Swedish Midsummer

Since I blogged about the winter solstice in December, I thought I should talk a little about the summer solstice today. Not least since it is the second largest holiday in Sweden. This is the day when the normally so reserved Swedes really let loose.

I understand that midsummer must seem so unbelievably strange to an outsider. We days around a big phallos singing about frogs, rockets and walking around junipear trees doing our laundry. We eat herring and new potatoes and party all night. We also pick 7 flowers to put underneath our pillow so we should dream about the one we are going to marry.

The way we celebrate is a mix of older and newer traditions. The way we celebrate today mostly dates to the end of the 19th and early 20th century. However, the festivities are far older than that.

The midsummer celebration is mentioned already in the Icelandic Sagas from the 13th century and the midsummer pole (originally called may pole) can be traced back as far as the christianisation. It is decorated with leaves and flowers to celebrate all things that grow.

We do not really know for sure for how long we've celebrated midsummer in Sweden, but it is described in Historia om de nordiska folken (History of the Nordic people) which dates back to the 16th century. Back then it was celebrated on the day of John the baptist (23 June) every year. From 1953 however, it has always been celebrated on the Friday and this year it happens to be on that day.

I do not find it so surprising that our biggest holidays are Christmas and midsummer. Living here you really notice the contrasts between the seasons. The winters are dark and cold and the summers bright and warm. Of course we want to celebrate the turning towards a brighter existence in the darkest of winter and of course we want to celebrate the time when it is the brightest too. I love the fact that Norse mythology deals with these contrasts with the cold and dark and the light and warm. It was created in the special situation we have living up here and I think this is one of the reasons why Christianity has never really been able to claim the midsummer night. It still feel a bit magic.