Saint John’s Night
Bonfire by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
On
the last day of school at my daughter Florence’s Waldorf School in Pacific
Grove (California) before summer vacation, parents were invited to an optional
Saint John’s Night Bonfire at Carmel River State Beach on June 23rd.
The
Carmel River drains into the Pacific Ocean at this spot. Bonfire nights like the one for Guy Fawkes
Night in England (November 5th) and those for Saint John the Baptist
(June 23rd) are held in areas with Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran
populations in Europe and in Monterey County in Carmel, California by streams
and rivers.
There
is no mysterious reason for this location for bonfires. Dead wood, leaves, reeds, and branches
accumulate at river and stream mouths and can be used as kindling, which clears
these areas of debris in the process.
Participants
at a Saint John’s bonfire hold hands and dance around the bonfire in a
circle. Brave participants are expected
to leap over the bonfire to show their fearlessness.
After
working up an appetite dancing and fire jumping, participants eat taffy apples
and drink mulled wine as they watch fireworks.
I
did not want to jump over a bonfire, but thought I could handle making taffy
apples.
I
told Florence about Saint John’s Night as we headed to Safeway Supermarket in
Del Rey Oaks to buy taffy apple items; This Safeway has everything and more to
choose from down its many aisles.
Florence
said, “Jumping over a fire is dangerous.”
“Especially
in shorts,” I added
Safeway
sold square sheets of caramel that you wrapped around apples and microwaved before
sticking them with a wooden stick for eating.
At
home, we made taffy apples and did a Saint John’s Night craft project.
I
took out a paper plate and had Florence color it black for soil.
Then,
I drew branches on brown construction paper, and had Florence cut those
out. She pasted these on the paper
plate.
Next,
I gave Florence a piece of flat crêpe paper to squeeze together and make into a
flame, which she pasted to the branches on the paper plate.
Now
that we had a bonfire, I told Florence the story of John the Baptist, who fell
in love with Salome, the dancing girl, who cut off his head and put it on a
serving platter.
Florence
wondered why he got to have a holiday.
I
agreed and changed the subject.
“Does
jumping over a flame remind you any Mother Goose rhymes?” I asked.
Florence
thought a moment and said:
Jack
be nimble,
Jack
be quick,
Jack
jumped over
the
candlestick.
I
wondered if that rhyme had been invented as part of a child’s celebration of
Guy Fawkes Night.
I
was glad some teaching moment in the past on Mother Goose had stuck in Florence’s
mind like I hoped this one on Saint John’s Night would as we ate our taffy
apples.
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
Note:
Teaching
moments were a method used by Francis Fenelon, tutor of Louis XIV’s grandson, who also advised on the education of girls of noble birth.
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