On the Eve of St John the Baptist, commonly called Midsummer Eve, it is usual in the most country places, and also here and there in Towns and Cities for both old any young to meet together, and be merry over a large fire which is made in the open street, over this they frequently leap and play at various games such as running, wrestling dancing &c., But this is generally the exercise of the younger sort; for the old ones, for the most part, sit by as spectators, and enjoy themselves and their bottle, and thus they spend the time til midnight, and sometimes till Cock-Crow”.1
Bonfires have been an integral part of celebrations throughout Britain, for hundreds if not thousands of years, but early written evidence is scarce.
“In 1502 the famous Italian scholar resident in England Polydor Vergil, had published De Rerum Inventoribus, an attempt to discover the origins of religion, law, science and social customs. As part of this he traced many religious and secular rites to pagan origins including Candlemas candles, feasting, New Year’s gifts, dancing, mumming, Maying, Christmas lords, Shrove Tuesday revelry, and midsummer bonfires. His purpose was not simply to instruct or entertain but to criticise and reform, pointing out that all these activities were capable of abuse, that dancing had become immoderate, and that the wearing of masks were inexcusable. The book went into thirteen more editions of the next hundred years, and supplied material for the direct and comprehensive attack upon Catholic ritual published by Thomas Becon in 1563. All of it, he suggested derived from the whims of individual Popes or from Paganism. The heathendom to which these writers referred was not the Celtic twilight beloved of nineteenth and twentieth century folklorists but that of ancient Rome, revealed in classical texts, and some of the lines of descent which they inferred seem very questionable”.6
Throughout the early part of the 17th century and especially during the time of the Interregnum, the English Puritans looked to the fathers of the Christian church for guidance on some of these ancient traditions. Statesman, William Prynne championed the words of the theologian Tertullian in his denouncement of bonfires:
“These bonfires that are kindled by certaine people on New Moones before their shops and houses, over which also the use ridiculously and foolishly by a certain ancient custom we command them to hence forth to cease” 9
William Prynne in his own pamphlet goes further:
“the fathers, councells and fore-recited Protestant authors condeme all dinimations, morrice dances, bonefires, newyeers-gifts; the observation of newyeers day or the calends of January ” 7.
During the middle of the 19th century the tradition of these fires had all but disappeared, possibly due to a combination of industrialisation, changes in farming practice and a general move from the land to towns and cities. In 1846 The Illustrated London News published a poem “Midsummer – or St John’s Eve (As it used to be)”, with these two verses harking back to a different, if not imagined, time:
Light up the bonfires on the hills-
The altars of the sun;
Light up the fires, while city spires
Ring out their benizon.
And dance ye deftly round and round,
Each gleesome nymph and swain;
Or through the fire-ordeal bound,
With laugh and fest amain.
Ay! Those were good and gallant times
When England’s King and Queen,
‘Mid loud huzzas and merry chimes,
Rode to the jocund scene.
They came with all their brilliant Court,
And beauteous dames serene,
Nor scorn’d to grace the festive sport
Upon the blazing green.8
By the end of the 19th century the practice was continuing in small pockets, in areas still reliant on agriculture, or where new forms of entertainment had not usurped the older traditions. In an article for the Newcastle Courant in 1889, “The Folk-lore of Mid-Summer Eve by William Andrews wrote on the practice of lighting bonfires:
“This custom, which is a remnant of the old pagan fire worship, prevailed in various parts of the country, but perhaps lingered the longest in Cornwall… some midsummer rites are still observed in Ireland, we have from an eyewitness some interesting items on the subject. People assemble and dance round the fires, the children jump through the flames, and in former times ‘coals’ [Embers] were carried through the corn field to prevent blight.. In the Isle of Man, formerly on Midsummer Eve, lighted fires to the windward side of fields so that the smoke might pass over the corn. The cattle were folded, and round the animals, carried blazing grass or furzo, as a preventative against the influence of witches”.
In Northumberland however, this ‘Baal fire’ was taking place in the village of Whalton, and its name was a source of interest for many folklorists:
“Readers of the Old Testament are well acquainted with the condemnation passed upon the worship of Baal, but some may be surprised to know that there is a custom in Northumberland of lighting Baal fires on St John’s Eve, which is a relic of ancient Baal Worship”.5 .
