Hail!
Midsummer (=the summer solstice, in O.E. "on sumerlicum sunnstede")
is upon us and I thought I should say something about this... In Ólafs Saga Tryggvasonar 65 we learn of a ‘miðsumarsblót’ at
‘Mærini’ where Thor, our Thur or Thunor, was sunderly worshipped (see chap. 69 in
that saga). I say this first and
foremost, because Sandra Billington in her The
Midsummer Solstice As It Was, Or Was Not, Observed in Pagan Germany, Scandinavia
and Anglo-Saxon England (Folklore, Vol. 119, No. 1 (Apr., 2008), lvs.
41-57) has treated this key bit of evidence most unfairly. For she would consider
it a Christian interpolation in her effort to say that all the Northern folks
knew nothing of any midsummer feast. Now it is true that in the so-called Óláfs saga
Tryggvasonar en mesta 162 “Á ǫndverðum vetri” “at
vera skyldi miðsvetrarblót inn á Mærinni” are found instead of Snorri’s “um
sumarit” “at vera skyldi miðsumars blót inn á Mærinni” (see
Heimskringla eða Sögur Noregs konunga,
Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar 72). But Óláfs
saga Tryggvasonar en mesta is a hundred years or so later than Snorri’s
work. Even older is Odd Munk’s account (see Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar 54) which does not specify a time at all for the same events. And Theodericus’ Historia De Antiquitate Regum Norwagiensium chap. 11 has the
burning of the seiðmenn take place in
the temple at Mærin but does not give a time of year for this. In Snorri’s account the burning of the seiðmenn was another time and stead (see
Heimskringla eða Sögur Noregs konunga,
Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar 69). Now in Snorri's Saga Hákonar góða 18 we find a Yule
feast “jólaveizlu” “á Mæri” which the Þrœndir
went to, and the compiler of Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta has simply taken this reference, together with the Ynglinga saga 8 wording about three blót, and none being at midsummer, and amended (as he thought) Snorri’s text. But he has overlooked that the events at Mærin follow on
a great “þing á Frostu” (see Snorri’s ch. 72) for “öll Þrœndalög” and is this
likely to have been held at any other time but midsummer?
21st or 24th?
After this I think it is needful to deal with the seeming oddness of the summer solstice falling on the 20th. or 21st. June, and yet the name of Midsummer still cleaves to the slightly later date of the 24th. June. Bede De Temporum Ratione chap. 30 De Aequinoctiis et Solstitiis (awend. Faith Wallis):
After this I think it is needful to deal with the seeming oddness of the summer solstice falling on the 20th. or 21st. June, and yet the name of Midsummer still cleaves to the slightly later date of the 24th. June. Bede De Temporum Ratione chap. 30 De Aequinoctiis et Solstitiis (awend. Faith Wallis):
“DE æquinoctiis, quod octavo
Calendarum Aprilium, et octavo Calendarum Octobrium: et de solstitiis, quod
octavo Calendarum Juliarum, et octavo Calendarum Januariarum die sint notanda,
multorum late et sapientium seculi, et Christianorum sententia claret. … Hæc quidem Gentiles, quibus non dissimilia
de tempore etiam perplures ecclesiæ tradidere magistri, dicentes : VIII
Calendas Aprilis in æquinoctio verno Dominum conceptum et passum, eundem in
solstitio brumali VIII Calendas Januarias natum. Item beatum præcursorem et
baptistam Domini VIII Calendas Octobres in æquinoctio autumnali conceptum, et
in æstivo solstitio VIII Calendas Julias natum : addita insuper expositione,
quod auctorem lucis æternæ cum cremento lucis temporariæ concipi simul et nasci
deceret.”
“On the subject of the equinoxes
and solstices, the opinion of many learned men, both worldly and Christians, is
straightforward: the equinoxes are to be
observed on the eight kalends of April [25 March] and the eighth kalends of
October [24 September, the solstices on the eigth kalends of July [24 june] and
the eigth kalends of January [25 December].
… That is what some of the pagans say: and very many of the Church's
teachers recount things which are not dissimilar to these about time, saying
that our lord was conceived and
suffered on the 8th kalends of April [25 March], at the spring equinox, and
that he was born at the winter solstice on the 8th kalends of January [25
December]. And again, that the Lord’s blessed precursor and Baptist was
conceived at the autumn equinox on the 8th kalends of October [24 September]
and born at the summer solstice on the 8th kalends of July [24 June]. To this
they add the explanation that it was fitting that the Creator of eternal light
should be conceived and born along with the increase of temporal light, and
that the herald of penance, who must decrease, should be engendered and born at
a time when the light is diminishing.”
Thus we will read in later psalters, like the St.
