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The 23rd of June is St John’s Eve and was traditionally celebrated in the Irish countryside by the lighting of bonfires at conspicuous locations, most often either on hilltops or at the crossroads in the centre of a community.
Fuel was the first concern and the shallow blanket bogs that covered the mountain tops would, if the weather had been kind, supply a ready quantity of turf. Late April began the process of cutting, spreading, footing and drying the turf, and the hairy top sod was favoured as it dried quickly and gave off the brightest flame. Many held the belief that if the turf was not dry by Bonfire Night, then there would be no dry turf for the year.
In addition to turf, some bogs also yielded large lumps of bog-deal that, once dried, burnt with an almost explosive ferocity. When wood was available it was highly prized, but in its absence, the other major fuel was furze, also called “whin” and in the time when the limekilns were in use, it used to be gathered into huge bundles or faggots. The furze allowed for the spectacular rejuvenation of the waning flames and as each bonfire sprang into life, great shouts of joy and excitement issued forth. Those on neighbouring hills would reply by replenishing their fire; announcing the leaping flames with roars of delight. One account from Donegal tells of an old man who counted close to 100 bonfires on the hills around.
Burnt bone
The midsummer bonfire was one of the three traditional bonfires in Ireland along with those at Mayday (Bealtaine) and Halloween (Samhain). The term “bonfire” reminds us that the fires once contained bones and are reminiscent of both human funeral pyres and animal bone burning following slaughter.
Burnt bone is a very effective fertiliser. In Irish folk tradition, a large bone was always placed in the fire and afterwards it was put into the field of growing crops to promote the ripening of the crop. In a similar way, the ash from St John’s bonfire was carefully kept and, in addition to having important curative properties, a small quantity was added to the new seed when it was broadcast in the spring.
Blessing the crops
The most significant part of the Irish midsummer bonfire custom was the taking of lighted sticks and wisps from the communal fire and throwing them into the fields of growing crops. This “blessing of the crops” was the favourite activity of the young who could be seen running from the communal fire with all manner of flaming brands, torches of fir and smouldering sods to the four corners of each farm and lofting a fire-offering into each and every field.
Equally, the adults, on leaving the fire, would take a few lighting “cipíní” (small sticks) or “griosach” (smouldering embers) and place them into the fields. Sometimes, special torches of tightly bound rushes called “clair” were used to transport the fire to the farm and, traditionally, in a new house the fire in the hearth was lit from St John’s fire.
The placing of the bonfire bone and the lighted sticks or coals was taken to be an important safeguard against blight in the potato crop, while the old people placed great store in the ripening of the oats and barley following the bonfire ritual. Even if the crop was doing poorly, they were fully assured that everything would bolt onwards following the ritual.
The charred sticks were also used to make the sign of the cross on the backs of the cattle and sometimes the lighted sticks were passed around - over and under the cattle - to protect them and increase their milk yield.
As with the custom on May Day, it was also common practice to drive the cattle between two fires or “to stamp” them over the smouldering remnants of the bonfire and in a similar vein, young boys and girls would leap over the fire three times for good luck and good fortune.
Reversing piseógs
The bonfire was important for those who had believed themselves to be the victims of malicious piseógs enacted on May Eve. In the widely held and complex system of transferring bad luck and stealing away other people’s fertility and good fortune, there were some who placed and hid various objects on other people’s land on the eve of 1 May for negative consequences. These “piseóged” charms took the form of infertile “glugger” eggs, rancid meat, the entrails of dead animals, hair spancels (for tying the legs of animals) and all manner of objects and material thought to have magical significance. Some piseógs were objects of an intimate female nature, such as soiled sanitary towels or rags following menstruation, and these were considered taboo.
The psychological effect of these negative charms often overwhelmed the recipients and there was an unyielding need to rid themselves of the bad luck and negativity. The relief came in the form of the sacred midsummer bonfire where the magical hold of the piseógs could be broken.
In a similar vein, the everyday paraphernalia of popular Christianity, such as holy medals, rosary beads, holy pictures, mass cards, scapulars and the like, that were worn out and no longer of use, could be disposed of in the bonfire without fear of ill-luck or rebuke for burning a holy object.
Social highlight
All of the accounts in the folklore record emphasise that the midsummer fire was a point of great revelry in the social calendar. All manner of instruments from pipes, melodeons, fiddles, bodhráns and mouth organs provided the music, and throughout the country many stayed singing and dancing by the heat and light of the fire right through the night until dawn.
In many places, people brought loaves of bread with them and as the opportunity presented itself in the middle of the night, they would milk the cows in the fields close by to provide the milk to make “goody”. This favourite childhood treat was made by breaking the bread into the milk and heating it in a pot. It was sweetened with sugar or honey and flavoured with spices such as nutmeg and cinnamon, if available.
Many a farmer found their cows dry or short of milk on St John’s Day following the covert milking during the night. Nevertheless, Bonfire Night was a great spectacle marking the high point in the round of the cyclical Irish year.
Shane Lehane is a folklorist who works in UCC and Cork College of FET, Tramore Road Campus. Contact: shane.lehane@csn.ie
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