Happy Midsummer to you all!

Since it is midsummer in Sweden I thought that it could be interesting to explain why and how we celebrate it for those who might not be familiar with midsummer. Feel free to tell us if you are celebrating midsummer and if you do, how you are celebrating it in the comment section!

Midsummer is one of the biggest holidays in Sweden, it’s such a big event that it even has been discussions about making it the official national day of Sweden! Most people spend the holiday with friends and family and eat some of the Swedish traditional food like potato, meatballs, pickled herring and strawberries. It’s also very common that people take a schnapps (Swedish: Snaps) with the dinner, however, the alcohol consuming doesn’t end there. Midsummer is the holiday in Sweden when the most amount of alcohol is consumed and it is also the holiday when most Swedes are travelling, not a good combo…

Now to the more weird things Swedish people do during midsummer. During midsummer eve a huge leaf and flower covered pole is raised, kids usually help out with collecting flowers and then the adults assemble the so-called, midsummer pole (Swedish: Midsommarstång). Later during the day family and friends meet around the midsummer pole and later on dance and sing together, songs such as “Little frogs” (Swedish: Små grodorna) and “We are musicians” (Swedish: Vi äro musikanter) are a few songs that often can be heard during the midsummer celebration. Most people dress up a bit for midsummer, and kids and women usually make and wear flower crowns during the entire day.