Alban’s Psalter, that they have the 24th. June marked up as:
“[ante diem] VIII K[a]l[endas
Iulias]. Nativitas s[an]c[t]i
Ioh[anni]s bapt[tiste]· Solstitiu[m]
s[e]c[un]d[um] rom[anos].”
“the eigth day before the kalends of July, birthday of st. John the
Baptist. Solstice after the Romans.” [here]
Bede however, knew that this was the wrong date
of the summer solstice and so on:
“Verum quia sicut in ratione
paschali didicimus aequinoctium vernale duodecimo Calendarum Aprilium die
cunctorum Orientalium sententiis, et maxime Aegyptiorum, quos calculandi esse
peritissimos constat, specialiter adnotatur, caeteros quoque tres temporum
articulos putamus aliquanto priusquam vulgaria scripta continent esse notandos.”
“But because, as we have learned
in connection with the calculation of Easter, the judgment of all the men of
the East (and especially of the Egyptians, who, it is agreed, were the most
skilled in calculation) is in particular agreement that the spring equinox is
on the 12th kalends of April [21 March], we think that the three other
turning-points of the seasons ought to be observed a little before [the date]
given in the popular treatises.”
Thus Byrhtferth’s Enchiridion has corrected the date as
“xii kalendas Iulius” that is 20th. June, and gives the Old English
wont of calling the summer solstice midsummer day:
“Æfter him Iunius
sihð to mancynne, and he hæfð þrittig daga, and wel gelome byð Pentecosten on
him geendod, and seo sunne gæð on þam tacne þe ys Cancer gehaten, and on XII
kalendas Iulius byð sunstede, þæt ys on Lyden solstitium and on Englisc
midsumor.”
“After that June
comes to mankind, and he has thirty days, and very often is Whitsun finished in
it, and the sun goes in to the sign called Cancer, and on 20th. June
is the solstice (sunstede), that is in Latin solstitium and in English
Midsummer.”
Solestitia?
The earliest evidence that something odd was
happening at Midsummer in north-west Europe that I can think of is from the Vita
Eligii episcopi Noviomagensis, ed. Levison, MGH SS Mer. 4, 669-742, which has
that saint moan about “solestitia”. (awend. Jo Ann McNamara):
“Nullus in festivitate sancti
Iohannis vel quibusque sanctorum sollemnitatibus solestitia aut vallationes vel
saltationes aut cantica diabolica exerceat.”
“Christian on the feast of Saint
John or the solemnity of any other saint performs solestitia [solstice rites?]
or dancing or leaping or diabolical chants.”
Then there is John Belleth. In his Rationale divinorum officiorum written in Paris in 1162 he has some surprising
remarks on the dual nature, both Christian and pagan, of the feast:
“Festum sancti Ioannis ... Celebratur autem Nativitas Ioannis, tum propter
historiam (habet enim Evangelium: Et multi in nativitate eius gaudebunt (Luc.
I) , QUOD OBSERVANT CHRISTIANI ET PAGANI) tum propter allegoriam et mysterium.”
“The feast of Saint John …
they celebrate the birthday of John moreover, on account of history (for he has
the good news, and ‘many shall rejoice at his birth’ (see Luke 1:14), BECAUSE
IT IS CELEBRATED BY CHRISTIANS AND PAGANS) and on account of the allegory
and mystery.”
Belleth also writes a little of the rites undertaken at that time. Here we can
see the Christian desperately trying to make his new faith
cover the same ground as the old.
“Solent
porro hoc tempore ex veteri consuetudine mortuorum animalium ossa comburi, quod
huiusmodi habet originem. Sunt enim animalia, quae dracones appellamus,
unde in psalmo: Laudate Dominum, de terra dracones (Psal. CXLVIII) , non
thracones, ut quidam mendose legunt, scilicet terrae meatus. Haec, inquam,
animalia in aere volant. in aquis natant, in terra ambulant. Sed quando in aere
ad libidinem concitantur (quod fere fit), saepe ipsum sperma vel in puteos, vel
in aquas fluviales eiiciunt ex quo lethalis sequitur annus. Adversus haec ergo
huiusmodi inventum est remedium, ut videlicet rogus ex ossibus construeretur,
et ita fumus huiusmodi animalia fugaret. Et quia istud maxime hoc tempore
fiebat, idem etiam modo ab omnibus observatur. Est et alia causa quamobrem ossa
animalium comburantur, quod ossa sancti Ioannis in civitate Sebastae ab
ethnicis combusta fuere. Consuetum item est hac vigilia ardentes
deferri faculas, quod Ioannes fuerit ardens lucerna, et qui vias Domini
praeparaverit. Sed quod etiam rota vertatur hinc esse putant, quia in eum
circulum tunc, sol descenderit ultra quem progredi nequit, a quo cogitur
paulatim descendere, quemadmodum vulgi rumor de B. Ioanne Christo adveniente ad
summum pervenit, cum Christus putabatur, posteaque descendit ac fuit diminutus,
ut vel ipse de se testis est: Me, inquiens, oportet minui, illum autem crescere
(Ioan. III).”
