[On this view the fertility supposed to follow the use of fire results indirectly from breaking the spells of witches.]

On this view the fertility supposed to follow the application of fire in the form of bonfires, torches, discs, rolling wheels, and so forth, is not conceived as resulting directly from an increase of solar heat which the fire has magically generated; it is merely an indirect result obtained by freeing the reproductive powers of plants and animals from the fatal obstruction of witchcraft.  And what is true of the reproduction of plants and animals may hold good also of the fertility of the human sexes.  We have seen that the bonfires are supposed to promote marriage and to procure offspring for childless couples.  This happy effect need not flow directly from any quickening or fertilizing energy in the fire; it may follow indirectly from the power of the fire to remove those obstacles which the spells of witches and wizards notoriously present to the union of man and wife.[875]

[On the whole the theory of the purificatory or destructive intention of the fire-festivals seems the more probable.]

On the whole, then, the theory of the purificatory virtue of the ceremonial fires appears more probable and more in accordance with the evidence than the opposing theory of their connexion with the sun.  But Europe is not the only part of the world where ceremonies of this sort have been performed; elsewhere the passage through the flames or smoke or over the glowing embers of a bonfire, which is the central feature of most of the rites, has been employed as a cure or a preventive of various ills.  We have seen that the midsummer ritual of fire in Morocco is practically identical with that of our European peasantry; and customs more or less similar have been observed by many races in various parts of the world.  A consideration of some of them may help us to decide between the conflicting claims of the two rival theories, which explain the ceremonies as sun-charms or purifications respectively.

Notes: 

[796] Above, pp. 116 sq., 119, 143, 165, 166, 168 sq., 172.

[797] Above, pp. 116, 117 sq., 119, 141, 143, 161, 162 sq., 163 sq., 173, 191, 201.

[798] W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarstaemme (Berlin, 1875), pp. 521 sqq.

[799] E. Westermarck, “Midsummer Customs in Morocco,” Folk-lore, xvi. (1905) pp. 44 sqq.; id., The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas (London, 1906-1908), i. 56; id., Ceremonies and Beliefs connected with Agriculture, certain Dates of the Solar Year, and the Weather in Morocco (Helsingfors, 1913), pp. 93-102.

[800] E. Mogk, “Sitten und Gebraeuche im Kreislauf des Jahres,” in R. Wuttke’s Saechsische Volkskunde*[2] (Dresden, 1901), pp. 310 sq.