Midsommarafton

"Midsommarafton" means Midsummer's Eve in Swedish!

Here's a red house, like I promised in my last blog.

 

So in case you were wondering, Midsummer is not really the middle of the summer.  It's the first day of summer.  (That makes no sense...)  It's the longest day of the year and in Sweden that means a really long day, especially in Skellefteå in the north of Sweden, where we were!  It pretty much never got dark.

 

There are a lot of traditions for this holiday, so it's a really big deal.  Luckily, my Aunt Marie is Swedish and she told me all the things to do.  The first thing we did in preparation was pick wildflowers.

 

Lots and lots of wildflowers...

 

Here is Aunt Marie!  She is working on a crown made out of birch branches and flowers....

 

...while I pet the cat, Speedo.

 

First you have to weave the branches into a circle the size of your head.  Then you make a small bouquet of flowers and attach it to the crown using thin wire.  Then you get another small bouquet and attach it to the crown on top of the stems of the other bouquet.  You do this all the way around the crown.

 

While we were working on the crown, Uncle H.G. was building a Midsommarstång (a Maypole, even though it's June....that makes no sense...so a June Pole....)  He did this by cutting down a tree, stripping off all the little branches with the leaves on them, and then he cut the trunk into two pieces to make a "T" and then tied all the branches and leaves back onto the pole and then propped it back up.  (Hmmmm...That makes no sense.)

 

Here is the finished crown!

 

And here is the finished Midsommarstång (May/June Pole) with two wreaths and we covered it in flowers.

 

Then we went to the big, crazy celebration in the historical section of town called the Bonnstan.  The Bonnstan is an early settlement in Skellefteå where farmers from the surrounding area would come and stay for the weekend at least four times a year so that they could go to church.  (It was mandatory for them to go to church at least four times.) 

 

People still own these little homes for fun. 

 

Here is the church that was close by, but it is probably not the church they originally went to back in the 1600s.  It looks a little newer.

 

So the first thing they do is to put up a ginormous May/June Pole.  Then some old ladies with microphones and a small band began to play traditional Swedish songs.  Then everybody starts dancing to them.  We asked Marie what the songs were about.  She said they were about foxes on the ice and frogs hopping and rockets blasting off.  (That makes no sense.)

 

For some reason on Midsummer it seems everybody takes out their old classic cars and drives them to the place where they dance and sing songs about foxes on the ice.

 

Here's another one. Kieran got a big lolly-pop in case you didn't see.

 

Here is another tradition: On Midsummer's Eve, if you want to dream about the person who you will marry, you must follow these simple steps (according to my Aunt Marie.)  Step 1:  You are supposed to jump over seven wooden fences.  (Like this one...)

 

Step 2: Pick seven different types of wildflowers, and put them under your pillow before you go to sleep.  (Okay, that makes no sense.)  Number one, how am I supposed to jump over this fence? Number two, there is no way you can make me do it seven times.  Number three, what do flowers and fences have to do with each other?  Number four, I'm only twelve!!! 

 

Like I said, it never gets dark.  We set up a camera to take a picture every hour from 11:00 PM to 8:00 AM.  As you can see, there is not complete darkness....I promise these pictures have not been photoshopped.

 

This picture was taken at 11:00 PM.

 

Thanks, Aunt Marie, for teaching me all about Midsommarafton!

 

And thanks for reading my blog, even though you may have thought it makes no sense.