Apart from Christmas, Midsummer is the most important holiday on the calendar for the Swedish. In the northern part of Sweden, the sun never sets at this time of the year. As mentioned in this post, the Swedish will celebrate Midsummer starting next Friday, June 21 and throughout that weekend. Everyone leaves the city to enjoy nature, drink beer, dance around the maypole, and eat pickled herring, new potatoes with fresh dill, sour cream, and chives, and strawberries with cream. It is a magical time of love; after all, it’s the season of fertility that people were historically celebrating. It is tradition to decorate homes and farm tools with greenery, light bonfires, and dance the night away.
It was said that Midsummer was the best time for telling people’s futures, and girls ate salted porridge so that their future husbands might come to them in their dreams and quench their thirsts. According to tradition, they are supposed to pick seven different kinds of flowers and lay them under their pillow, and their future husband will appear in a dream. The ancient stories also say that you could discover treasures by observing how moonbeams fell, and that water turned into wine and ferns into flowers on this night. They believed that many plants acquired healing powers on Midsummer night. These days, the Swedish gather to enjoy friends, family, and nature.
Want to learn more about Swedish Midsummer? This fun little 4-minute video will make you chuckle and will also make you want to head to the Swedish countryside to celebrate!
All information above, plus the video, came from this website and this one. Check them out for more details on Swedish culture and the Midsummer celebration.
P.S. Midsummer inspiration for the kiddos!
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