“Furthermore, they are accustomed at this time
by ancient use to burn the bones of animals, which has this origin. There are animals which we call dragons,
whence the psalm “Praise the Lord, from the earth, ye dragons …” (Psalm 148), not
“thracones” [“tarrasques”?], as some mistakenly read, that is to say, the way
of the earth. These animals, I must say,
fly in the air, swim in the water and walk on the land. But when in the air
they are roused to lust (which they generally are), often cast their seed into
wells, or into river waters, from which
they become lethal the year following.
Against this therefore this remedy was found, namely a fire made of
bones, and thus this smoke drives these animals away. And as this is done much
at this time, that is also presently observed by everyone. Another reason why they burn the bones of
animals is because the bones of Saint John were burnt in the city of Sebaste by
the heathen. It is customary again to bear burning torches at this vigil, because
John was a burning light who prepared the way of the Lord. And also they roll a
wheel, because they think then the sun in his orbit will come down to that
point beyond which he cannot go further, from which he is compelled to descend little
by little, just as what common rumour says of the blessed John, who coming
before Christ reached the height, as he was thought the Christ; but
afterwards descended and was diminished, even as he himself witnesses: ‘I will
decrease; but he will become great.’ ”
Belleth’s words are later leant on by our own John
Mirk of Lilleshall whose Festial
(14th/15th centuries) is the earliest treatment of the midsummer rites in
English.
“But ȝet,
yn þe worschip of Saynt Ion, men waken at evyn, and maken þre maner of fyrys :
on ys clen bonys and no wod, and ys
callyd a bonnefyre ; anoþer ys of clene wod and no bonys, and ys callyd a
wakefyre, for men syttyth and wakyth by hyt ; the thryd ys made of bonys and of
wode, and ys callyd Saynt Ionys fyre.
... The fyrst fyre was made of bonys, as Ion Bellet sayth, for yn þat
contray ys gret hete þe whech hete encawsut dragons þat gedryn ynfere, and fleyn yn þe ayre, and
fallyn downe ynto watyrs þe froþe of hur kynde, and soo venemyth þe watyrs, þat
moch pepyll takyn her deth þerby and oþer mony gret sekenes.Then wer þer mony
gret clerkys, and haddyn red of kyng Aliȝandyr || how when he schulde haue a
batayle wyth þe kyng of Inde, and þe kyng broght wyth hym mony olyfaundys
beryng castellys of tre on hor backys, as þe kynde of hom ys, and knyghtys
arrayd yn þe castels, arayde al for þe warre. Then knew Alyȝaundyr þe kynde of
þe olyfaundys, þat þay dredyn nothyng so moch as' rorryng of swyne. Wherfor he let gedyr alle þe swyne þat myght
be getyn, and made hom to dryue hom also nygh þe olyfaundys, as þai myghtyn
wele here hor roryng. And þen he let make a pig forto crye, and þen anon alle
infere made soch a rorryng, þat all þe olyfaundys floen, and castyn downe hor
castels, and sloyn þe knyghtys þat werne yn ham; and soo Alesaundyr had þe
victori. Thes wyse clerkys kneuyn wele þat dragons hatyth nothyng so meche as
brent bonys. Wherfor þay tacht þe pepyll forto gedyr al þe bonys þat þay myght
fynde, and sett hom on fyre; and soo wyth þe stench of hom þay dryven away the
dragon, and soo werne holpyn of hor deses.”
To this we
can put John Stow’s A Survay of London
(written 1598) which falls into two parts. First on the “bonfires in the streets”:
“...In the months of June and
July, on the vigils of festival days, and on the same festival days in the
evenings after the sun setting, there were usually made bonfires in the
streets, every man bestowing wood or labour towards them ; the wealthier sort
also, before their doors near to the said bonfires, would set out tables on the
vigils, furnished with sweet bread and good drink, and on the festival days
with meats and drinks plentifully, whereunto they would invite their neighbours
and passengers also to sit and be merry with them in great familiarity,
praising God for his benefits bestowed on them. These were called bonfires as
well of good amity amongst neighbours that being before at controversy, were
there, by the labour of others, reconciled, and made of bitter enemies loving
friends ; and also for the virtue that a great fire hath to purge the infection
of the air. On the vigil of St. John the Baptist, and on St. Peter and Paul the
apostles, every man's door being shadowed with green birch, long fennel, St.
John's wort, orpin, white lilies, and such like, garnished upon with garlands
of beautiful flowers, had also lamps of glass, with oil burning in them all the
night ; some hung out branches of iron curiously wrought, containing hundreds
of lamps alight at once, which made a goodly show, namely in New Fish street,Thames
street, &c.”
