The Feast of Saint John the Baptist is celebrated, according to the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church, on 24 June, the day of the earthly birth of the Precursor of Christ. Saint John, together with Our Lady, is the only saint whose earthly birth and that in Heaven (coinciding with death by martyrdom) are celebrated

The profound meaning of the holiday of 24 June must be found in an original agrarian origin connected to the summer solstice (21 June). With the summer solstice, as is well known, daylight decreases and in popular imagination the sun loses strength and needs to be strengthened through ritual actions. To this end, on the night of the 23rd, the eve of the festival, the fireworks are lit (lamps, fogulones, etc.).

If Christ is the Sol Invictus ('Sun never defeated'), whose nativity is celebrated on December 25, near the winter solstice, the moment from which the Sun implements its strength, Saint John, on the other hand, is a mortally wounded sun, who, after the summer solstice, loses its strength like the Saint who took off (that is, killed by beheading, at the request of Herod of the wicked Salome). In fact, as already mentioned, starting from the summer solstice, the sun “decreases” and it is necessary to give it new strength with fire, for a form of sympathetic magic, by virtue of which the like attracts the like (the fire shines like the sun).

By jumping fire as a couple and reciting specific formulas, one became companions and/or wives of Saint John, a very strong bond, as, on the other hand, Constantine reminds Simone Sole in the pages of the fifth chapter of the Deleddian novel Marianna Sirca (1915): “Remember that we swore faith on the night of Saint John; and the appearance of Saint John, which I am for you and you for me, is more than the bride, more than the lover, more than the brother, even more than the son. Only the father and the mother can overcome it. This is why I come to you today, even against my conscience and at the risk of my life [...]”.

In some areas of Sardinia, the comparative rite was associated with the exchange of su nènniri (wheat sprouted in the dark).

In some areas of the island, the custom of lighting the ritual fires of Saint John has remained vital, for example Oliena, where the fuel is not given by any simple stubble, but by the flowers and herbs used for the ramadura (aromatic herbs and flowers) scattered on the streets on Easter day, so as to create a perfumed carpet in the streets on which the statues of the Risen Jesus and the Madonna are transported on the occasion of the rite of S'Incontru.

Like all the phases of transition that delimit the old and the new during the year, even the Feast of Saint John, close to the winter solstice, is considered a special time, in which nature assumed extraordinary powers. On the night of the 23rd, aromatic herbs (wild mint, hyssop, etc.) and medicinal herbs (hypericum, not surprisingly Frore de Santu Juanne, effective against burns, coughs, etc.) were collected, which implemented their powers precisely because they were caught at this particular annual juncture. Just as, on the other hand, the water drawn on this same night without uttering a word (s'abba muda) acquired thaumaturgical and protective powers. Among the powers attributed to s'abba muda was to keep ghosts away from homes. In addition, there were widespread beliefs that during the night of 23 June, the ears put the grains of wheat in the ears and that the sky would open up, allowing a glimpse of Heaven. In this regard, let's quote one more passage from the above-mentioned novel Marianna Sirca: “Marianna confusingly remembered that as a child, on New John's Eve, she expected something similar; she waited in the dark courtyard of her house, for the sky to open up at midnight and let God see out in the midst of

During the festival of the forerunner of Christ, it was believed that animals could speak, that the sun could dance. It was an appropriate time to make predictions. For example, the girls, observing the morning of Saint John which insect had remained attached to the mullein specially marked with a thread, could draw hope about the social status and even the profession of the future husband. In Gallura, the young women ate the night of Christmas Eve lu càsgiu furriatu, melted cheese, mixed with fresh cream and semolina, rather salty which, causing a lot of thirst, induced a restless sleep, thanks to which they could remember the identity of the future husband manifested in a dream

The flowers and herbs collected on the night of Christmas Eve or Saint John's day constituted the content of particular Nuoro retzettas amulets, consisting of small cloth bags to be worn with a protective function. Grazia Deledda's novel Cenere (1904) reads as follows: “The night of Saint John fell. Olì came out of the white cantoniere on the edge of the road that leads from Nuoro to Mamojada, and set out into the fields. She was a 15-year-old girl [...]. Between his fingers surrounded by metal rings, Olì had scarlet stripes and ribbons, with which he wanted to mark the flowers of Saint John, that is, the bushes of mullein, thyme and asphodel to be plucked the next day at dawn to make medicines and amulets.” And it is precisely from the ashes blackened by the time that, after so many years, the flowers collected by Olì and contained in the retzetta that takes the name of this novel, one of the most beautiful in the entire Deleddian production, will become the final chapter of the work.