Midsummer in Sweden: sun, sill and snaps
Created | Updated Jul 26, 2002
Summer in Sweden has been described as the warmest day of the year. Although this is a bit unfair, and despite George W. Bush's best efforts to give us a warmer planet, Sweden is unlikely to become known as sultry summer destination. Nonetheless, because of the sheer contrast with the long-lasting and very cold winter months, summer is definitely worth celebrating. The best manifestation of this is the traditional midsommarfest (Midsummer party, if you couldn't guess), held on the weekend closest to June 24.
The celebration is said to date back to the Vikings, but it is difficult to say if this is correct. Certainly the Vikings were known to mark Midwinter, with the gruesome midvinterblot (Midwinter Sacrifice) involving human sacrifice, and it seems quite reasonable to expect that they would do likewise for summer.
Midsummer celebrations are held in parks and homes across Sweden: those in Dalarna, north of Stockholm, are seen as the most traditional, but even those across the rest of the country generally adhere to the traditions as well.
The focus is on the on the "midsommarstång" or maypole (yes, I know it's June), usually in a local park. Legend has it that this was once just a simple phallic pole, but that Christian missionaries persuaded Swedes to add a lateral bar to make it a cross. This idea didn't really work, because once the pole is bedecked with flowers, and two large circular garlands hanging from the crossbar, the phallic effect is even more pronounced.
Everyone dances around the pole, singing along with traditional Swedish songs. These are mostly aimed at children, but the adults join in as well. The best-known, and also the silliest, is the Dance of the Little Green Frogs, in which people hop about as frogs. Cute. (And even better, the Nobel Prize winners each year have to dance the frog dance when they are inducted into the Order of the Little Green Frogs by the university student guild. Picture that!)
As you might expect, several of the traditions are based on the flourishing flora 'fings' found around Sweden during summer. After all, this is all a celebration of the good things that summer brings. Many of the girls wear crowns of flowers; another custom says that if a girl or woman picks seven different types of flowers, from seven different meadows, and lays them under her pillow on Midsummer Eve, she will dream of the man she will marry.
Later in the evening, people generally return home for a midsummer feast. Swedes know how to eat and drink! The most essential ingredients are numerous different types of 'sill', or marinated herring (no jokes please), and numerous types of 'snaps', schnapps or vodka, flavoured with all sorts of things. (Remember, this is the land of Absolut. They make good snaps!) You will also find salmon, potatoes, prinskorv (small sausages), famous Swedish meatballs (which are NOT served with chips), ham, salads and lots of other things.
So you get to eat wonderful food, in great company, and (hopefully) in the blazing Nordic sunshine. Okay, pass me a glass of snaps! Not so fast. You have to sing first. Yes, before every round of shots, everyone has to join in a singalong. Most of the snaps songs are thankfully short, and to my mind, the best one says, in effect, "Drink it all in one go. If you don't, you won't get a new drink for the next round". Good advice.
The celebration is said to date back to the Vikings, but it is difficult to say if this is correct. Certainly the Vikings were known to mark Midwinter, with the gruesome midvinterblot (Midwinter Sacrifice) involving human sacrifice, and it seems quite reasonable to expect that they would do likewise for summer.
Midsummer celebrations are held in parks and homes across Sweden: those in Dalarna, north of Stockholm, are seen as the most traditional, but even those across the rest of the country generally adhere to the traditions as well.
The focus is on the on the "midsommarstång" or maypole (yes, I know it's June), usually in a local park. Legend has it that this was once just a simple phallic pole, but that Christian missionaries persuaded Swedes to add a lateral bar to make it a cross. This idea didn't really work, because once the pole is bedecked with flowers, and two large circular garlands hanging from the crossbar, the phallic effect is even more pronounced.
Everyone dances around the pole, singing along with traditional Swedish songs. These are mostly aimed at children, but the adults join in as well. The best-known, and also the silliest, is the Dance of the Little Green Frogs, in which people hop about as frogs. Cute. (And even better, the Nobel Prize winners each year have to dance the frog dance when they are inducted into the Order of the Little Green Frogs by the university student guild. Picture that!)
As you might expect, several of the traditions are based on the flourishing flora 'fings' found around Sweden during summer. After all, this is all a celebration of the good things that summer brings. Many of the girls wear crowns of flowers; another custom says that if a girl or woman picks seven different types of flowers, from seven different meadows, and lays them under her pillow on Midsummer Eve, she will dream of the man she will marry.
Later in the evening, people generally return home for a midsummer feast. Swedes know how to eat and drink! The most essential ingredients are numerous different types of 'sill', or marinated herring (no jokes please), and numerous types of 'snaps', schnapps or vodka, flavoured with all sorts of things. (Remember, this is the land of Absolut. They make good snaps!) You will also find salmon, potatoes, prinskorv (small sausages), famous Swedish meatballs (which are NOT served with chips), ham, salads and lots of other things.
So you get to eat wonderful food, in great company, and (hopefully) in the blazing Nordic sunshine. Okay, pass me a glass of snaps! Not so fast. You have to sing first. Yes, before every round of shots, everyone has to join in a singalong. Most of the snaps songs are thankfully short, and to my mind, the best one says, in effect, "Drink it all in one go. If you don't, you won't get a new drink for the next round". Good advice.
