JUNE
June owes its name to Juno, the goddess of heaven, who takes a special interest in women and protects their interests. She is supposed to accompany every woman through life, from the moment of her birth to her death. Little wonder, then, that the women of ancient times considered that, by propitiating Juno, their fortunes were assured. This they usually did on their birthdays.
Midsummer Day (June 24th) is sacred to the memory of John the Baptist, and the ceremonies practised at this season in the Middle Ages were partly relics of the saints and partly relics of old sun worship. Great fires of wood or bones blazed on every mountain top, and were supposed to be typical of the saint, who was called a burning and a shining light.
These Beltane fires burned often on bare, flat rocks, not only in England, Scotland, and Ireland, but on the Alps, the Hartz Mountains, and elsewhere. It was a great thing to be present at or in view of one of these fires, for the evil spirit was dispelled by the potency of the light and flames.
Rhymes regarding June:—
(a) A dripping June
Brings all things in tune.
(b) If St. Vitus' Day (June 14th) be rainy weather,
It will rain for thirty days together.
(c) He who bathes in May will soon be laid in clay;
He who bathes in June will sing a merry tune;
But he who bathes in July will dance like a fly.
(d) Look at your corn in May,
And you will come weeping away:
Look at the same in June,
And you'll sing a merry tune.
(e) June, damp and warm, does the farmer no harm.
(f) If it rains on Midsummer Eve, the filberts will be spoilt.