Midszimincr Fires 57 



logie), cites iiumbeiiess authorities for the custom of 

 lighting the Johannisfeiier in diiierent parts of Germany. 

 One of the most curious customs is related of a towuKonz, 

 on the Moselle (French in those days by nationality, but 

 German by blood and tradition), where the members of 

 each household had to carry up a truss of straw to the 

 hill above the river. There a huge wheel was made and 

 completely wrapped round in straw. A pole was passed 

 through an axle, and the wheel was lighted with cere- 

 mony, and by the aid of the pole was rolled down hill 

 into the Moselle. If it kept alight till it got into the 

 river it foretold a good vintage. 



In Sweden these fires still blaze on many a hill and 

 headland, by the side of the lakes. In Norway they 

 were more prevalent seven years ago than they are 

 now ; though in many places much visited by tourists, 

 they are kept up as much, perhaps, for their sake as for 

 that of the inhabitants. The ceremony generally begins 

 with a mock wedding. A child or young girl is dressed 

 up as a bride with the Norwegian bridal crown, and 

 followed by a procession of other girls, a fiddler (as is 

 always the case in a real Norwegian marriage) fiddling 

 at the head. She corresponds to the May Queen in our 

 English May-day festivities, such as still remain with 

 us. In the eveniuo- the fire is lighted and dancing 

 round it is kept up — the services of the fiddler again 

 put into requisition — all through the undarkened night. 

 When this takes place in a village by the side of a 

 fjord, a headland looking far over the water is often 

 selected for the scene of the fire (provided it present a 

 sufficiently flat surface for dancing), and it is a very 

 beautiful sight to see the boats stealing over the water 



