Summer Solstice 2012
St John's Night, San Xoan de Poio
It's the night of St John, and we're sitting watching the
post-match interviews [Spain vs France, Euro 2012], waiting for the firework display (it's now 23:23 exactly!). We've eaten the traditional sardines and maize-bread, and after the fireworks we'll go downstairs to our own apartment, put baby to bed, then jump over our candles, as is our new custom since baby was born and is still too young to stay up so late to go and jump over the bonfires at midnight.
I was thinking, while trying to start the barbeque to cook the sardines, that the fire represents Leo and the longest day in the most pagan, primitive, prehistoric way, while the fish represents the Christian religion and its merging into (or highjacking of, if you look at another way) the ancient traditions. Together, the two elements represent the most basic elements of food (fish and bread, products of seafaring and farming) and heat. On the summer solstice we need the fire less than normal (shortest night), so we celebrate it as something to barbecue on or jump over.
Back to tonight... After jumping the fire we will wash our hands and faces in water in which summer herbs were soaked. This has been our version of St John's Night, and will continue until our baby is big enough to jump the fires in the town's fiesta.
PS. She was still awake when we returned downstairs, so we let her jump over the candle/fire too! Vic
I was thinking, while trying to start the barbeque to cook the sardines, that the fire represents Leo and the longest day in the most pagan, primitive, prehistoric way, while the fish represents the Christian religion and its merging into (or highjacking of, if you look at another way) the ancient traditions. Together, the two elements represent the most basic elements of food (fish and bread, products of seafaring and farming) and heat. On the summer solstice we need the fire less than normal (shortest night), so we celebrate it as something to barbecue on or jump over.
Back to tonight... After jumping the fire we will wash our hands and faces in water in which summer herbs were soaked. This has been our version of St John's Night, and will continue until our baby is big enough to jump the fires in the town's fiesta.
PS. She was still awake when we returned downstairs, so we let her jump over the candle/fire too! Vic
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