Catholic Activity: Door Decoration for the Eve of the Birth of St. John the Baptist

A simple tradition for the eve of St. John.

DIRECTIONS

Another beautiful tradition was to decorate the door of one's home with "birch leaves, St. John's wort, and white lilies" on the eve of this feast. If you are not acquainted with St. John's wort by name, you must be by sight — having ignored it as a weed (with small yellow blossoms) all these years. The wild-flower books in your local library will tell you which weed it is you are to pick. Another tradition was to hang out, along with the flowers, a lighted lantern (in our century, the porch light) on the night before the feast. How nice this would be if all the neighbors left their porch lights on this eve to salute this saint who enlightened those who sat in darkness.

Activity Source: Year and Our Children, The by Mary Reed Newland, P.J. Kenedy & Sons, New York, 1956