[1] In the Roman calendar, 24 June was the date of the summer solstice, and Saint John's Eve is closely associated with Midsummer festivities in Europe.

Traditions are similar to those of May Day and include bonfires (St John's fires), feasting, processions, church services, and gathering wild plants.

[5][6] Christ's Incarnation was closely tied to the 'growing days' (diebus crescentibus) of the solar cycle around which the Roman year was based.

[10] The historian Ronald Hutton states that the "lighting of festive fires upon St. John's Eve is first recorded as a popular custom by Jean Belethus, a theologian at the University of Paris, in the early twelfth century", but is undoubtedly much older.

[11] In the 16th century A.D., the English historian John Stow, described the celebration of Saint John's Day: the wealthier sort also before their doors near to the said bonfires would set out tables on the vigils furnished with sweet bread and good drink, and on the festival days with meats and drinks plentifully, whereunto they would invite their neighbours and passengers also to sit, and to be merry with them in great familiarity, praising God for his benefits bestowed on them.

These were called bonfires as well of good amity amongst neighbours that, being before at controversy, were there by the labour of others reconciled, and made of bitter enemies, loving friends, as also for the virtue that a great fire hat to purge the infection of the air.

[16] In Sweden, young people visited holy springs as "a reminder of how John the Baptist baptised Christ in the River Jordan.

"[17] On Saint John's Eve in Switzerland, goatsbeard and masterwort were fashioned into a cross and then were taken to one's local church, where they were blessed by a Christian priest.

In this last version he added a hauntingly beautiful quiet ending; in which a church bell announces the dawn, and daybreak chases away the evil spirit.

According to the Jesuit Relations, the first celebrations of St John's Day in New France took place around 1638 on the banks of the Saint Lawrence River on the evening of June 23, 1636 with a bonfire and five cannon shots.

The locals bring firewood to a designated place and light a bonfire at sunset; young people attempt to jump over as it burns.

[11]The town of Midsomer Norton, in Somerset, England, is sometimes said to be named after the Feast Day of St John the Baptist, which is also the dedication of the parish church.

[29] It was the custom in Yorkshire for every family who had come to live in the parish within the last year to put a table outside their house, on St. John's Eve, and place on it bread and cheese and beer and offer this to anyone who passed by.

Today it is marked by a torchlit procession, but in the 19th century and earlier the town was the scene of bonfires, burning tar barrels, and homemade fireworks on the principal streets.

[32] The celebrations carry on usually through the night, they are the largest and most important of the year, and the traditions are almost identical to Finland and similar to neighbours Latvia and Sweden.

The eve of St John's feast, a time rich in tradition and folklore, is celebrated with a variety of customs that include leaping over bonfires, engaging in the Klidonas divination ritual for love and marriage,[33] and the early morning harvest of wild oregano.

Giorgios Seferis's poem "Fires of St John" vividly captures the essence of this event, portraying the ignition of bonfires and the enduring belief among young women that they could discover their future husbands during these festivities.

This blend of ritual, belief, and cultural practice underscores the enduring significance of St John's eve in the tapestry of local traditions.

[36] In his poem "The Sisters," published in 1861, Limerick poet Aubrey Thomas de Vere describes "Bonfire Night" or "St. John's Day Eve" in a post-Great-Famine world that still lay in ruins:[37] At last, After our home attain'd, we turn'd, and lo!

Said I, Man's life as view'd by Ireland's sons; a vale With many a pitfall throng'd, and shade, and briar, Yet overblown by angel-haunted airs, And by the Light Eternal girdled round.

[36] The feast of Saint John the Baptist has been celebrated in Florence from medieval times, with festivals sometimes lasting three days from 21 to 24 June.

In Turin Saint John's cult is also well-established since medieval times when the city stops work for two days and people from the surrounding areas gather to dance around the bonfire in the central square.

Ringing the bachîn (a large brass preserving pan) at midsummer to frighten away evil spirits survived as a custom on some farms until the 1940s and has been revived as a folk performance in the 21st century.

The "yvyra sy'ĩ" (Spanish "árbol resvaloso" English "resplendent tree") is the contest of trying to climb a greased mast, which has some prize hanging from the tip.

[42] In the Philippines, the festival is a thanksgiving celebration done through the traditional “basaan” (dousing of water among children and grown-ups) on the streets as a way of sharing Saint John's blessings.

After sunset, Puerto Ricans travel to a beach or any accessible body of water (e.g. river, lake or even bathtub) and, at midnight, plunge backwards into it three, seven, or twelve times.

[47] The Johnsmas Foy festivities in the Shetland Isles, where the people are still proud of their Nordic roots also take place in the week building up to the 23/24 June.

On the Mediterranean coast, especially in Catalonia and the Valencian Community, the celebration includes bonfires too, along very popular dance parties (verbenas), and there are also traditional special foods for the day, such as Coca de Sant Joan.

[citation needed] In Castile and León it is highlighted the Firewalking Festival of San Pedro Manrique (Soria), where barefoot men cross the live coals of a prepared bonfire.

Other traditions include eating pickled herring with fresh potatoes, often the first from the seasons harvest, served with sourcream and chives, and often accompanied by drinking snaps.