A Magical Midsummer Celebration
Winters in Sweden are long, cold and dark. In the Arctic north, the sun does not come up at all in January, and it comes up only for a few hours a day in the south. So everyone is delighted when summer finally comes and the opposite happens – the sun hardly sets. It’s time for a big celebration of nature, the outdoors and sunshine – the Midsummer festival.
Swedish children finish school for the long summer vacation about the second week in June. The Midsummer festival takes place on a Friday between June 19 and 25, around the time of the summer solstice, which is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. It is a public holiday and the biggest celebration in Sweden after Christmas. Many families start their summer vacation on this day, and lots of weddings and christenings take place. The cities and towns empty and become strangely silent as everyone makes their way to the countryside to meet up with family and friends.
Midsummer is an ancient festival celebrated in Sweden since the 1500s. In the old days, people believed that it was a magical time. They would decorate their homes and farms with plants and flowers for good luck, and some still do to this day. Children start the holiday early in the morning by gathering birch branches and flowers to make pretty crowns to wear on their heads.
Many will wear their brightly coloured folk costumes. A maypole is set up in a park or on a village green. The maypole is a tall cross made of birch logs with a floral wreath on each side. Everyone helps decorate it with garlands made of greenery and flowers. The music starts, and everyone sings and dances around the maypole.
One of the traditional songs that everyone enjoys singing is “Små grodorna” – the Little Frogs. It goes something like this:
“The little frogs, the little frogs are so funny to see.
No ears, no ears, they have no tails.
No ears, no ears, they have no tails.
Croak, croak; croak, croak; croak, croak.”
Everyone joins in the dance around the maypole pretending to be frogs! It’s all very silly and good fun. Afterwards, there are plenty of activities, such as tug of war, egg and spoon races, apple bobbing and boot throwing, to join in or watch.
After all that activity, everyone is hungry and it’s time for the feast. Tables are set up outdoors. There are usually three types of pickled herring, and always the new potatoes of the season. The potatoes are dressed with dill, sour cream and chives. The next course is barbecued meat or fish. There is plenty of salad, cheese and crisp-bread. Everyone’s favourite (dessert) is fresh strawberries with cream or sometimes a strawberry cake.
After a busy, fun-filled day, everyone relaxes for the long, bright evening, perhaps, as the old myth says, looking for treasure by watching where the moonbeams fall. After all, it is the most magical night of the year and you never know!
