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Midsummer: an ancient Swedish custom

Whilst not being particularly spoilt by sunlight in the winter, us Swedes tend to spend all our summer energy soaking up the summer sun. Midsummer Eve marks the highlight of this summer period and it´s time to celebrate the longest day of the year. During this summer solstice, when the Earth’s axis tilts the most toward the sun. The intensity of the celebration may seem odd to people that aren´t starved of sunlight.

To a foreigner it might seem like the Swedes have gone mad! Usually reserved and never the highlight of the party, on midsummer us Swedes will let down our guard, some with a little help of some schnapps. I´m sure we look a bit deranged when we let lose all of a sudden.

We wear wreaths with birch leafs and wild flowers, often clad in traditional dress, we sing and dance to”små grodorna” (The little frogs song)? and “Björnen sover” (The bear sleeps). In the little frog song we hop around like frogs while in “Björnen sover” a nominated person pretends to be a sleeping bear until the song is over, then the “bear” chaise the fleeing crowd. There isn´t one person in Sweden that doesn´t know the steps to these dances.

Midsummer Eve always falls on the third Friday in June so people can enjoy a long weekend as celebrations often continue long into Midsummer Day, when people are mainly recovering from the “festivities” of the previous night.

https://www.facebook.com/MissWW/videos/vb.586336765/10152141988931766/?type=3
The very traditional dance “små grodorna ” small frogs. Danced by Olivia and Evelina.

4 Kommentar på “Midsummer: an ancient Swedish custom”

  1. Hi Cia,
    I have watched your website almost from it’s beginning and am always drawn back to see your changes. Thanks for keeping it going.

  2. Hi Scott,
    I know you’ve been here from when it was a camsite.
    Now most of the updates are on the swedish part of the site. THere I update once a day if I can, but several days a week for sure.

  3. How sweet that you remember me. At one time I wanted to vacation in Sweden, even purchased a language course. Life dictated I abandon the idea. I would still like to see Sweden but I guess in english with a texas accent. Haha.
    Thanks for keeping your secret window open for us to have a peek into your world. Visit with me anytime.

  4. You should come to Sweden. as for the language, you only need it if you want to move here for work. But a tourist doesn’t need Swedish as most Swedes speak good english. I’m actually thinking of viseting the US this summer as the USD is so low, but we’ll see.

Låt mig höra vad du tycker