St. John’s Eve: ‘Give us good summer!’

Over the weekend, I attended one of the groovier social gatherings I’ve ever been blessed to attend in Chicago. The occasion was St. John’s Eve — an ancient celebration (with its roots among my pre-Christian Celtic ancestors) that marks the night before the Feast of St. John the Baptist on June 24. As an aside, St. John the Baptist’s feast day is only one of three in the Catholic tradition that celebrate the birth date (rather than the death date) of the saint.

Because, according to the hints given in Scripture, St. John, who was Jesus’ cousin, was born about six months before Christ the Lord, June 24 has traditionally been the day St. John’s birthday is celebrated.

It also conveniently coincides with the Summer Solstice and the longest day of the year. Ancient Celts — and not-so-ancient Irish — build huge bonfires to celebrate the solstice and St. John’s Eve, asking God to bless them (and their crops and their animals) with a good summer, full of sunshine and rain. Sometimes they drive a few cows through the middle of the fire — actually, between two fires so as not to scorch the heifers — and sometimes they light torches from the fires and walk them through their fields, or send the kids from door-to-door collecting tinder for the fire. It’s a community thing, recognizing that the summer is a time of preparation and growth for the plenty expected in the autumn harvest.

So in the small backyard of Mrs. Sweeney’s house on the North Side of Chicago last Saturday night, we watched her light an old bicycle tire (that had been wrapped in lighter-fluid-soaked rags and tethered to the side of her house just above the raised cellar doors) on fire, and, after we prayed with the refrain, “Give us good summer!” cut the string and watched the burning wheel roll into the night (stopped only by a chain-link fence at the alley).

It was marvelous.

LORD, GIVE US GOOD SUMMER!

Here are a few more pix: