St. John's Eve
Encyclopedia
The evening of June 23, St John's Eve, is the eve of celebration before the Feast Day of St John the Baptist
John the Baptist
John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...

. The Gospel of Luke
Gospel of Luke
The Gospel According to Luke , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Luke or simply Luke, is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels. This synoptic gospel is an account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. It details his story from the events of his birth to his Ascension.The...

 (Luke 1:36, 56–57) states that John was born about six months before Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

, therefore the feast of John the Baptist was fixed on June 21~24, six months before Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

. This feast day is one of the very few saints' days to mark the supposed anniversary of the birth, rather than the death, of the saint commemorated.

The Feast of St John coincides with the June solstice
Solstice
A solstice is an astronomical event that happens twice each year when the Sun's apparent position in the sky, as viewed from Earth, reaches its northernmost or southernmost extremes...

 also referred to as Midsummer
Midsummer
Midsummer may simply refer to the period of time centered upon the summer solstice, but more often refers to specific European celebrations that accompany the actual solstice, or that take place on a day between June 21 and June 24, and the preceding evening. The exact dates vary between different...

. The Christian holy day is fixed at June 24, but, in some countries, festivities are celebrated the night before, on St John's Eve. The feast is celebrated in various countries.

Baltic Sea region

The feast day of Saint John the Baptist was a very popular event in the ancien régime of France, and it is still celebrated as a religious feast day in several countries, like Denmark, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Similar festivities take place in Scandinavia. Bonfires are lit and effigees burned on the evening of June 23. People jump over the bonfires to prove their courage. Traditionally, three jumps cleanses one from sin and disease. One of the centers of the festival is in Ciutadella
Ciutadella
Ciutadella de Menorca or simply Ciutadella is a town and a municipality in the western end of Minorca, one of the Balearic Islands . The name means "citadel". It is one of the two main cities in the island, along with Maó.-History:...

; but many different cities and towns have their own unique traditions associated with the festival. In recent years, public celebrations have begun cordoning off the fires for safety reasons.

In Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 the festival is known as 'sobótki'. Traditional folk rituals include groups of young men and women singing ritual songs to each other. The young women may wear crowns fashioned from wild flowers, which are later thrown into a nearby pond or lake. The boys/young men may then swim out to claim one of the crowns. Bonfires (and bonfire jumping) are also part of the proceedings.

In Latvia the festival is known as Līgo vakars
Jani
Jāņi is a Latvian festival held in the night from 23 June to 24 June to celebrate the summer solstice , the shortest night and longest day of the year. The day of Līgo and the day of Jāņi are public holidays, and people usually spend them in the countryside...

 (lit. Sway Eve) or Jāņu vakars
Jani
Jāņi is a Latvian festival held in the night from 23 June to 24 June to celebrate the summer solstice , the shortest night and longest day of the year. The day of Līgo and the day of Jāņi are public holidays, and people usually spend them in the countryside...

 (lit. John's Eve).

Canada

The tradition landed in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 with the first French colonists. According to the Jesuit Relations, the first celebrations occurred on the banks of the Saint Lawrence River
Saint Lawrence River
The Saint Lawrence is a large river flowing approximately from southwest to northeast in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It is the primary drainage conveyor of the Great Lakes Basin...

 on the evening of June 23, 1636 with a bonfire and five cannon shots.

United States

Historically, this date has been venerated in the practice of Voodoo
Louisiana Voodoo
Louisiana Voodoo, also known as New Orleans Voodoo, describes a set of underground religious practices which originated from the traditions of the African diaspora. It is a cultural form of the Afro-American religions which developed within the French, Spanish, and Creole speaking African American...

. The famous Voodoo priestess Marie Laveau
Marie Laveau
Marie Laveau was a Louisiana Creole practitioner of Voodoo renown in New Orleans. She was born free in New Orleans....

 was said to have held ceremonies involving Voodoo ritual on the Bayou St John in New Orleans, commemorating St John's Eve. Modern day practitioners of Voodoo have kept the tradition alive.

Shetland Isles

The Johnsmas Foy festivities on the Shetland Isles (north of Scotland), where the people are still proud of their Nordic roots also take place in the week building up to the 23rd/24th June. These may also have their origins in the Scandinavian St John's Eve fetivities.

Brazil

Brazil has the largest St John's festivities in the globe, ("Festas Juninas") with parties all over the country. The Northeastern region of Brazil concentrates the most elaborated parties, more specifically in the cities of Caruaru-Pernambuco, Campina Grande-Paraiba, Salvador-Bahia and in smaller cities like Cruz das Almas, Ibicui, Jequie and Ilheus also in Bahia. In Campina Grande and Caruaru, the festivities are approximately 30 days long.

In the evening on June 23, Catholics all over Brazil light a big fire, symbolizing a Catholic tale: During a conversation, John's mother, Elizabeth
Elizabeth (Biblical person)
Elizabeth is also spelled Elisabeth or Elisheva...

, agreed to light a big fire to notify her cousin Mary (mother of Jesus) that she had given birth, that she might get post-partum assistance from her cousin.

Spain

In Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, ancient pre-Christian traditions related to fire festivities are still among the most popular. Bonfires are lit in the streets or on the sand of the beaches, the rituals are jumping over the fire, touch the water that is blessed in the night or asking for some wishes, and there are fireworks too. Special meals are also served on this occasion.

Puerto Rico

On the island of Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

, originally named San Juan Batista, after the saint, by Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...

, a night-long celebration is held. After sunset, people travel to a beach or any accessible body of water (e.g. river, lake or even bathtub) and, at midnight, fall backwards into it seven or twelve times. This is done to cleanse the body from sin and give good luck for the following year.

England

The town of Midsomer Norton, in Somerset, England, is said to be named after the Feast Day of St John the Baptist, which is also the parish church.

See also

  • Midsummer
    Midsummer
    Midsummer may simply refer to the period of time centered upon the summer solstice, but more often refers to specific European celebrations that accompany the actual solstice, or that take place on a day between June 21 and June 24, and the preceding evening. The exact dates vary between different...

  • St Mark's Eve
  • Golowan
  • True and Untrue
    True and Untrue
    True and Untrue is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Asbjørnsen and Moe. It is Aarne-Thompson type 613, The Two Travelers: Truth and Falsehood.-Synopsis:...

  • St. John's Eve (short story)
    St. John's Eve (short story)
    "St. John's Eve" is the second tale in the collection Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka by Nikolai Gogol. It was first published in 1830 in the literary Russian periodical Otechestvennye Zapiski in February and March issues, and in the book form in 1831....

    , a short story by Gogol

External links

  • http://www.vilaweb.cat/www/diariescola/noticia?id=711338
  • http://www.whatsonwhen.com/sisp/index.htm?fx=event&event_id=13466
  • http://www.spanishunlimited.com/spain/fiestas/sanjuan.asp
  • http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/ACalend/StJohnsEve.html
  • The Year of the French by Thomas Flanagan, 1979.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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