Full Strawberry Moon

The summer solstice and full Moon coincide tonight--a rare event.  The last time a full Moon landed smack on the solstice was 1967. If you were a moon-calf then like me, you will recall the poignant Summer of Love. The full moon and June solstice won’t fall on the same date again until June 21, 2062.   Enjoy the strawberry moon and the fleeting pleasures of June.

In Scandinavia, the solstice is known as Midsummer, and the day is celebrated with "copious amounts of herring, vodka, singing, and a dance around the maypole. Throughout much of Europe, it's referred to as St. John's Day, and is honored with bonfires and dancing, and in some cases, a naked sprint across town." (From CNN.com.)  Sounds like an ordinary summer day in Sweden.  Ha!

St. John's Eve

Manx Wytch

The element associated with St. John's Eve is fire.  John the Baptist was born six months before Jesus, so his birthday was fixed on June 24, exactly six months before Christmas Eve. It's unusual for the church to commemorate a saint's birthday instead of their grisly end.  The Christian Feast of Saint John's Day eventually mingled with much older pagan solstice traditions. 

Here's something I learned today, if you can believe what you read on the Internet.  The composer Modest Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain (made famous in Disney's Fantasia movie) had nothing to do with Halloween. It was originally titled St. John’s Night on the Bare Mountain. The first version appeared in 1867 and was revised around 1872 and again in 1880. In this last version Mussorgsky added a beautiful quiet ending. A church bell announces the dawn, and a midsummer sunrise chases away the evil spirit.

This is the terrifying Disney animation.