Litha

Around 21 June

Midsummer bonfires are recorded across Europe with remarkable consistency, often on hilltops, often with wheels of burning straw rolled downhill.

It is the traditional gathering time for a long list of herbs, mugwort and St John's wort among them, on the belief that potency peaks with the sun.

The name Litha is taken from Bede's list of Old English month names and was applied to the festival by twentieth-century revivalists.