This episode explores some of the better and lesser known celebrations and songs of the midsummer solstice in Europe. In the process it addresses some of the perennial questions of this holiday, like: What is a maypole? Why are all of those Russians bathing together? And how can I find buried treasure when all I’m wearing is this garland of mugwort? And what’s all this about human sacrifice?

Music:

Intro: "Forest March" by Sylvia Woods

"Sumer Is Icumen In" by Shelley Phillips

"Helan går" by Polyteknikkojen Kuoro

"The Fiddle: Kvitbergjen, springleik" by Petters Erik Eriksson, Hans Brimi, Mauno Jarvela & Levy Wilsen

"I denna ljuva sommartid" by Frifot

"Set Dance: King of the Fairies" by Tom McHaile

"Oro Mo Bhaidin" by In Harmony's Way

"Tansys Golowan (Midsummer Bonfire)" by Dalla

"Sumer Is Icumen In" by Trouvere Medieval Minstrels

"Ivan Na Rada (Ivan spoke to Rada)" by Donka Paneva and Mitka Petkova from Malomir Village, Yambol District

"Ligojati, Ligojati" by Skandinieki

"Midsummer Song" by Stalti Family

"Kupala" by Tim Rayborn

"Porushka" by Dmitri Pokrovsky Ensemble

"Summer Solstice/Kupala Na Ivana" by Zeellia

"Fern Flower" by Nutopia

"Celies, Brālīti" by Skandinieki

Image: Ivan Sokolov, Night of Ivan Kupala

Some articles I used for this episode:

Leslie Ellen Jones, “Hi, My Name’s Fox”?: An Alternative Explication of “Lindow Man’s” Fox Fur Armband and Its Relevance to the Question of Human Sacrifice among the Celts” http://celtic.cmrs.ucla.edu/22papers/jones.pdf

Sandra Billington, “The Midsummer Solstice As It Was, Or Was Not, Observed in Pagan Germany, Scandinavia and Anglo-Saxon England” http://anthreligion.commons.uaa.alaska.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/67/2015/10/Midsummer-solstice.pdf