They think that the St. John's fire keeps witches
from the cattle, and they say that he who does not come to it will
have his barley full of thistles and his oats full of weeds. In the
Esthonian island of Oesel, while they throw fuel into the midsummer
fire, they call out, "Weeds to the fire, flax to the field," or they
fling three billets into the flames, saying, "Flax grow long!" And
they take charred sticks from the bonfire home with them and keep
them to make the cattle thrive. In some parts of the island the
bonfire is formed by piling brushwood and other combustibles round a
tree, at the top of which a flag flies. Whoever succeeds in knocking
down the flag with a pole before it begins to burn will have good
luck. Formerly the festivities lasted till daybreak, and ended in
scenes of debauchery which looked doubly hideous by the growing
light of a summer morning.
When we pass from the east to the west of Europe we still find the
summer solstice celebrated with rites of the same general character.
Down to about the middle of the nineteenth century the custom of
lighting bonfires at midsummer prevailed so commonly in France that
there was hardly a town or a village, we are told, where they were
not kindled.
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