Pagans and Vagabonds

Saturday–Sunday 25–26 June 2011
Ferme de la Salamandre, Les Rives, France

At a certain point last evening at the Fête de la Saint-Jean here at the farm, Brian (another one of the WWOOFers) leaned over and asked quite seriously, “Is this really happening? How did we end up in the Middle Ages in France?” It was a legitimate question. We concluded that the year was not 2011, but 1237 A.D.

La Fête de la Saint-Jean is a popular summer holiday, celebrated primarily in the countryside on June 24, three days after the summer solstice. In the Christian tradition, the holiday celebrates the birth of the saint the Jean the Baptist. The celebration conveniently coincides with the summer solstice, one of the primary holidays in the pagan tradition. Frustrated by failed attempts to suppress “pagan rituals” in the countryside, la Fête de la Saint-Jean was eventually declared an official Christian holiday. As is the case in many (if not all) common Christian holidays, many of the rituals of la Fête de la Saint-Jean are appropriated from the pagan tradition. The festivities at the farm Saturday evening were no different.

The evening started with lentils, rice and corn salad, spinach quiche, bread and cheese, pâtés vétégaux, cherries, fruit salad, couscous, locally brewed fruit and honey beer, and plenty of wine to go around. While the adults ate, drank, and chatted, the children went out into the surrounding fields to pick des millepertuis—small, yellow flowers that are used in oils as a relief for severe sunburns (similar to the effects of aloe). Later, the women sat around a table to pluck the fragile yellow flowers off of the stems and filled little pots with petals and olive oil. The pots will be left out in the sun for about a month and then the infused oil will be drained and kept for use throughout the year.

As twilight began to fall, the children disappeared to the woods to build a lean-to, and Dani and I set up the bonfire. By the time the fire was roaring, the children were called to help perform an annual flower ritual under a teepee made out of logs in the yard behind the WWOOFers caravans. When I joined them, they had set up a bed of flowers with a candle in the center, and the little children were dancing in circles around the flowers. Gabrielle set the mood with melodic and mysterious airs on a wooden flute, and Sophie accompanied her on a small drum. After we had set up candles in each of the four cardinal directions, Gabrielle (an older woman) recounted us a traditional tale: http://rachelmgrimm.blogspot.com/2011/06/once-upon-time.html

After Gabrielle’s tale, we gathered around the campfire, where the children were roasting bread dough on sticks. After some chanting and singing (it was only appropriate), Nel (9) urged his father (Benoit) to jump over the fire. Apparently, if you jump over a bonfire on la Fête de la Saint-Jean, you will have good luck for a year. As it were, nearly everyone jumped over the fire to much clapping and cheering. And yes, I jumped over the bonfire too. There is nothing that can stop my bonne chance now.