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Alive with magic and the arrival of omens, the night of San Giovanni decides destiny for the next year.
In the tradition of the Langhe and Roero, this rite of passage is celebrated through rituals of divination and purification, collecting dew at night, and foraging for beneficial herbs such as St. John’s-wort, Monk’s Pepper, lavender, wormwood, verbena, rue, currant and rosemary. The new season was welcomed by bonfires on June 23rd, which lit up the hills and calanques, breaking the nightmare of the night by gathering the whole community around the fire.
The most probable hypothesis of the origins of this ritual is that Christianity integrated pagan festivals dedicated to the summer solstice within its liturgy. Which, in Roman times, under the name of Sol invictus, had been an integral part of the religion of the Sun.
The pagan ritual served to exorcise the fear of change. Our ancestors, totally dependent on agriculture and meteorology, fully grasped the importance of this astronomical event, which corresponds to the end of winter and the beginning of the most important harvest season. A prosperous summer, first in wheat and then in grapes, ensured survival come the following winter. The ritual is an act of gratitude, to thank the sun on its day of triumph, the shortest night of the year.
THE TRADITIONAL BONFIRES
Why, then, the bonfires? The answer is suggested by St. Francis of Assisi, who in his Canticle of the Sun, dedicates two consecutive strings to sun and fire:
Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,
especially through my lord Brother Sun,
who brings the day; and you give light through him.
And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendour!
Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
through whom you light the night and he is beautiful
and playful and robust and strong.
Sun and Fire are relatives. In fact, the second lines of each stanza reflect each other: “beautiful” and illuminating. Although Sun is of divine origin and Fire the work of man, they are similar in nature. To light the fire means to access the power of the sun, and thanking He which created this privilege for us.
THE BLESSED DEW
As the central feast of the peasant calendar, there is a well-documented history of the traditions surrounding San Giovanni, or St. John’s day. One of the most unique of these traditions concerns the night-time dew collection, which took place before dawn on June 24th.
In the Christian tradition, the dew represents the tears of Salome, daughter of Herod, the princess who wanted Saint John’s head on a silver plate. Regretting the death of the Baptist, he covered her with kisses and tears, but from the dead man’s mouth came a strong wind that pushed her into the air where she remained to wander for eternity. Tradition has it that St. John’s dew has the ability to fulfill desires, so much so that, especially in Northern Europe, women rolled in the fields if they wanted to have many children, or shiny hair. In the Langhe, it was collected in small containers placed in a hole, with a waterproof cloth in the center, or with a cloth lying on the grass which was then preserved to protect against diseases and storms.
Post a cura della Redazione di Langa del Sole