Midsummer Holiday

A cold struck the members of the Allen-Ford household, and we are both sniffly, weak messes. Specifically, one of us is demanding a lot of attention and the other is breaking into long, painful coughing fits (no names). We are also currently hosting our first house guests, who we graciously dragged to Fredriksdal this past weekend for our first Swedish Midsummer holiday.

Midsummer takes place every year around the summer solstice and is one of the most important holidays of the year. It is celebrated over two days, and there are some serious traditions that go along with it.

Food

During Midsummer, Swedes eat strawberries, pickled herring, and new potatoes while drinking snaps -- a strong, unsweetened liquor that is basically just vodka spiced with various things like cardamom, coriander, lemon, and anise. Because I didn't have the foresight to make any of my own snaps like many Swedes do, we picked up a small bottle of Skåne Akvavit from the Systembolaget, the only place to buy liquor in Sweden, just before they shut down for the four-day holiday weekend. Each of us received a dash of it in a plastic cup at our Midsummer celebration, but no one was really able to drink more than a sip because, well, it was gross. To be specific, it smelled and tasted like rubbing alcohol with a slightly spicy flavor.

Dancing Around the Maypole

We found a table near the maypole -- a tall, wooden pole with a conical structure made of rope near the top, all of which is decorated with greenery and topped with a Swedish flag. The maypole has pagan roots and is sometimes called the midsummer pole. I also read something about it being symbolic of procreation, which is actually kind of obvious if you really look at this thing.

  

At the start of the festivities, a horse-drawn carriage rode up with three musicians dressed in traditional clothing who took their place at the base of the maypole and began to perform traditional Swedish folk songs. People holding hands gathered in circles around the maypole and, as one woman led them in song, they began to dance. More specifically, they were circling the pole and doing various hand gestures with occasional hops. Here's a video of one where they hop around like frogs (and please note that some of these songs are literally about little frogs).

We saw one very sweet little boy of maybe three years old dancing around the maypole whose pants did not fit him so well and, whenever he bent over in a certain way, you could see the entirety of his tiny little butt. The whole maypole dancing lasted at least an hour, and it was only the first of several sessions scheduled at Fredriksdal over the two midsummer days.

Flowers

In addition to the food, dancing, and singing, many people weave together crowns of flowers and wear them on their heads. We even saw one dog wearing one, and I personally apologize to each of you for not getting a picture of him. I picked up a bouquet of flowers that morning, and we all tucked a few in our hair for the day at Fredriksdal.

While we unsurprisingly ended our party early and wound up in bed by 9 p.m., we heard people blasting music and celebrating deep into the night. On our midsummer morning walk through the woods near our apartment, Erin and I saw several discarded flower crowns, which either means that a very good or a very bad time was had in Helsingborg.

I hope everyone had a great midsummer holiday and a lovely summer solstice!