On 25 November 1903, the Reverend J. Walker, Canon of Newcastle and Rector of Whalton presented to the Society of Antiquaries the only known complete account on the practices surrounding the bonfire. Canon Walker had been an active participant of the festival during his time in Whalton, and had been unable to find any written discussion of the custom.
Firstly, he said that the material for the bonfire needed to be properly sourced, the countryside and village was scoured for anything which may be of use; fallen trees, thinnings of hedges, whin bushes, any broken fences and pieces of kinding, obtained honestly, was used.
“On the evening of the fourth of July, a cart is borrowed and loaded with branches and [sticks], some of the men get into the shafts, more are hooked on by means of long ropes, and then with a good deal of shouting and horn blowing, the lumbersome vehicle is run down into the village.” 3
“Two [cart] loads of [branches], as a rule, are brought into the village, [and, always pulled] by hand; no horse is ever used. Then begins the building of the bonfire, which for some unexplained reason, is always constructed on the same spot. The site does not vary a yard from year to year; and yet nobody knows why this particular place is chosen”.3
“Then with the building up of the pile of branches and [bundles of sticks], a remarkable scene takes place, the whole village grows interested, the old men and women, young men and maidens, and the children, begin to gather in groups and watch the proceedings, impatient till, as the twilight deepens and the pile has been carefully prepared and examined, the word is given to ‘light her’. Then the children joining hands will form a moving circle round the burning pile. This is not as much observed as it was some twenty-five years ago. Still you may see the children racing round the fire with rather more formality than might be seen perhaps at an ordinary bonfire”.2
“Meanwhile the groups of people gather nearer the fire, and presently as the fire begins to burn and the flame mounts higher till it illuminates the whole village, a fiddle or some other instrument is heard and the young people begin to dance in the near neighbourhood of the fire. I have heard that then it was not unknown for some to leap over the fire…There is always, too, a quantity of ‘sweeties’ and ‘bullets’ scattered and scrambled for by the children”.2
“Old men over 80 years of age have told me that they never knew the fire omitted or the custom fail. There is a tradition that twice the fire was postponed to the next evening because of the ‘great rain’ but it was never omitted – and these old men, asserted that they had received the same story from their elders, [though] oddly enough, I have never come across a written record or printed account of the custom. There was some opposition to it within my own memory, but the fire was lighted all the same. The old thatched cottages have disappeared, more modern dwellings have been built, migration and immigration take place, but whatever the changes, this custom survived”.2
What needs to be remembered is that the photographs taken by Sir Benjamin Stone, though impressive, give a slightly inaccurate view of the festivities. These captured images took place as part of a daylight dress rehearsal, as the lighting of the bonfire and the subsequent dancing took place in the evening.
The Canon also mentioned that although, to his knowledge, the custom did not take place anywhere else, he had been told by the late Mr Thomas Arkle of Highlaws that the tradition had taken place at Elsdon and Belsay, but not for a number of years.
What is remarkable about this tradition is that it still continues in a form today; Old Midsummer Eve is still marked in Whalton with a bonfire, albeit smaller, and performed in daylight, but it is a testament to the people of Whalton to to commemorate the tradition which was an important part of the folk life of the village, and to continue its now unique custom in Northumberland.
References
1 Observations on Popular Antiquaris. John Brand, 1777.
2 Archaeologia Aeliana – The Midsummer Bonfire at Whalton, Reverend J. Walker, Honourable Canon of Newcastle and Rector of Whalton, 1903.
3 Sir Benjamin Stone’s Pictures – Records of National Life and History – Festivals, Ceremonies and Customs” 1906.
4 ZRE from the uncatalogued Renwick papers – courtesy of the Renwick family.
5 The Origins of Popular Superstitions and Customs – by T. Sharper Knowlson, 1910
6 The Rise and Fall of Merry England – by Ronald Hutton, 1994
7 Histriomastix part I page 36 – William Prynne, 1633
8 The illustrated London News 27th June 1846.
9 Tertullian (circa 155-240? AD) – Canon 65.
