Old Customs - Saint John's Eve

transcribed at

Old Customs - Saint John's Eve  [duchas:4910865]

A very old custom here is lighting a bonfire in honour of St John on the eve of June the 24th. It was always done long ago, but now it is dying out. Every house in the town or village would provide something for the fire. Then some of the young people would help build it on some open space or cross roads. Just before it becomes dark, the oldest person in the place would put the fire alight. They make the Sign of the Cross over it with the youngest person present. They also burn a weed called Muggard and keep it for a cure. They dance and sing and play games around the fire and some people take home a burned stick out of the last embers of the fire and keep it for luck.

Kathleen Laar