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Parma’s Coat-of-Arms, June 2010
Santa Maria della Steccata, Parma, June 2010
Cloisters, San Giovanni Evangelista, Parma, 6/2010
San Giovanni Evangelista, Parma, June 2010Midsummer night
The night between the 23rd and 24th of June is magic in many cultures and traditions, this applies to Parma too.
What do we do? First of all, we have dinner out of doors, on St. John's Eve, and the tradition dictates that "tortelli d'erbetta" must be in the menu. You can find many kinds of tortelli in Italy, but the filling of the true St. John tortelli is ricotta cheese with minced beet leaves.
This is the part of the tradition that most people like to keep alive. The other ones are now a bit more difficult to keep. For instance, the dew of midsummer night is magic, so if you grow healing herbs in your garden you should pick them at dawn on St. John's day, when the dew is still on their leaves: their healing powers will be much stronger.
