This is a column written years ago by David Beach for the Cleveland Edition weekly newspaper.
"Tomorrow the days start getting shorter. It's the beginning of a long downhill slide. Everything takes a deep breath and says, 'Winter!'"
We were hiking around Lake Isaac in Big Creek Reservation with the Metroparks' chief naturalist, Robert Hinkle. The almost-full strawberry moon hung over the lake, and it seemed strange for him to be talking about the coming of winter.
This was June 21, the summer solstice, the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. Summer was just beginning. But the animals and plants would soon sense the passing of the seasonal apex, he said. In the coming weeks, gradually diminishing amounts of daylight would start them on the path to winter. Birds would finish breeding. Deer would change color. Leaves would start a slow degradation into fall colors.
Before humans were ensconced in cities and homes with artificially controlled climates, we also were attuned to the sun's seasonal rhythms. The summer solstice was a time of uncertainty and danger, since it marked the end of longer days, the point when the sun began to weaken.
On midsummer's eve, the devil, demons, poisonous dragons and other imps took to the air. People lit bonfires to strengthen the sun and scare off the evil creatures. And, Hinkle said, they also looked to certain magical plants for protection, especially to St. John's Wort.
St. John's Wort ("wort" means plant or root) is a perennial herb with clusters of brilliant yellow flowers. It blooms near the time of the solstice and undoubtedly reminded ancient peoples of the sun. The Crusaders may have brought the plant to Europe, where it became incorporated into Christian midsummer rituals related to the Nativity of St. John on June 24. The plant was renamed in the saint's honor. Its scientific name, Hypericum perforatum, is a reference to the translucent dots on the leaves. The dots are oil glands but look like pinpricks—holes perhaps made by the prickly hand of the devil as he tried to pull the flower from the hand of St. John.
On midsummer's night eve, people hung St. John's Wort by their doors or wore spigs of the plant around their necks to ward off evil spirits. It was used to exorcise demons from those possessed. It could help reveal witches. And it was reputed to be a cure for a variety of ailments—depression, malancholy, delusions, aches, coughs and urinary troubles. According to one legend, if a childless women picked a St. John's Wort flower while walking naked, she would have a child before next midsummer.
"All this myth and magic is tied into tonight," Hinkle said, as we followed the trail around Lake Isaac.
The sun finally set a few minutes after nine o'clock. The long daylight paled, and our eyes adjusted to the darkness settling over the woods and meadows. We plunged deeper into the woods in search of screech owls. Hinckle tried to lure one close by playing recorded owl calls through a portable loudspeaker. As the eerie, trilled hooting broadcast through the trees, we all looked up into the surrounding branches. Minutes passed. Suddenly, we sensed a feathery whisper passing overhead. Someone spotted an oval shape silouetted against the moonlit sky. Hinkle caught it in a flashlight beam. The little, gray owl stared at us, perhaps annoyed at being revealed. Then he fluttered back into the darkness.
Flushed with our good fortune at having seen such a secretive bird, we continued hiking through the woods. The path soon brought us to the edge of a creek ravine. From this overlook, we could see some distance through the woods, as if the creek formed a dark tunnel through the trees. In this space were thousands of fireflies. One male would flash, and then every male in sight would light up in competition. The night was filled with their ethereal fireworks.
Hinkle marveled at the sight. He said, "It's often hard to find magic in our society today. People don't take the time anymore. Their lives are too rushed. But the magic is here. You just have to go out and search for it."