And then on the Midsummer
Watches:
“Then had ye besides the standing
watches all in bright harness, in every ward and street of this city and
suburbs, a marching watch, that passed through the principal streets thereof,
to wit, from the little conduit by Paule's gate to West Cheape, by the stocks
through Cornhill, by Leaden hall to Aldgate, then back down Fenchurch street,
by Grasse church, about Grasse church conduit, and up Grasse church street into
Cornhill, and through it into West Cheape again. The whole way for this marching
watch extendeth to three thousand two hundred tailor's yards of assize; for the
furniture whereof with lights, there were appointed seven hundred cressets,
five hundred of them being found by the companies, the other two hundred by the
chamber of London. Besides the which lights every constable in London, in
number more than two hundred and forty, had his cresset: the charge of every
cresset was in light two shillings and four pence, and every cresset had two
men, one to bear or hold it, another to bear a bag with light, and to serve it,
so that the poor men pertaining to the cressets, taking wages, besides that
every one had a straw hat, with a badge painted, and his breakfast in the
morning, amounted in number to almost two thousand. The marching watch
contained in number about two thousand men, part of them being old soldiers of
skill, to be captains, lieutenants, serjeants, corporals, &c, wiflers,
drummers, and fifes, standard and ensign bearers, sword players, trumpeters on
horseback, demilances on great horses, gunners with hand guns, or half hakes,
archers in coats of white fustian, signed on the breast and back with the arms
of the city, their bows bent in their hands, with sheaves of arrows by their
sides, pikemen in bright corslets, burganets, &c. halberds, the like
billmen in almaine rivets, and apernes of mail in great number ; there were
also divers pageants, morris dancers, constables, the one-half, which was one
hundred and twenty, on St. John's eve, the other half on St. Peter's eve, in
bright harness, some overgilt, and every one a jornet of scarlet thereupon, and
a chain of gold, his henchman following him, his minstrels before him, and his
cresset light passing by him, the waits of the city, the mayor's officers for
his guard before him, all in a livery of worsted, or say jackets partycoloured,
the mayor himself well mounted on horseback, the swordbearer before him in fair
armour well mounted also, the mayor's footmen, and the like torch bearers about
him, henchmen twain upon great stirring horses, following him. The sheriffs'
watches came one after the other in like order, but not so large in number as
the mayor's ; for where the mayor had besides his giant three pageants, each of
the sheriffs had besides their giants but two pageants, each their morris
dance, and one henchman, their officers in jackets of worsted or say,
party-coloured, differing from the mayor's, and each from other, but having
harnessed men a great many, &c.
This midsummer watch was thus
accustomed yearly, time out of mind, until the year 1539, the 31st of Henry
VIII., in which year, on the 8th of May, a great muster was made by the
citizens at the Mile's end, all in bright harness, with coats of white silk, or
cloth and chains of gold, in three great battles, to the number of fifteen
thousand, which passed through London to Westminster, and so through the
Sanctuary, and round about the park of St. James, and returned home through
Oldborne. King Henry, then considering the great charges of the citizens for
the furniture of this unusual muster, forbad the marching watch provided for at
Midsummer for that year, which being once laid down, was not raised again till
the year 1548, the 2nd of Edward VI., Sir John Gresham then being mayor, who
caused the marching watch, both on the eve of St. John the Baptist and of St.
Peter the Apostle, to be revived and set forth in as comely order as it hath
been accustomed, which watch was also beautified by the number of more than
three hundred demilances and light horsemen, prepared by the citizens to be
sent into Scotland for the rescue of the town of Hadington, and others kept by
the Englishmen. Since this mayor's time, the like marching watch in this city
hath not been used, though some attempts have been made thereunto ; as in the year
1585, a book was drawn by a grave citizen, and by him
dedicated to Sir Thomas Pullison, then lord mayor, and his brethren the
aldermen, containing the manner and order of a marching watch in the city upon
the evens accustomed; in commendation whereof, namely, in times of peace to be
used, he hath words to this effect : "The artificers of sundry sorts were
thereby well set a-work, none but rich men charged, poor men helped, old
soldiers, trumpeters, drummers, fifes, and ensign-bearers, with such like men,
meet for princes' service, kept in ure, wherein the safety and defence of every
common weal consisteth. Armour and weapon being yearly occupied in this wise,
the citizens had of their own readily prepared for any need ; whereas by intermission
hereof, armourers are out of work, soldiers out of pay, weapons overgrown with
foulness, few or none good being provided," &c. …”.
And lastly John Aubrey Remaines Of Gentilisme ... (1686/7) who writes of the decline of the keeping of Midsummer in
the Civil War, and also of their lingering on after that in Herefordshire and
Somerset.
