How was Midsummer and St. John's Day Celebrated in Elizabethan England?

In Shakespeare's England, the middle of summer was a time of celebration. While the summer season begins at May Day, the longest day of the year, from June 23 into the 24th, was celebrated as the holiday of Midsummer, and Christianized as St. John's Eve and St. John's Day. It was the longest day of the year, and for the life of William Shakespeare, this holiday was marked with celebrations of feasting, dancing, and bonfires. Shakespeare himself immortalizes the spirit of the festivities in Twelfth Night when Olivia says "Why, this is very midsummer madness." Here today to help us unpack what Midsummer celebrations would have been like in the 16-17th century England, as well as to explain for us how seemingly heathen celebration to celebrate the summer solstice lined up with the celebration of the venerable St. John, is our guest and historian, Bill Petro.