blazes out of the darkness of that summer night, the effect is singularly striking.  These fires are sometimes kept up for hours, being continually fed by the scores of bystanders, who take great delight in throwing amidst the flames some old rickety piece of furniture which they consider as lumber in their houses.  Lots of happy and reckless children, and very often men, are seen merrily leaping in succession over and through the crackling flames.  At the time of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, the Grand Master himself, soon after the Angelus, used to leave his palace, accompanied by the Grand Prior, the Bishop, and two bailiffs, to set fire to some pitch barrels which were placed for the occasion in the square facing the sacred Hospital.  Great crowds used to assemble here in order to assist at this ceremony.  The setting ablaze of the five casks, and later on of the eight casks, by the Grand Master, was a signal for the others to kindle their fires in the different parts of the town."[542]

[The Midsummer fires in Greece; the Midsummer fires in Macedonia and Albania.]

In Greece, the custom of kindling fires on St. John’s Eve and jumping over them is said to be still universal.  One reason assigned for it is a wish to escape from the fleas.[543] According to another account, the women cry out, as they leap over the fire, “I leave my sins behind me."[544] In Lesbos the fires on St. John’s Eve are usually lighted by threes, and the people spring thrice over them, each with a stone on his head, saying, “I jump the hare’s fire, my head a stone!” On the morning of St. John’s Day those who dwell near the coast go to bathe in the sea.  As they go they gird themselves with osiers, and when they are in the water they let the osiers float away, saying, “Let my maladies go away!” Then they look for what is called “the hairy stone,” which possesses the remarkable property not only of keeping moths from clothes but even of multiplying the clothes in the chest where it is laid up, and the more hairs on the stone the more will the clothes multiply in the chest.[545] In Calymnos the midsummer fire is supposed to ensure abundance in the coming year as well as deliverance from fleas.  The people dance round the fires singing, with stones on their heads, and then jump over the blaze or the glowing embers.  When the fire is burning low, they throw the stones into it; and when it is nearly out, they make crosses on their legs and then go straightway and bathe in the sea.[546] In Cos the lads and lasses dance round the bonfires on St. John’s Eve.  Each of the lads binds a black stone on his head, signifying that he wishes to become as strong as the stone.  Also they make the sign of the cross on their feet and legs and jump over the fire.[547] On Midsummer Eve the Greeks of Macedonia light fires after supper in front of their gates.  The garlands, now faded, which were hung over the doors on May Day, are taken down and cast into the flames, after which the young folk leap over the blaze, fully persuaded that St. John’s fire will not burn them.[548] In Albania fires of dry herbage are, or used to be, lit everywhere on St. John’s Eve; young and old leap over them, for such a leap is thought to be good for the health.[549]