Midsummer Eve ....

Tonight the fireflies are but sprites ...

When I was little I loved the idea of little people in the woods 

- in my case, the hedges which surrounded the building where we lived at the time.  

Now I pretend they are in my lilac wood, at the back of my yard ...

There are many traditions associated with St. John's Eve, 

and the best have to do with light

 - the Summer Solstice being the longest day of the year.  

Which is why fires are lighted ...

Mountaintop fires are popular across the Alps. 

They have their roots in pagan ceremonies marking the summer solstice,

 along with signal fires that were used to communicate with other villages

 before the advent of the telephone. 

In most areas, fires still mark the longest day of the year.

The Herz Jesu celebrations, however, are specific to Tyrol. 

In 1796 the region was threatened with 

invasion by French troops under Napoleon. 

As thousands of Tyrolean volunteers 

organized local militias to defend their homeland, 

representatives formed a parliament and decided to dedicate

Tyrol to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. - Source

The torches soon lighted in my garden ...

“If we shadows have offended,

Know but this and all is mended.

That you have but slumbered here,

While these visions did appear,

And this weak and idle theme,

No more yielding, but a dream.” 

Tomorrow, the Nativity of John the Baptist

is also the 35th anniversary 

of the first apparition at Medjugorje.

"So, good night unto you all." -Puck