“It was a Custome for some people
that were more curious than ordinary, to sitt all night in the church porch of
their Parish on midsomer-eve (i) St John Baptist's eve ; and they should see
the apparitions of those that should die in the parish that yeare come and
knock at the dore : and still in many places on St Johns night they make Fires,
(i) Bonfires, on ye Hills, &c. : but the Civil warres comeing on have putt
all these Rites, or customes quite out fashion. Warres doe not only extinguish
Religion & Lawes : but Superstition : & no suffimen is a greater
fugator of Phantosmes, than gunpowder.”
“M[EMORAN]D[U]M in Herefordshire,
and also in Somersetshire, on Midsommer-eve, they make fires in the fields in
the waies : s[i]c. to Blesse the Apples. I have seen the same custome in
Somerset, 1685, but there they doe it only for custome-sake;.but I doe guesse
that this custome is derived from the Gentiles, who did it in remembrance of
Ceres her running up and downe with Flambeaux in search of her daughter Proserpina,
ravish away by Pluto; and the people might thinke, that by this honour donne to
ye Goddesse of husbandry, that their Corne, &c. might prosper the better.”
I mark in passing here that the golden hair of
the goddess Ceres - flava ceres (Tibullus) dea
flava (Ovid ) ξανθὴ Δημήτερ (Iliad
5. 500), although usually taken to refer to the hue of ripe corn, might also suggest
a sun-goddess. It does however link her
more to the Northern Sif “it hárfagra goð” (Skáldskaparmál
29) the well known “konu Þórs”.
The Whalton Baal-fire in Northumberland is
reputed to be the last genuine survival in England of the midsummer bonfire.
Sun worship?
The pure and ancient midsummer rite should probably
be like that connected to the hill of Knockainey in Limerick in Ireland. Áine
is the local sun-goddess, the same as our Sunne, and patroness/ancestress of
the local kings, the Eóganachta. Thomas Johnson Westropp,
M.A., The Ancient Sanctuaries of Knockainey and
Clogher, County Limerick, and their Goddesses (Proceedings of the
Royal Irish Academy, Vol.34, 1917-1919, lf.60):
“They used to go in procession on
St. John's Eve, carrying lighted wisps (cliar, whence "'Aine Cliar,"
recte cliach), encircling the hill, and visiting " the little moat called
Mullach cruachain laimhre leab’ an triuir, the mound of three persons (perhaps
the local triad), visiting the tillage and meadows to bring luck to the crops
and cattle. … She owned a red bull, with which she entered the" green
hill." …”.
Balder?
The worship of Balder by the skald, would then seem to have overlaid the worship of the sun-goddess. Thus in Sweden not only did they cut the mistletoe linked to his myth at Midsummer, but the Midsummer bonfires are said to have been called Balder’s “bålar” (see James Frazer The Golden Bough looking to L. Lloyd Peasant Life in Sweden (1870) lf.269). Frazer, as Esaias Tegnér before him, assumes “bål” is what we should call in English a baal-fire or bale-fire, a funeral pyre, and this indeed is its most often met with meaning. Nevertheless, it can mean simply, albeit rarely, a fire (see the Whalton Baal-fire and Bēowulf line 2309 where “(wyrm) mid bæle fôr” “passed (through the air) with fire” and in Denmark and Norway “Sankt Hans Bål” is hardly for “Saint John's funeral pyre!”). We may remember then in the Old English kingly pedigrees Balder’s son is called Brand which means “fire”. In Bēowulf lines 2321 to 22, these two words are linked when speaking of the dragon:
hæfde landwara líge befangen
bæle ond bronde· …
the land-dwellers had been taken away by flame,
bale and brand …
The worship of Balder by the skald, would then seem to have overlaid the worship of the sun-goddess. Thus in Sweden not only did they cut the mistletoe linked to his myth at Midsummer, but the Midsummer bonfires are said to have been called Balder’s “bålar” (see James Frazer The Golden Bough looking to L. Lloyd Peasant Life in Sweden (1870) lf.269). Frazer, as Esaias Tegnér before him, assumes “bål” is what we should call in English a baal-fire or bale-fire, a funeral pyre, and this indeed is its most often met with meaning. Nevertheless, it can mean simply, albeit rarely, a fire (see the Whalton Baal-fire and Bēowulf line 2309 where “(wyrm) mid bæle fôr” “passed (through the air) with fire” and in Denmark and Norway “Sankt Hans Bål” is hardly for “Saint John's funeral pyre!”). We may remember then in the Old English kingly pedigrees Balder’s son is called Brand which means “fire”. In Bēowulf lines 2321 to 22, these two words are linked when speaking of the dragon:
hæfde landwara líge befangen
bæle ond bronde· …
the land-dwellers had been taken away by flame,
bale and brand …
Trolls…
I don’t think therefore that the fires of Midsummer are
funereal. In England after all,
mistletoe is linked to the winter solstice, and not to the summer one. The Midsummer bonfires are simply for the
warding off of evil thought to be about at that time from men, their livestock and their crops. Thus John Brand in his Observations of Popular Antiquities (1853) quotes an old writing of
1723 about the lingering Midsummer custom in Ireland:
“On the vigil of St. John the
Baptist's Nativity, they make bonfires, and run along the streets and fields
with wisps of straw blazing on long poles to purify the air, which they think
infectious, by believing all the devils, spirits, ghosts, and hobgoblins fly
abroad this night to hurt mankind.”
