Festival of St. John of the Fire, 2016

Fire jumping - photo by Newell

photo by Newell

There are villages on Samos like Vourliotes, were ancient pagan folk customs are still a recognizable part of the Festival of St. John of the Fire.  The festival is usually held on a Sunday night in late June and features music, food, wine, folk dancing, and the curious ritual of village children jumping over bonfires made from the dried floral wreaths that have been decorating local doorways since May Day (the first day of Summer). The festival is also called the Feast St. John's Eve and is usually followed by a Greek national holiday on Monday.  The Village festival and the official state holiday seem to be connected, but both events go by several different names, and even the Greeks seem a little vague about origin and meaning of the two events.



photo by Newell

photo by Newell

St. John's Nativity Day is celebrated near the Summer Solstice.  It celebrates the birthday of Christ's cousin, John the Baptist.  In Greece he is called St. John the Forerunner, who foretold the coming of Christ the Messiah.  The historic dates for John and Christ's birthdays have been lost, but by the 4th Century, a proto Christ Mass was being celebrated near the Winter Solstice to compete with the pagan Yule festivities.  According to the Gospel of Luke, John the Baptist was born six months earlier than Christ. which made St. John's Nativity Day a perfect fit to co-opt the pagan festival of Midsummer's Eve.  In Vourliotes, the Feast of St. John of the Fire has retained the pre Christian, pagan traditions of feasting, drinking, folk dancing, and leaping over bonfires made from the dried May Day wreathes.  A lawyer in Karlovassi offered that the St. John of the Fire Festival may have also once had a connection to classical times when Prometheus was honored for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to Man.  But that's another research project, and I know what Prometheus got for his trouble.

photo by Newell

For different earlier postings on the same event (2012 and 2013) see:
http://mysamoshome.blogspot.gr/2013/06/folk-dancing.html
http://mysamoshome.blogspot.gr/2012/06/village-festival.html