sun bringing
summer. Before sunrise the houses were decked with garlands to
gladden the sun when he appeared; a rite which has survived in
"going maying." The May-Day fires were used for purification.
Cattle were singed by being led near the flames, and sometimes bled
that their blood might be offered as a sacrifice for a prosperous
season.

"When lo! a flame,
A wavy flame of ruddy light
Leaped up, the farmyard fence above.
And while his children's shout rang high,
His cows the farmer slowly drove
Across the blaze,--he knew not why."

KICKHAM: _St. John's Eve._

A cake was baked in the fire with one piece blacked with charcoal.
Whoever got the black piece was thereby marked for sacrifice to
Baal, so that, as the ship proceeded in safety after Jonah was cast
overboard, the affairs of the group about the May-Eve fire might
prosper when it was purged of the one whom Baal designated by lot.
Later only the symbol of offering was used, the victim being forced
to leap thrice over the flames.

In history it was the day of the coming of good. Partholon, the
discoverer and promoter of Ireland, came thither from the other
world to stay three hundred years. The gods themselves, the
deliverers of Ireland, first arrived there "through the air" on May
Day.

June 21st, the day of the summer solstice, the height of the sun's
power, was marked by midnight fires of joy and by dances. These
were believed to strengthen the sun's heat. A blazing wheel to
represent the sun was rolled down hill.

"A happy thought.
Give me this cart-wheel.
I'll have it tied with ropes and smeared with pitch,
And when it's lighted, I will roll it down
The steepest hillside."

HAUPTMANN: _Sunken Bell._
(Lewisohn _trans._)

Spirits were believed to be abroad, and torches were carried about
the fields to protect them from invasion. Charms were tried on that
night with seeds of fern and hemp, and dreams were believed to be
prophetic.

Lugh, in old Highland speech "the summer sun"

"The hour may hither drift
When at the last, amid the o'erwearied Shee--
Weary of long delight and deathless joys--
One you shall love may fade before your eyes,
Before your eyes may fade, and be as mist
Caught in the sunny hollow of Lu's hand,
Lord of the Day."

SHARP: _Immortal Hour