And here we see Belleth’s dragons have become devils and so on. Frazer again from Lloyd’s work (lf.259) has this:
“In parts of Norrland on St.
John’s Eve the bonfires are lit at the cross-roads. The fuel consists of nine
different sorts of wood, and the spectators cast into the flames a kind of
toad-stool (Bäran) in order to counteract the power of the Trolls and other
evil spirits, who are believed to be abroad that night; for at that mystic
season the mountains open and from their cavernous depths the uncanny crew
pours forth to dance and disport themselves for a time. The peasants believe
that should any of the Trolls be in the vicinity they will show themselves; and
if an animal, for example a he or she goat, happens to be seen near the
blazing, crackling pile, the peasants are firmly persuaded that it is no other
than the Evil One in person.”
But
who warded off all this evil?
The sun
was doubtlessly invoked, but such an invocation must always have been tinged with
the knowledge that the turning point of the year already having
been reached. The sun’s apparent weakness would shortly have to be come to
terms with. At length, the sun himself/herself will need protecting until born
again at the start of the next year. A
greater power than the sun therefore was needed. And that power can
only be the thunder god, our Thur or Thunor, the Northern Thor. Thus in 1750 Fr.
Arndtz, dean of Sundfjord and vicar of Askevold in Norway, sent a small, round thunder-stone to Bishop Pontoppidan and wrote:
“The peasants ... old idea is that thunder strikes the trolls who would otherwise destroy the world, ...”.
Skáldskaparmál 11. Þórskenningar. :
“...verjandi Ásgarðs, Miðgarðs, dólgr ok bani jötna ok trollkvinna, ... dólgr Miðgarðsorms, ...”.
“...Defender of Ásgard and of Midgard, Adversary and Slayer of Giants and Troll-Women, ...Foe of the Midgard Serpent. ...”
Þrymskviða 18:
Þá kvað þat Loki | Laufeyjar sonr:
"Þegi þú, Þórr, | þeira orða.
Þegar munu jötnar | Ásgarð búa,
nema þú þinn hamar | þér of heimtir."
Then Loki spake, | the son of Laufey:
"Be silent, Thor, | and speak not thus;
Else will the giants | in Asgarth dwell
If thy hammer is brought not | home to thee."
Skáldskaparmál 11. Þórskenningar. 50.
“Svá kvað Þorbjörn dísarskáld:
Þórr hefir Yggs með árum
Ásgarð af þrek varðan.”
Thus sang Thorbjörn Lady's-Skald:
Bravely Thor fought for Ásgard
And the followers of Odin.”
“The peasants ... old idea is that thunder strikes the trolls who would otherwise destroy the world, ...”.
Skáldskaparmál 11. Þórskenningar. :
“...verjandi Ásgarðs, Miðgarðs, dólgr ok bani jötna ok trollkvinna, ... dólgr Miðgarðsorms, ...”.
“...Defender of Ásgard and of Midgard, Adversary and Slayer of Giants and Troll-Women, ...Foe of the Midgard Serpent. ...”
Þrymskviða 18:
Þá kvað þat Loki | Laufeyjar sonr:
"Þegi þú, Þórr, | þeira orða.
Þegar munu jötnar | Ásgarð búa,
nema þú þinn hamar | þér of heimtir."
Then Loki spake, | the son of Laufey:
"Be silent, Thor, | and speak not thus;
Else will the giants | in Asgarth dwell
If thy hammer is brought not | home to thee."
Skáldskaparmál 11. Þórskenningar. 50.
“Svá kvað Þorbjörn dísarskáld:
Þórr hefir Yggs með árum
Ásgarð af þrek varðan.”
Thus sang Thorbjörn Lady's-Skald:
Bravely Thor fought for Ásgard
And the followers of Odin.”
He
fights against the foes of the good. The devil and his followers taking
the place of the older giants (jötnar, þursar, trollar, risir) and other unwights – the Northern
troll. Thus Þe
Liflade ant te Passiun of Seinte Iuliene, (Bod 34) about 1225:
“Belzeebub,
þe balde þurs of helle”.
That our own Thunor had this role might be seen from
the gloss - “Latona: Þūres modor.” -which evens him with Apollo the son of
Latona, and here Apollo is only is to be thought of “Apollinem morbos
depellere,” “Apollo averts diseases” and the slayer of the python. And by understanding the troll that he slays as
causing diseases we come to Adam of Bremen’s words:
“......Si pestis et famis imminet, Thorydolo
lybatur, ..."
