Midsummer tradition

Erik Svensson RT3
Rymdgymnasiet 2012-02-22

Dear Thomas,
I heard that you were interested about the traditions of Sweden, so I am going to tell you about the
Swedish tradition of midsummer.
The midsummer celebration takes place during the summer solstice which is the brightest time of the
year, at places above the northern polar circle the sun doesn’t set at all. And in Sweden it’s one of
the most important holidays of the year. Midsummer is most commonly celebrated between 19
th
and
24
th
of June at a Friday. The basics of the tradition is to pick a lot of wild flowers and branches of
birch and fasten them to the midsummer’s pole ( or Maypole as some prefer it to be called ) until it’s
fully covered, Then it’s raised during songs. Once the Midsummer’s pole is raised people dance
around it in big circles singing traditional songs like “små grodorna” and “räven raskar over isen”.
While dancing the people of Sweden often wear traditional suits or at least garlands made up of
birch and wildflowers.
At my hometown/village we have the special tradition of pentathlon. We compete against each
other, both children and adults, and as you may believe everyone isn’t at their most sober state so
the event often takes a quite interesting turn.
The five challenges are:
Skip bag: were all of the contesters get a big bag to jump in while crossing a track.
Shot put: where you throw a heavy bead as far as possible
Dart: throw arrows at a dartboard
Irish Christmas: you spin your head around a pole and then trying to run straight.
Walking on stilts
The winner of the contest gets a price such as a bottle of liquor or a basket filled with the harvest of
midsummer.
After the contests are done, we have drawings of lots where you can win many cool prices. But
unfortunately my luck isn’t the best when it comes to games of gamble.
After celebrations at the Midsummer´s pole has stopped people go home for lunch (or eat before)
where the traditional Swedish cuisine is displayed at its best. On the food table we have the first
year´s potatoes, soused herring , sour cream mixed with wild chives, beetroot salad and of course
Swedish meatballs and sausage. During the lunch it’s also a tradition to drink quite heavy in the form
of different liquors made up of herbs and the common name for these are “snapps” or in English
“Schnapps”, while drinking these “snapps” a small drinking song is always sung , a “snappsvisa” as it’s
called in Swedish.
At the dinner all of the dishes that were served during the lunch are available but also more dishes
such as the famous shrimp omelet, Jansson’s temptation or Fermented Herring. Erik Svensson RT3
Rymdgymnasiet 2012-02-22

Dear Thomas,
I heard that you were interested about the traditions of Sweden, so I am going to tell you about the
Swedish tradition of midsummer.
The midsummer celebration takes place during the summer solstice which is the brightest time of the
year, at places above the northern polar circle the sun doesn’t set at all. And in Sweden it’s one of
the most important holidays of the year. Midsummer is most commonly celebrated between 19
th
and
24
th
of June at a Friday. The basics of the tradition is to pick a lot of wild flowers and branches of
birch and fasten them to the midsummer’s pole ( or Maypole as some prefer it to be called ) until it’s
fully covered, Then it’s raised during songs. Once the Midsummer’s pole is raised people dance
around it in big circles singing traditional songs like “små grodorna” and “räven raskar over isen”.
While dancing the people of Sweden often wear traditional suits or at least garlands made up of
birch and wildflowers.
At my hometown/village we have the special tradition of pentathlon. We compete against each
other, both children and adults, and as you may believe everyone isn’t at their most sober state so
the event often takes a quite interesting turn.
The five challenges are:
Skip bag: were all of the contesters get a big bag to jump in while crossing a track.
Shot put: where you throw a heavy bead as far as possible
Dart: throw arrows at a dartboard
Irish Christmas: you spin your head around a pole and then trying to run straight.
Walking on stilts
The winner of the contest gets a price such as a bottle of liquor or a basket filled with the harvest of
midsummer.
After the contests are done, we have drawings of lots where you can win many cool prices. But
unfortunately my luck isn’t the best when it comes to games of gamble.
After celebrations at the Midsummer´s pole has stopped people go home for lunch (or eat before)
where the traditional Swedish cuisine is displayed at its best. On the food table we have the first
year´s potatoes, soused herring , sour cream mixed with wild chives, beetroot salad and of course
Swedish meatballs and sausage. During the lunch it’s also a tradition to drink quite heavy in the form
of different liquors made up of herbs and the common name for these are “snapps” or in English
“Schnapps”, while drinking these “snapps” a small drinking song is always sung , a “snappsvisa” as it’s
called in Swedish.
At the dinner all of the dishes that were served during the lunch are available but also more dishes
such as the famous shrimp omelet, Jansson’s temptation or Fermented Herring.
Erik Svensson RT3
Rymdgymnasiet 2012-02-22

History
Midsummer celebration is an old tradition of the year that we’ve celebrated since ancient times;
According to the old solar calendar the midsummer celebration was the first day of the third quarter
of the year. The tradition comes from an astronomical point of view that midsummer shall be
celebrated as the opposite day of Christmas Eve.
In the pre-Christian Scandinavia the tradition of midsummer celebration was associated with gifts
and celebrations of offerings to please the god of fertility, which bring me to the history of the
midsummer garlands. According to the folklore, all of plants that grew during midsummer get
charged with supernatural forces and by collecting the powerful magic in a garland of flowers you
were “Set” for the rest of the year. Over time when Christianity...