St John's Fire

Pastor’s Epistle—June, A.D. 2017 A

The liturgical and sanctoral calendar of the Church contains a host of spring and summer celebrations we often leave by the wayside. This is in part because they are (rightly) overshadowed by Holy Week and the entire Easter season right up through Pentecost. But it’s also because spring and summer struggle to compete for our hearts and minds against the truly evocative holidays of autumn and winter.

I see this turning around somewhat, however. May Day, for example—more often called Beltane these days—has been staging a decent comeback, as has Lammas, to a lesser degree. But the holiday I’d really like to see take off goes by many names: we call it Midsummer, Litha, or St John’s Eve. Personally, I prefer its more northerly title, Johnsmas. This is, as the name would imply, the Nativity of St John the Baptist celebrated on June 24th.

John is a powerful figure in Christianity. He bridges for us the Old and New Testaments of the Scriptures. A cousin of Jesus Himself, John serves as the Forerunner of the Messiah. Everything Jesus does is prefigured by John: John preaches a baptism of repentance in the wilderness; he points to Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world; and several of John’s disciples go on to become Jesus’ Apostles. Even John’s death, unjustly executed by a corrupt government, heralds Jesus’ Crucifixion.

Little wonder, then, that we celebrate John’s Nativity six months before Jesus’ own. That’s right; we’re halfway to Christmas already. Note that celebrating birthdays is a rarity in the Church. Most saints are honored on dates corresponding to their martyrdom or to the consecration of churches dedicated in their name. John’s is one of only three nativities on our religious calendar, the other two being those of Mary and Jesus. That’s because these three were considered holy even before their births.

John famously said of Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease,” meaning that Jesus’ arrival was the fulfilment of John’s mission. By happy coincidence, Johnsmas falls near the summer solstice, while Christmas falls near the winter solstice. (Both were originally dated from the reference point of Easter.) After St John’s Eve, the hours of daylight in the northern hemisphere gradually decrease and the nights wax long, until the Light of God’s Son dawns anew at Christmas. I rather like how that works out.

In Scandinavia, the great Johnsmas tradition is to burn gigantic bonfires. And by gigantic, I mean that some top out at 100 to 130 feet high. Many assume that the bonfire tradition hails from an ancient pagan past celebrating the longest day and shortest night of the year, but that’s not actually true. According to the Center for Nordic Studies at the University of the Highlands and Islands,

In the North of Scandinavia, the turning point of the sun is actually not visible, as the sun is above the horizon continuously for up to nine hundred and sixty hours, depending on how far north you are. Therefore it makes no sense to celebrate the longest day at any particular 24-hour point of that stretch.

Rather, the Johnsmas bonfires are of Christian origin:

It was king Olaf Tryggvason who instituted Johnsmas on the 24th of June as a drinking feast to St John in Norway in the year 994. Olaf Tryggvason was one of the kings responsible for the Christian conversion of Norway.

King Olaf was a complicated fellow. To paraphrase one historian of the Viking age, Olaf and his men were deeply devoted to Christ—not big on the Ten Commandments, but deeply devoted to Christ. Nevertheless, he brought the celebration of Midsummer to the Christian North with fire, ale, and song. I for one can think of no better way to celebrate the glories of God’s good Creation, the ministry of St John the Baptist, and the heralding of Jesus’ own birth.

In six months’ time we shall gather not around great bonfires beneath the summer sun, but around all the warmth of hearth and home beneath the moon of wintertime. So raise a glass and toast a s’more to St John, to King Olaf, and to Jesus Christ our Lord.

In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.