“... If sickness or famine threaten they
sacrifice to the idol Thor;...”
It should be marked here that Alexikakos (Ἀλεξίκακος),
the "averter of evil", and linked to the averting of plague, is an
epithet among the Greeks of Apollo and Jupiter and Hercules! And our Thunor is evened with all three! We may recall
Ólafs Saga Tryggvasonar 65 we
learn of a ‘miðsumarsblót’ at ‘Mærini’ where Thor, our Thur or Thunor, was
sunderly worshipped (see chap. 69 in that saga).
Wherefore dragons?
Whilst fighting a dragon, the Hydra, Hercules
is nipped in the heel by the crab/crayfish which he promptly crushes, but the
said crab/crayfish was put in the sky as the star sign of Cancer by Hera as a
reward. Now Cancer is the sign in which
the summer solstice truly falls (anciently said to be in the 8° of Cancer) and
the Hydra is a neighbouring constellation to Cancer. That the constellation of the Hydra is the
ultimate source of Belleth’s dragons seems likely, and the Hydra is only the
Western equivalent of the Ahi or Vritra slain by Indra. In myth Ahi/Vritra causes a drouth and Indra ends
it by slaying him. Very appropriate for Midsummer. And that this act is
linked to creation is from Cancer being regarded as the sign of the so-called
horoscope of the world. Indra needless to say, is
our Thunor, the Northern Thor. In Hymiskviða
22 Thor is :
“...orms einbani ...”
“... the worm’s lone slayer ...”.
And we need to seek its true meaning in something
other than Thor’s comical fishing for the Miðgarðsormr!
Fire?
Now Frazer at one point in The Golden Bough links the lingering French custom of burning live animals and so on in cages at Midsummer with the ancient wicker-man rite mention by Cæsar. From a commentary, the Berne Scholia, on Lucan's Pharsalia, Liber I, lines 445 to 446, we know this wicker-man was done in honour of Taranis (“Taranis Ditis pater hoc modo aput eos placatur: in alueo ligneo aliquod homines cremantur.”) and that Taranis is the same as Jove or Jupiter (“… et caelestum deorum maximum Tarnanin Iouem adsuetum olim humanis placari capitibus, nunc uero gaudere pecorum.”). Indeed “taran” is thunder in the Celtic tongues. And he is our own Thunor. Frazer also mentions that sometimes the fires of Midsummer were not ordinary fires, but fires made by what is called “need-fire”. Now the making of “need fire” even in ancient times was a corrupt custom, and to truly understand why “need-fire” is different from ordinary fire, why it has more magical might against evil, we have to understand it as rightly made from trees somehow struck by lightning. So that the making of “need fire” is the summoning forth by friction of the lightning, the “fire from/of heaven” if you will, in the wood. As evidence of this I point to Jacob Grimm who has this marked in his Teutonic Mythology:
Now Frazer at one point in The Golden Bough links the lingering French custom of burning live animals and so on in cages at Midsummer with the ancient wicker-man rite mention by Cæsar. From a commentary, the Berne Scholia, on Lucan's Pharsalia, Liber I, lines 445 to 446, we know this wicker-man was done in honour of Taranis (“Taranis Ditis pater hoc modo aput eos placatur: in alueo ligneo aliquod homines cremantur.”) and that Taranis is the same as Jove or Jupiter (“… et caelestum deorum maximum Tarnanin Iouem adsuetum olim humanis placari capitibus, nunc uero gaudere pecorum.”). Indeed “taran” is thunder in the Celtic tongues. And he is our own Thunor. Frazer also mentions that sometimes the fires of Midsummer were not ordinary fires, but fires made by what is called “need-fire”. Now the making of “need fire” even in ancient times was a corrupt custom, and to truly understand why “need-fire” is different from ordinary fire, why it has more magical might against evil, we have to understand it as rightly made from trees somehow struck by lightning. So that the making of “need fire” is the summoning forth by friction of the lightning, the “fire from/of heaven” if you will, in the wood. As evidence of this I point to Jacob Grimm who has this marked in his Teutonic Mythology:
“In the North of England it is
believed that an angel strikes a tree, and then needfire can be got from
it...”.
And:
"The Practica
of Berthol. Carrichter, phys. In ord. to Maximilian II., gives a description
(which I borrow from Wolfg. Hildebrand on Sorcery, Leipz. 1631. p. 226) of a
magic bath, which is not to be heated with common flint-and-steel fire : ‘Go to
an appletree which the lightning hath stricken, let a saw be made thee of his
wood, therewith shalt thou saw upon a wooden threshold that much people passeth
over, till it be kindled. Then make
firewood of birch-fungus, and kindle it at this fire, with which thou shalt
heat the bath, and on thy life see it go not out '."
