In Ireland
cattle, especially barren cattle, were driven through the midsummer
fires, and the ashes were thrown on the fields to fertilise them, or
live coals were carried into them to prevent blight. In Scotland the
traces of midsummer fires are few; but at that season in the
highlands of Perthshire cowherds used to go round their folds
thrice, in the direction of the sun, with lighted torches. This they
did to purify the flocks and herds and to keep them from falling
sick.
The practice of lighting bonfires on Midsummer Eve and dancing or
leaping over them is, or was till recently, common all over Spain
and in some parts of Italy and Sicily. In Malta great fires are
kindled in the streets and squares of the towns and villages on the
Eve of St. John (Midsummer Eve); formerly the Grand Master of the
Order of St. John used on that evening to set fire to a heap of
pitch barrels placed in front of the sacred Hospital. In Greece,
too, the custom of kindling fires on St. John's Eve and jumping over
them is said to be still universal.
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