Contents
Not many people realize that June 24th is Midsummer's Day. Most believe
June 21st is the Midsummer Day - Wrong.
While the 21st is the summer solstice, the 24th is a quarter-day along
with: Lady Day on 25th March,
Michaelmas on 29th
September, and famously, Christmas on 25th December.
Midsummer's Day Jokes
How to Get to the Midsummer Festival?
A townie was looking for the Midsummer festival, he stopped and asked Tyler.
'Will this road take me to the Midsummer Day festival?'
'Oh no,' said Tyler.
'You'll have to go by yourself!'
Midsummer Strawberries
Farmer Woodman was driving his John Deere tractor along the road with a
trailer load of fertilizer. Joe a little boy of eight was playing in
his yard when he saw the farmer and asked, 'What've you got in your
trailer?'
'Manure,' Farmer Woodman replied.
'What are you going to do with it?' asked Joe.
'Put it on my
strawberries,' answered the farmer.
Joe replied, 'You ought to come and eat a Midsummer feast with us, we put
ice-cream on our strawberries.'
Basket Case?
On Midsummer's Day two yokels were on the train heading homewards through
Somerset, England when one of them noticed some cows.
'What a lovely bunch of cows.' he remarked.
'Not a bunch, herd,' his
mate replied.
'Heard of what?'
'Herd of cows.'
'Of course I've heard of cows.'
'No, a cow herd.'
'What do I care what a cow heard. I have no secrets to keep from a cow.'
Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream
The other connotation for Midsummer Day is Shakespeare's Midsummer night's
dream. Shakespeare builds on superstitions that this was a time of the
year when fairies were abroad.
St John's Day
Midsummer's Eve is also known as St John's Eve, particularly in Ireland.
In bygone times our ancestors would light fires on hilltops to celebrate, a
custom still celebrated today in southern hemisphere places like
Australia.
This St John is none other than St John the Baptist, hence he was born on
Midsummer's day, June 24th. Incidentally, this a good day to collect the St
John's Wort plant.
Folklore says that if it rains on St John's day the harvest will
be poor.
Before St John's Day we pray for rain,
After St John's Day we get
it anyhow.
The Dumb Cake
Three girls would bake a cake in
silence, not an easy task! If there was wind arise and cause a
rustling in the room, then if one of the girls looked over her shoulder they
would see their future husband.
One custom of the first Millennium was 'Handfasting'. The idea was that
couples who had announced their engagement on May day would enter into a trial
marriage on June 24th. This handfasting would last for a year and a day
and if all went they would then marry.
Midsummer's Day Story
The Happiest Days of the Year = June 20th -24th
Cliff Arnall has derived a mathematical formula which proves that mid-June is
the happiest day time of the year. His result is due to a
combination of lighter evenings, memories of childhood summers and the prospect
of holidays, reports the Daily Telegraph.
Cliff, who is a psychologist and former tutor at Cardiff University, worked
out the equation:
"O + (N xS) + Cpm/T + He".
O stands for being outdoors, N is nature, S is socialising with neighbours
and friends, Cpm stands for childhood positive memories, T is the mean
temperature, and 'He' is holiday expectation.
However in that year (2008), his formula failed to take into account falling
house prices, rising inflation, stagnating pay rises or the fact that none of
the United Kingdom teams were in Euro 2008.
See also 'Blue Monday'.
Midsummer Is A Magical Time
Funny Superstitions, Bizarre Ideas, and Customs Connected with Midsummer
Will and Guy have read that almost all magic is more powerful at Midsummer
Midsummer dew has special healing powers.
- Young ladies wash their faces in it to make themselves beautiful; older
people do the same to make themselves look younger. If you walk barefoot in
the dew on Midsummer Day's morning, it will stop the skin from getting
chapped. If you can bring yourself to skip naked through the dew in the
night, then it, supposedly, will ensure fertility for the coming year. - Shakespeare's Comedy - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Nick Bottom (Weaver) wears a donkey's head. - Herbs, especially St. John's Wort, gathered on Midsummer's Day and burnt
on bonfires will keep livestock healthy and banish bad luck. - If on Midsummer's Eve, you approach a fern leaf backwards, without
looking, and, without touching the leaf, collect the seed then they have to
power to make you invisible. - The festival is still important to pagans today, including the modern day
Druids who celebrate the solstice at Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England. For
many, the light of the sun on Midsummer's Day, is sacred. - Mistletoe was and is, highly revered by the Druids. It is regarded as
particularly potent when it grows on oak. Although it is more commonly
associated with Yule and the Winter Solstice, it was often gathered
ceremonially at Midsummer when it is regarded as being at the height of its
powers. - While 21st of June is the longest day, 24th of June has the latest
sunset. This is due to the elliptical orbit of the earth around
the sun. This orbit also accounts for why the 17th of June has the
earliest sunrise. - It was an old belief, in England, that one of the best times to see
fairies is between twilight and midnight on Midsummer's Day.
Roses are of special importance on Midsummer's Eve.
It is said that any
rose picked on Midsummer's Eve, or Midsummer's Day will keep fresh until
Christmas.
At midnight on Midsummer's Eve, young girls should scatter rose petals
before them and say:
Rose leaves, rose leaves,
Rose leaves I strew.
He that will love me
Come after me now.
Then the next day,
Midsummer's Day, their true love will visit them.
Footnote:
Please send us your funny Midsummer Day
jokes, stories and pictures.
See more Saints Days and other special days in
summer:
•
World Environment Day quotes •
Wesak Day •
Midsummer's Day •
Lady Day
•
Special Days •
Canada Day •
St George's Day •
St Swithin's Day
•
National Day of Prayer •
May Day •
Special day today •
4th July •
Bastille Day