In a word

Midsummer is upon us. Okay, okay, let's pretend. It is actually almost upon us by date, usually given as June 21st but more traditionally celebrated on June 23d/24th. You will not be surprised to realise it is a combination of two words, "mid" and "summer".

It goes back to the Old English “midsumer” from “mid” plus “sumer”. Influenced by the Old Saxon, Old Norse, Old High German “sumar”, Old Frisian “sumur”, Middle Dutch “somer”, Dutch “zomer”, German “sommer”.

“Mid”, of course, hardly needs explanation but it too has similar origins in Old English and only now survives as a prefix to other words, such as mid-stream, midshipman, midlands, midweek, Midwest, etc, etc, etc.

Prior to its emergence in Old England it had a previous life in old Norse as "mior", in Old Saxon as "middi", in Old Frisian as "middle" and Old High German as "mitti".

Midsummer in our part of the world usually centres on the summer solstice when we have the longest day/shortest night. Particularly in Northern Europe, it has been celebrated since time immemorial with a certain flexibility as to the day on which this takes place.

In Sweden, Finland, Latvia and Estonia, Midsummer's Eve is the greatest festival of the year, which is hardly surprising considering how many months each of those countries spends in semi-darkness annually. In Estonia, Latvia, and Quebec, June 24th – the traditional Midsummer Day – is a public holiday.

With its customary genius for adaptability, at least in the past, Christianity absorbed the pagan Midsummer practices and so declared Midsummer, June 24th, as the feast day of St John the Baptist.

He is believed to have been born on that date. According to St Luke’s gospel he was born six months before Jesus, though it does not say when Jesus was born. Incidentally, June 24th is one of the few saints’ days to mark the supposed anniversary of the birth, rather than the death, of the saint commemorated.

In olden time, women collected certain plants on St John’s Eve, said to include fennel, rue, rosemary, lemon verbena, mallows, laburnum, foxgloves and elder flowers. On the Feast of St John it was customary to gather St John’s Wort to keeping evil at bay. It used be hung over doors, windows, and icons in medieval times to keep witches and evil spirits away.

More on this next week. inaword@irishtimes.com