Midsummer
Midsummer celebration, ÃÂÃÂ mmeberg, Sweden
Midsummer is Christianized as the feast of Saint John the Baptist: unlike all other saints' days, this feast celebrated on his birthday and not on the day of his his martyrdom, which is separately observed as the "Decollation of John the Baptist" on August 29. The day of Saint John the Baptist is not marked by Christian churches with the emphasis one might otherwise expect of such an important saint. Midsummer is also a Neopagan holiday.
The solstice itself has remained a special moment of the annual cycle of the year since neolithic times. The concentration of the observance is not on the day as we reckon it, but the pre-Christian beginning of the day, which falls on the previous eve. Midsummer's Eve is in Sweden and Finland considered the greatest festival of the year, comparable only with Walpurgis Night, Christmas Eve, and New Year's Eve.
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2 Sweden 3 Finland 4 Lithuania 5 Ireland 6 Germany 7 Great Britain 8 USA 9 Neopaganism 10 See Also |
Denmark
In Denmark the solstitial celebration is called Sankthans aften ("St. John's Eve"). It takes place on the evening before the summer solstice. Bonfires on the beach, speeches and songs are traditional, although bonfires are built in many other places, where beaches may not be close by (on the shores of lakes and other waterways, parks, etc.). Danish tradition also includes the burning of a cloth witch on top of the bonfire, which sends her to Bloksbjerg, a mountain in the Harz region of Germany.
Sweden
In Sweden, Midsummer's Eve and Midsummer's Day is moved to the third Friday and Saturday of June, in order to make a dependable long weekend. The main celebrations takes place on the Friday, the traditional events include raising and dancing around a huge (phallic) maypole. Before the maypole is raised, greens and flowers are collected and used to cover, to "may", the entire pole.
Raising and dancing around a maypole is primarily an activity which attracts families, even though it traditionally is a fertility ritual. Dancing around the pole is often accompanied by traditional music and the wearing of traditional folk costumes. The year's first potatoes, pickled herring, sour cream, and possibly the first strawberries of the season are on the menu.
Youngsters, not yet responsible for any family, demonstrate their eagerness to get one by intense procreation, dancing and drinking (often in the reverse order).
Finland
Before 1316, the summer solstice was called Ukon juhla, after an old Finnish god. In Karelia, people had many bonfires side by side, the biggest of which was called Ukko-kokko (the "bonfire of Ukon"). Now in Finland the midsummer holiday (Juhannus— or midsommar for the Swedish-speaking minority), is a notable occasion for drunkenness and revels. As in Sweden, maypoles have been transferred to the midsummer festivities, and pickled herring is the hallmark of the coastal areas, where also the Finland-Swedish language and culture have their stronghold. In the rest of Finland, a bonfire (kokko ) take the place of the maypole, and smoked fish from the nearby lake is eaten instead of pickled herring, but then the differences end.
Midsummer in Finland is celebrated at least as intensely as in Sweden. Many people get indecently drunk and happy. The statistics of the number of men drowned with their zipper open is morbidly recounted every year. Also statistics of stabbing demonstrates a peak for this weekend.
Lithuania
At the beginning of the 20th century, solsticial bonfires were common all over Lithuania, but Soviet years have repressed such customs.Ireland
In the Irish calendar, Midsummer is one of the four Irish Quarter days that divide the official calendar, and the evening before (St. John's Eve) is called Bonfire Night.
Germany
On June 20th 1653 the Nuremberg town council issued the following order: :"Whereas experience heretofore hath shown, that after the old heathen use, on John's day in every year, in the country, as well in towns as villages, money and wood hath been gathered by young folk, and thereupon the so-called sonnenwendt or zimmet fire kindled, and thereat winebibbing, dancing about the said fire, leaping over the same, with burning of sundry herbs and flowers, and setting of brands from the said fire in the fields, and in many other ways all manner of superstitious work carried on---Therefore the Hon. Council of NÃÂürnberg town neither can nor ought to forbear to do away with all such unbecoming superstition, paganism, and peril of fire on this coming day of St. John."Great Britain
In Britain from the 13th century Midsummer was celebrated on Midsummer Eve (St. John's Eve, June 23) and St. Peter's Eve (June 28) with the lighting of bonfires, feasting and merrymaking. The tradition largely fell to the Reformation, but persisted in rural areas up until the nineteenth century before petering out. See also Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
June 24, Midsummer Day, the feast of St John the Baptist, is one of the quarter days in England.
USA
The NYC Swedish Midsummer celebrations in Battery Park, New York City, attracts some 3,000-5,000 people annually, which makes it one of the largest celebrations after the ones held in Leksand and at the Skansen Park in Stockholm.
It is also celebrated locally in Minnesota, which has a substantial Scandinavian element.
Neopaganism
Midsummer is one of the eight solar holidays or sabbatss of Neopaganism. It is celebrated on the solstice or close to it.
The holiday is considered the turning point at which summer reaches its height and the sun shines longest, but at the same time it is said we are reminded that the days will soon begin to shorten.
This holiday is also sometimes called Litha. Its use as the name for this holiday may trace back only to its appearance in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Prior to that, "Litha" appears to refer to the entire summer season.
Among the Neopagan sabbats, Midsummer is preceded by Beltane and followed by Lughnasadh or Lammas. See also Wheel of the Year.
See Also