Summer: Fire, Water, and Feast

Every summer, someone rolls a burning wheel downhill, ties herbs into a bundle, wades into a river at dawn, or carries the first loaf of the new grain to a church door. The folklore of the hot months is more physical, more perishable, and more precisely timed than a season of supposed leisure has any right to be. From solstice fires in Scandinavia to monsoon rain-calling rites in India, from berry...