ummer bonfires consist of fuel piled in the usual way; but they must
be put together by men who have been married since the last midsummer
festival, and each of these benedicts is obliged to lay a wreath of
flowers on the top of the pile.[484] At the entrance of the valley of
Aran young people set up on the banks of the Garonne a tree covered with
ribbons and garlands; at the end of a year the withered tree and faded
flowers furnish excellent fuel. So on the Eve of St. John the villagers
assemble, and an old man or a child kindles the fire which is to consume
tree and garlands together. While the blaze lasts the people sing and
dance; and the burnt tree is then replaced by another which will suffer
the same fate after the lapse of a year.[485] In some districts of the
French Pyrenees it is deemed necessary to leap nine times over the
midsummer fire if you would be assured of prosperity.[486] A traveller
in Southern France at the beginning of the nineteenth century tells us
that "the Eve of St. John is also a day of joy for the Provencals. They
light great fires and the young folk leap over them. At Aix they shower
squibs and crackers on the passers-by, which has often had disagreeable
consequences. At Marseilles they drench each other with scented water,
which is poured from the windows or squirted from little syringes; the
roughest jest is to souse passers-by with clean water, which gives rise
to loud bursts of laughter."[487] At Draguignan, in the department of
Var, fires used to be lit in every street on the Eve of St. John, and
the people roasted pods of garlic at them; the pods were afterwards
distributed to every family. Another diversion of the evening was to
pour cans of water from the houses on the heads of people in the
streets.[488] In Provence the midsummer fires are still popular.
Children go from door to door begging for fuel, and they are seldom sent
empty away. Formerly the priest, the mayor, and the aldermen used to
walk in procession to the bonfire, and even deigned to light it; after
which the assembly marched thrice round the burning pile, while the
church bells pealed and rockets fizzed and sputtered in the air. Dancing
began later, and the bystanders threw water on each other. At Ciotat,
while the fire was blazing, the young people plunged into the sea and
splashed each other vigorously. At Vitrolles they bathed in a pond in
order that they might not suffer from fever during the year, and at
Saintes-