Swedish Holidays: Midsommer / Midsummer



Figure 1.--

Majstång or midsommarstång (mid-summer) is a particularly important Swedish holiday. It is no accident that Sweden's two most famous holidays (Lucia and Midsommer) are celebrated at opposite ens of the calenadr. Nordic populations are inderstandably attuned to the rhythms of nature which of course are manifest in the extreme north. It is the perfect beginning of summer. Most Swedes begin their 5 five-week annual holidays with Middsommer. Summer is a short season in Nordic countries like Sweden. The country is located at a latitude comprable to Hudson Bayh and Alaska. The Swedes go the countryside to celebrate Midsommer or Midsummer Eve in the countryside. Traditionally when Sweden was less urbaized than it is today, every village and town has a Middsommer maypole. The maypole in Sweden has nothing to do with the month of May as it does in most countries. It comes from the Swedish 'maja,' meaning decorated with greens, usually birch branches, which represents new life and rejoicing of nature, flowers, and often flags. And the day before Midsommer, Swedes leave home and desert the cities and head fot the countryside, the towns and villages where their family os based. In the countryside family and friends are found with the silver birches in gloriou full bloom. Commonly extended families gather to celebrate the summer soltice--the astronomical high-point of summer. Midsommer is celebrated on a Friday between 19 and 25 June. The traditional beginning is picking flowers and gathering greenery to make wreaths that are place on the maypole around which the celebrations is held. Greenery is placed over houses and barns a tradition inherites from the ancient German tribes from which the Swedes have descended. Midsommer sprung from these pagan people and their rites who predated the Vikings. Freyja and Freyr were the foundation which involved worshipping of fertility and a plea for a rich harvest. The greenery was beieved to bring good fortune and health to both people and livestock. The tradition continues without the former appeal to the fearsome nordic gods. The Midsommer maypole is set up in a field or clearing. The ring-dances delight both the children and the adults. Modern teenage sophisticates are not as involved with the m aypole as they once were, prefering much of the later celebration. The rest of the day is devoted to eating, drinking, dancing and assorted pagan rituals. Since the sun sets for only a short time near morning at the summer soltice, the celebration may last nearly all night.







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Created: 4:14 AM 1/22/2017
Last updated: 4:15 AM 1/22/2017