June 23. St. John’s Eve. By the time “the iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve,” bonfires will have been lit, love potions will have been sought, and the night will be alive with supernatural beings.

Anyway, it’s a big deal in Europe, where it pervades the folklore of the British Isles, Scandinavia, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Hungary, Russia and elsewhere. In Sweden, Midsummer is a national holiday.

The influence is felt vicariously in the United States by way of the “Night on Bald Mountain” sequence in Disney’s “Fantasia,” Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and Igmar Bergman’s “Smiles of a Summer Night.”

Among our featured highlights this morning will be a recording of “St. John’s Eve” by Gunnar de Frumerie. The allegorical ballet features appearances by John the Baptist, Salome, the Seven Deadly Sins, Angels, and the Devil, all tied up with Swedish Midsummer traditions.

How now, spirit! Robin Goodfellow will squeeze the juice of love-in-idleness onto sleeping eyelids, from 6 to 11 EDT on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. We’ll be singeing our tails leaping over bonfires, on Classic Ross Amico.

PHOTO: Young women engage in a Ukrainian St. John’s Eve ritual