It is customary
to gather St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum)
on today’s Feast of St. John’s Birthday - June 24.
”Wort” is
from Old English wyrt (German
Würze), which means “plant”, but is used mostly in compounds. Since
ancient times “singent’s wort” was known to relieve melancholy or depression,
as does borage… which every garden should have. It would be hung above
doors, windows and sacred images (hence the hyper-icum ”above
image”) to keep witches and evil spirit away. Burning those witches might
have something to do with its effectiveness as well, now that I think about it.
Oh! And
eat some snails. It is a Roman custom to eat snails on the Feast of John
the Baptist.
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