An Chraobh Airgid
On St John's Eve under the first stars, country people dance round a bonfire to a fiddler, a woman carries a burning brand away, and fires glow on far hills.

Station of the sun · about 21 June

Grianstad an tSamhraidh

The summer solstice

Bonfires on St John’s Eve.

Open it on the full site There the Wheel of the Year starts from today, and counts the nights to the next festival.

In Ireland the midsummer fires belong to Oíche Fhéile Eoin, St John’s Eve, 23 June, more than to the solstice itself. Bonfires were lit on the hills, and the embers were carried out and scattered on the crops.

The word

Grianstad an tSamhraidh: the summer sun-stop.

Sources

Every source the site draws on is listed on the full site.