations of the Sun":

Midsummer Fires

In the Vale of Glamorgan, there I saw

A cart wheel all covered in straw

Set alight, then rolled downhill

Augur for harvest, good or ill

If out before it reaches the end

Poor harvests now bad weather send

If lighted all its fall, and still longer

Abundant crops will grow for farmer.

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At Buckfastleigh is lit upon on sunset

Midsummer wheel that luck may get

If guided by sticks, it meets the stream

Fortune will shine within its beam

A flaming chariot is shown in part

Bringing delight and joy to heart

As sun now wheeling through the sky

Brings living warmth to you and I.

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In Shopshire, upon St John's Eve

Three fires do they carefully weave

A bonfire of clean bones, no wood

Of wood, no bones, the wakefire should

Keep on burning through the night

Watched by all, for second sight

And lastly, made of wood and bones

St John's fire is lit upon old stones.

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At Penzance, tar barrels set on fire

With music played on harp or lyre

Folk walk this way, sing loud and raucous

Holding forth torches of blazing canvas

Then link hands, and dance in circle

"Threading the needle", rhythmical

Over the dying embers, fading light

As the evening falls to night.

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In Ireland, when fire dulls to reddish glow

Men leap over the flames in show

When lower still, young girls can leap

Thrice back and forth a man to keep

Married women walk upon the embers

Secure good will for family members

Then all take back within one hand

To their own house, a sacred brand.

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Midsummer Eve, and fires are lit

The solar nexus reaches summit

Spoked wheel pauses, then rolls on

We chant at equinox in antiphon

Lay out the candles for spectacle

In pattern of five, a pentacle

Of customs old, and customs now

Upon the Ancient Burial How.

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Book of the post:

Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain (Paperback)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stations-Sun-History-Ritual-Britain/dp/0192854488