Joninės/Saint Jonas’ Festival

Joninės – the most beautiful summer holiday with deep traditions, which have been preserved in different corners of Lithuania till this day. Joninės are celebrated June 24th, the one time in the year when the day is the longest and night is the shortest. It is thought that the summer solstice was celebrated by the Lithuanians from a long time ago. There is written evidence of this holiday going back to the 14th century. The summer solstice was one of the most important calendar reference points for farmers in the old days.

This holiday is often called three different names: Rasos, Kupolė, and Joninės. Kupolė comes from the word „kupolis“ or herbarium in which lives the deity of this holiday. It is also the name of the ritual pole, which is covered in grasses and plants during the holiday. Rasos name is associated with the name of the place (a hill) where the holiday’s rituals were held. When Christianity came to Lithuania, the holiday fell on the same day as St. John the Baptist’s name day and so it was named Joninės.

Despite the Christian influence, Joninės kept many pagan traditions and customs:

• Gates, that label the entrance to the celebration’s territory, are built two meters tall and are wrapped in plants. When the celebration begins, there are two people standing by the gates: one holds a jug of water, and the other a towel. Everyone who passes through the gate has to wash themselves and symbolically clean up. After that, a sacrificial altar is burned, traditional kupolinės songs are sung, people recite their expectations of the future, and they celebrate the successes of their past.
• The main symbols of the holiday are water, fire, and vegetation. From a long time ago, on the eve of Joninės, women would collect various healing herbs, because it was believed that the herbs picked on this night acquire special healing abilities. This picking is called “kupoliavimas” and the kupolė itself is a flower bouquet which is raised during the celebration on a long stick- a tree from a mythical world, symbolizing the universe’s axis. Later, tea is made from the picked herbs and placed along the ceilings of barns to keep the animals healthy. There’s another custom for when the sun sets, everyone in a meadow must take nine steps in any desired direction. At that moment they stop, bend down, and pick the first grass they see. This whole action is repeated nine times. After nine grasses are collected, they go to see a prophet who uses the collected grass bouquets to tell stories of what to expect in the future.
• It is also believed that even the dew is magical this night. The bigger the dew on the morning of the holiday, the bigger the harvest could be expected. After collecting the dew, it was given to the cows so they could produce a lot of milk, and was sprinkled on the garden so it would be fertile and weeds wouldn’t grow. It was believed that a farmer would await a good harvest if, on this night, he would run around his land and roll around in the dew, naked. It was thought that it had healing abilities, that’s why when a man bathes in the dew in the morning, he feels brighter and his face becomes pure. The ill also bathed in the dew, hoping to become cured.
• At night, unwed ladies put on white linen clothing and would sing while walking to the meadows to weave flower crowns. The crowns were braided from nine or twelve different blooming flowers. The women decorated their heads with the flower crowns and later attempted to see the future from them. Also, the unwed girls would each release two flower crowns in the river or lake at midnight. It was thought that if the flower crowns would break apart, the girl would separate from her lover, but if they came together, they would get married. They also released a single flower crown with a candle. If the crown floated, then the girl would get married, but if the crown stopped, the girl would not find a husband that year. The girls also cast spells from the flowers. They counted the daisy petals going one by one- “he loves her, he loves her not…” Also, if the number of petals in the bouquet were even, she would find her significant other, if odd, then not yet. Women would discover their fate by also throwing their flower crowns on a ritualistic pole. If they successfully threw the crowns over their backs onto it, they would most likely get married the coming year.
•  During Joninės, Lithuanians would try to guess the weather: if the night was starry, then Christmas would be cold and snowy, if the night was cloudy, then Christmas would be rainy and windy, but if it was a rainy night, then one could expect a lot of blizzards for Christmas.
• On this night, the sun is also worshiped. She is thanked for warmth, light, and asked to shine as much as possible. At night, a big bonfire was created on a tall hill. It was thought that the farther the fire will light the fields, the bigger the harvest will be in the fall. At night, teens would be jumping over the bonfire. It was thought that if a man and woman jumped over the fire together, holding hands, they would marry the same year.
• Speaking of spells and superstitions, a fern petal searching was probably the main and most well-known ritual till modern times. It was thought that once one finds a fern petal, he becomes clairvoyant – he can hear other people’s thoughts, understand the talk of birds, and these kinds of abilities bring fortune and luck. People could only go searching for it alone and when going deep into the forest, they could not turn back. Having arrived at the deepest part of the forest and having found the fern, it was necessary to put a handkerchief or scarf under it, circle the fern with a rowan branch, place a cup with holy water, light a candle, and pray. At that moment, the petal should light up and fall on the scarf.