Waxing and Waning

A friend of mine, when presented with his newborn son, took a look at him and said “He must wax, and I shall wane”. In St John’s Gospel, 3:30, John the Baptist is recorded as saying of Jesus Christ, He must increase and I must decrease. In the light of this text, St Augustine of Hippo decreed that the feast day of the Nativity of John the Baptist should be held on Midsummer’s Day. After this the days get gradually shorter, until the feast of Our Lord’s Nativity at Christmas, when they begin once again to lengthen. This also had the handy effect of Christianising the popular pagan festivities of the Summer Solstice. The new feast took over the great fires of renewal and protection which had been a part of the old heathen festival. Bonfires blazed on hilltops; burning tar barrels were pushed about the streets; flaming wheels were sent hurtling down slopes. The festivities remained the same, but now said to be in honour of the Baptist, rather than a solar ritual to strengthen the sun at the beginning of its long slow decline to the Winter Solstice.

The tall trees in the greenwood,
The meadows where we play,
The rushes by the water,
We gather every day.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small.
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.

In some parts rushbearing ceremonies were also held in June and early July. Churches and other buildings had earth floors, strewn with rushes to make them more pleasant. The rush was worth harvesting, to make wicks for torches, thatching roofs, plastering on walls, weaving for seats, ropes and mats. This was a good time to go out and cut new rushes to renew and replace those that had been walked over for the past twelve months. The rush cart would be brought back with merriment, singing and dancing and, yes, beer would be drunk and the carrying-on would carry on through several days.

Some places, such as the little town, still carry these things on. Last night we welcomed visiting morris dancers. A rush cart has been constructed. Today there is a fair, and in the evening a concert and a country dance. And on Sunday, the whole procession heads to the church for a service the like of which is not often seen.