in my youth we were never allowed to go swimming at the nearby lakes until they were blessed on st. john’s eve. is that a connection with the old practice of well dressing?
No.
I’ve never heard of that particular ritual. Why is St. John significant to swimming in the lake?
Quite possibly something to do with John Baptising in the river Jordan?
I thought that, too.
Isn’t “St. John’s” a brand of pool chorinator? 
djm
thats oleochorinator to you pilgrim.
No thanks. I prefer milk with my oleos. 
djm
It’s not summer in 1/2 the world.
Mmm… nothing better with a nice big bucket of oleo than a frosty glass o’ milk!
It sounds like St. John’s Day is the Christian version of Midsummer’s Day and the bonfire protective rituals come from the earlier pagan tradition. I only found (didn’t look incredibly hard) one reference to swimming:
I guess the protective rituals, which seemed to involve a lot of fire, were meant to protect everything----crops, people, animals, etc—from every mishap or disaster.
Click—>
You can see on this close-up that the well dressings are made of natural materials.
Things like moss, bark, flower petals are pressed into clay. The clay is pressed onto a wooden frame.
It’s all quite complicated. It is certainly something I had never heard of before.
Blimey, I hope not! Don’t you know the story of Eyam? (Pronounced “Eem”). Briefly, They got plague. And because they didn’t want to spread it around the countryside, they sealed the village. Voluntarily. And they all died. Heroes, in their way.
Thanks for the Pagan stuff, Cynth. I wanted to wait until someone other than me posted it. (I’m NOT the only Pagan on this forum!)
You ought to know that there are Eight Pagan Festivals throughout the year. Four of them are Solar festivals (the two equinoxes and the two solstices) and the other four are Fire festivals. Midsummer is NOT a fire festival. Although we like any excuse for a bonfire.
Well dressing, I believe is an old Pagan tradition. In most of Europe, and in the UK particularly, natural water sources are sacred. One traditional homage is to throw coins in a pool or a fountain.
The business of St. John’s Day is largely practical. Ireland is not (at least until recently) a very warm country. Before Midsummers day the water will be VERY chilly. Bathers run a real danger of sudden cramp. So it’s a public safety issue.
(Rant alert!) The Montheistic Church likes to dominate all human affairs, so if the tradition is to only start bathing after St. John’s Day, let’s make a ceremony out of it! Bells, Chants, Arpergers, Robes - Watch out for the power of The Church! (Okay, rant over.)
But the two issues are not similar.
People don’t go bathing in wells (voluntarily).
Well, to be honest I’m not really sure what a pagan is! Do you have to actively do certain things? I don’t think I’d really qualify in that case, although I’m sure some of them might be fun.
<img src="http://paganism.ru/photos/x143.jpg"width =300>
Its just a bunch of modern made-up stuff to pretend to be like the pre-Christian Britons. As long as they’re having fun, where’s the harm? 
djm
I used to be a pagan, as a teenager (like many teenagers were–it was considered “cool”). Do you known Gavin and Yvonne Frost? The “Church of Wicca” world headquarters is located where I’m from, and they’re the ones that run it.
I’ve found that there are a surprisingly large number of former pagans who’ve found Christ. I’ve also found that a huge number of people who leave Christianity for various forms of paganism are gay or lesbian. It’s curious to me, and I know I’m not the only person who’s noticed. I should write a book about it. I think this is because most (but not all) forms of Christianity are so anti-gay. This is also largely why there are such huge Dianic (all female) groups of pagans, I think.
The move from Christianity to paganism is a retalitory move for many people, especially those of us who traditional Christianity has no place for.* It was for me, but I’ve since come full circle and realized that Christ is distinct from most of his followers. It was (is) a truly liberating experience for me, and even though I now believe paganism is wrong, the journey itself has given me much valuable insight, I think.
*The Society of Friends, while untraditional, has a place for everybody, quite literally.
That’s what I like about you, djm! You’re an open-minded cynic.
Well, I look at religious stuff, and I see it is all infantile make-believe, and I see people dressed up in costumes, putting on a performance, pretending to be someone or something they’re not, obsessing about minutiae. And then I look at things like these Renaissance Festivals (Ren Fests) and its just people dressed up in costumes, putting on a performance, pretending to be someone or something they’re not, obsessing about minutiae. So when people calling themselves Rosicrucians and Wiccas and pagans start dressing up in costumes, putting on a performance, pretending to be someone or something they’re not, obsessing about minutiae, what’s there to be concerned with? Its apparently normal human behaviour, and they cetainly aren’t doing anything new, so I guess that if they’re not hurting anyone and they’re having fun, where’s the harm in it?
djm
Many of us believe there is spiritual harm there. And those giant oak branches tied on your head have to hurt after a while.