The main features of the midsummer fire-festival resemble those
which we have found to characterise the vernal festivals of fire.
The similarity of the two sets of ceremonies will plainly appear
from the following examples.
A writer of the first half of the sixteenth century informs us that
in almost every village and town of Germany public bonfires were
kindled on the Eve of St. John, and young and old, of both sexes,
gathered about them and passed the time in dancing and singing.
People on this occasion wore chaplets of mugwort and vervain, and
they looked at the fire through bunches of larkspur which they held
in their hands, believing that this would preserve their eyes in a
healthy state throughout the year. As each departed, he threw the
mugwort and vervain into the fire, saying, "May all my ill-luck
depart and be burnt up with these." At Lower Konz, a village
situated on a hillside overlooking the Moselle, the midsummer
festival used to be celebrated as follows. A quantity of straw was
collected on the top of the steep Stromberg Hill.
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