Wheel?
The wheel is indeed a solar-symbol, but under
the law of pars pro toto Thor the
wain-driver gets the wheel as a token, thus Grimm again:
“A wheel, especially a flaming one,
is the symbol of thunder, of Donar hence the lords of Donnersberg, burg-vassals
to Cochheim, bear it on their coat-of-arms, Hontheim 2, 5, tab. v., likewise
those of Roll (thunder), …”.
By “lords
of Donnersberg” I take it Grimm means the von Bolanden. Wappen of the Bolanden from the
Seal of Philipp von Bolanden from 1289:
Although their
forefathers were linked to the Archbishops of Mainz, whose token was also a
wheel, this wheel is markedly unlike the Archbishop’s one. Donnersberg is as much to say in German as Thunor's barrow or hill.
Wherefore
John the Baptist?
Often wholly overlooked, is the water-worship at Midsummer, thus Frazer (Lloyd
lf.265):
“Further, it deserves to be
remarked that in Sweden St. John’s Eve is a festival of water as well as of
fire; for certain holy springs are then supposed to be endowed with wonderful
medicinal virtues, and many sick people resort to them for the healing of their
infirmities.”
In England at least we have a St. John’s Well at
Boughton in Northamptonshire.
At one time I think it was bathing that played the bigger part in the Midsummer rites than fire. Bathing of course agrees much more with a saint who is called a baptist and often shown wading in water to do this. We should remember also here that Cancer is said by astrologers to be a water sign, ruled by the moon, but the place of the exaltation of Jupiter. Bathing for health would be in keeping with this. But also the visiting of wells and waters as part of rain-making rituals if the need arose.
At one time I think it was bathing that played the bigger part in the Midsummer rites than fire. Bathing of course agrees much more with a saint who is called a baptist and often shown wading in water to do this. We should remember also here that Cancer is said by astrologers to be a water sign, ruled by the moon, but the place of the exaltation of Jupiter. Bathing for health would be in keeping with this. But also the visiting of wells and waters as part of rain-making rituals if the need arose.
John
the Baptist moreover should be a wild looking lad, a beggar to some, and Thor is himself
called even this in Hárbarðsljóð 6:
“Þeygi er sem þú | þrjú bú góð eigir;
berbeinn þú stendr | ok hefr brautinga gervi,
þatki, at þú hafir brækr þínar.”
“"Three good dwellings, | methinks, thou hast not;
Barefoot thou standest, | and wearest a beggar's dress;
Not even hose dost thou have.”
brautingi, is a beggar, tramp.
In Alvíssmál 5 moreover, the dwarf does not recognise Thor who he had particularly come to seek out to ask the hand of his daughter! Fjarrafleinn is said to be another word for a wanderer.
“Þeygi er sem þú | þrjú bú góð eigir;
berbeinn þú stendr | ok hefr brautinga gervi,
þatki, at þú hafir brækr þínar.”
“"Three good dwellings, | methinks, thou hast not;
Barefoot thou standest, | and wearest a beggar's dress;
Not even hose dost thou have.”
brautingi, is a beggar, tramp.
In Alvíssmál 5 moreover, the dwarf does not recognise Thor who he had particularly come to seek out to ask the hand of his daughter! Fjarrafleinn is said to be another word for a wanderer.
But
John the Baptist is said to be Elias or Elijah reborn, see Matthew 11:7–14 and
Malachi 4:5–6. And Elijah is noneother than the local thunder-god turned into
an Old Testament prophet who:
“... prayed earnestly that it might not rain:
and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
And
he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her
fruit”.
And who
in:
“a
chariot of fire, and horses of fire... went up by a whirlwind into heaven” .
Now both Jupiter
and Zeus were often worshipped on the tops of hills, and all the old hilltop halidoms of Zeus in
Greece now have (or had once) chapels hallowed to “saint” Elias (Ἠλίας). A. B. Cook Zeus, A Study In Ancient Religion, (1914):
“Inspection shows
that Saint Elias has succeeded to Zeus at many, not to say most, of the
important cult-centres both on the mainland (Mount Olympos, Mount Lykaion,
Mount Arachnaion, Mount Taleton, etc.) and in the archipelago (Mount Kenaion,
Mount Oche, Mount Kynados, etc.).”
And
Grimm hath this when writing of the worship of Elias in the Caucasus:
“The comparison
becomes still more suggestive by the fact that even half-christian races in the
Caucasus worship Elias as a god of thunder. The Ossetes ... implore Elias to
make their fields fruitful, and keep the hail away from them. Olearius already
had put it upon record, that the Circassians on the Caspian sacrificed a goat
on Elias’ s day, and stretched the skin on a pole with prayers. Even the
Muhammadans, in praying that a thunderstorm may be averted, name the name of
Ilya. ”
Farewell.
