I should do more with summer. But I’m not the season’s biggest fan. It’s hot. It’s sweaty. But it still has holidays, and who am I to so rudely ignore a whole fourth of the year just because it’s objectively the least comfortable or interesting?
The one summer holiday I’ve always been attracted to, tho, is Saint John’s Eve, or la Noche de San Juan. It falls on the night of June 23rd, which isn’t quite the solstice (if you’re worried about strict accuracy and facts and truth and all that), but it’s still a solstice celebration.
The part of it I like is that it’s a “new beginning” celebration, a lot like most winter solstice holidays. But instead of being about renewing the sun, it’s about renewing yourself.
In Spain and a lot of Latin American countries (and, for some reason, Ireland) [Catholicism… duh. -ed.], the basic idea is to go build a big campfire on the beach. Jump over it three times, and, voila, you’re cleansed and ready for a new year. Some people say you write out three wishes or three things you want to change, and throw those into the fire.
In Andalucia, they take the fire aspect to a new level and burn effigies, sometimes entire effigy-type dioramas made of wood and papier mache, because burning stuff is cool.
The beach is important, too, because (and this varies by region and tradition and just who’s telling you about it), you’re supposed to go swimming at midnight. Apparently awhile back in Spain, it used to be traditional not to do much beach swimming until after June 23rd because of the tradition, but that seems to have faded.
But what I like about it is how it doesn’t seem to care whether you burn up your own bs or drown it. The point is to shrug off whatever’s holding you back and start looking forward again. Cycles keep you fresh, get you out of your ruts, and sometimes that little spark of pain or fear that you’re gonna get hurt is a reminder that, yeah, you probably will. But that’s what being alive means: moving on, moving forward.
So, it’s not June 23rd yet, but I’ll try to be better about summer this year and see what else I can come up with. In the meantime, this made me want to just look at fire.
And as long as were talking about fire, here’s some festive fire from throughout the year. May you suffer in flames. You know, for the good of the future… 😉
weirdchristmas.com 