Friday, June 23, 2023

It is the 23rd of June 2023. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Ok, hold onto your brains, friends. We may have been doing it all wrong. Today is St. John’s Eve- the 23rd of June. One of the biggest holidays in Medieval and Early modern Europe that we have just kind of forgotten.

 Now, why is today St. John’s Eve? Well, according to Luke 1:26, “In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee”. So we celebrate the birth of John the Baptist 6th month before Christmas. But wouldn’t that make St. John’s Eve the 24th of June, not the 23rd? Well, it depends on how you count your days. We go Midnight to Midnight (why mid to mid?) Whereas the ancient world- Jewish and Christian started at sundown. See Genesis 1:5 “God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.”

So, St. John’s Eve starts on sundown of the 23rd. Don’t get mad at me. It’s all messed up. But this was a huge celebration. It came to correspond with Midsummer- another traditional favorite holiday. And just as Christmas would come in “midwinter” and celebrate the light of the world- displacing other holidays, so too would St. John’s Day.

Some have noted that at this time, the days start to get shorter- appropriate than for the one who said, “I must decrease that he may increase.”

One of the hallmarks of a good St. John’s Eve was a goof bonfire- after all, who doesn’t like to stay out on a summer's night for a nice fire? But they called it a “St. John’s Fire”- which was better than a bonfire. A bonfire was literally a “bone fire”- bones make for heat but don’t last long. A woodfire was good for the time, but not as much heat. A St. John’s fire was a bone and wood fire. Good times.

It was a kind of mixture of Halloween and Christmas. A good combination indeed (take that Tim Burton, you weren’t first with that stop motion cartoon the cool kids like). Are you familiar with “Night on Bald Mountain” from Fantasia? The scary part (It was the first movie I saw in the theatre- my sister Lisa took us kids, and I remember sitting backward in my chair). It is originally about a witches-sabbath broken up only by the bells from the celebration of St. John’s Eve.

In the British Isles and the Nordic countries, stories of witches and goblins abound, and you might make a cake or leave out bread and cheese for either the spirits or for those going through the streets- maybe even caroling. In the countries, if you were named “John,” you would get the first crack at the feast- pancakes, honey, wild fruits, etc., a colorful herb was collected around this time of year that had both medicinal and apparently spiritual uses- it would be called “chase-devil” or “St. John’s Wort” on account if it coming around Midsummer and St. John’s Day.

It would make sense that John the Baptist would get one of the finer of the feast days (even if forgotten in much of the modern West). Consider his place in Scripture- related to Jesus, the new Elijah, gets all wild in the wilderness with a new baptism, baptizes Jesus, and then the whole story with Salome and him getting his head chopped off and literally served on a platter. So, his story became the subject of favorite plays reenacted on this holy day.

I say we reclaim St. John’s Eve, even on the 23rd or whenever- a summer festival that calls us to remember he who points to the one greater to come.  

We have a weekend edition tomorrow- a fun “summer reading” show- and then next week, we have my friend and colleague Sam Leanza Ortiz- a former student of mine who then received her Master's in History from Baylor- I’ll be speaking, and she’s got the reigns until I meet you for the following Weekend Edition.

The last word for today comes from the daily lectionary from Psalm 86:

You, Lord, are forgiving and good,
    abounding in love to all who call to you.

Hear my prayer, Lord;
    listen to my cry for mercy.

When I am in distress, I call to you,
    because you answer me.

Among the gods there is none like you, Lord;
    no deeds can compare with yours.

All the nations you have made
    will come and worship before you, Lord;
    they will bring glory to your name.

For you are great and do marvelous deeds;
    you alone are God.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 23rd of June 2023, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who can take the darkness from the pit of the night and turn it into a beacon burning endlessly bright- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who has had a soft rock on a loop since that documentary I told y’all about- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.