Today it's
Midsummer or Summer Solstice. The highlight of summer.
old Breton illustration of the "Feu de la St Jean"
On 24 June,
"La nuit de la Saint Jean" as it is called here in France, isn't celebrated
like it was in the old days. Except in some places like here in Brittany
where it has remained a living tradition. And so it is that the Old cult of the Fire is still existent. Fire, for millennia was honoured as a source of
universal life.
Old postcard, Tantad de St Jean du Doigt
In many
Breton villages they still have the tradition of lighting a large bonfire
around midsummer.
This fire
is called "Tantad" in Breton. The firewood is collected one month in
advance, it consists mainly of dried gorse (Ulex europaeus) which grows
everywhere here in Brittany.
Picture taken a few years ago in St Jean du Doigt
just before lighting the fire
It used to
go like this:
After the fire
was lit, the villagers, all in festive attire, stand around the fire and began
to perform all kinds of dancing and singing. Children were not allowed to
participate and could only look at the fire through the windows of their houses, because it was mainly a celebration of adulthood, of love and fertility.
When the fire had diminished, tough young men and brave young women jumped happily
over the glowing embers. The older village women each took a piece of coal and threw
it into the well to cleanse the water for the whole year to come. Towards the
end, bystanders threw a small cobblestone in the cooling fire, this stone was
called a "anaon" . And thus ended the party and everyone went to
sleep. In the morning, the villagers went to see their "anaon" stone,
because during the night the spirits came to turn over the stones of the people
who would die in the following year! The cooled ash was then spread on the
fields in order to promote the fertility of the soil.
Or at least
that's how it used to be done. Now it is a popular festival linked to the still
very strong Christian faith.
Tantad de St Jean du Doigt
Tantad de St Jean du Doigt
But "la
fête de la St Jean" was not only about bonfires, it was also a good time
to collect some medicinal herbs. The next day, the people who knew about these
things, with bare feet, still groggy from the previous night and with a golden
sickle in their hand went to pick the herbs. To ward off demons and to cure
fevers. St John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) of course, but also vervain
(Verbena officinalis), the sacred plant of the Celts. It was picked while singing
a mysterious song, a very old charm formula, called "Verven-Dieu" but
nobody knows what it actually means anymore.
...
Happy Summer Solstice
Thanks for visiting
...
wonderful post
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