Midsummer

Midsummer Solstice : longest day, shortest night, an auspicious time that marks the turning of the yearly calendar. From this point on, the days get shorter as we head to winter.

Here in Australia we're spoiled for sun, so we can easily forget what a lifegiver it is to the natural world; and how many ancient civilisations worshipped the sun and celebrated its return each morning and each season.

 

Many structures, from the UK's mysterious Stonehenge, to Mexico's Pyramid of the Moon, to the urban Manhattanhenge in New York are aligned along the midsummer axis - when the midsummer sun rises, it shines a ray of light through the buildings.

 

Midsummer Floral Rituals Around the World

Many civilisations throughout time have marked the midsummer solstice with rite and ritual, ceremony and celebration.
Thankfully these no longer involve human sacrifice, and many place flowers and plants front and centre of the day's festivities.

 

In the northern hemisphere, especially in European latitudes above 45 degrees north, Midsummer has been a day of celebration and festivity since ancient times.
Well, if you don't see much sunshine as a rule, you make the most of it while it's around!

 

And when it's daylight at midnight, it's a great time to dance and party - traditional steps in couples, pairs, and hand-holding rings, or something more freeform.

In eastern Europe and the Baltic states, revellers are jumping over bonfires - do please check with your local authority on regulations surrounding lighting fires in your neighbourhood, if you're aiming to join in this activity yourself... :)

 

Bonfires play a big part in many Midsummer celebrations, not least to ceremonially purge the old half-year, and cleanse the ground in preparation for the new half year.

This bonfire is burning at 9pm on Midsummer in Lapland, land of the midnight sun.

image: Ninara

In Spain they gather leafy midsummer bouquets of fern fronds, rosemary, foxgloves, and hang them in doorways.

The doors mark the threshold from outside to inside, just as the solstice marks the threshold of the seasons, when summer turns to winter

 

If you like the idea of bunches of fern fronds decorating your home, you'll love our post on Pteridomania - Fern Fever, the Victorian craze for all things fern.

"Midsummer Eve [is] probably the most popular festival day in Sweden.
Midsummer is an old pagan celebration, dating back to the Viking Era.
It was a fertility rite originally, where the May pole was a phallic symbol, "impregnating" Mother Nature.
It was hoped that this would help to give a good harvest in the autumn.
Apart from the traditional details, this is a time of the year when Swedish people come alive in spirit in a kind of mass phenomenon...
it is hard to see a sad face on Midsummer..."

image: Mats Adamczak

quote: Filippo C

Maypoles, flowers and greenery make up a big part of Midsummer celebrations - often erected first on May 1, midway between equinox and solstice; they make a reappearance on Midsummer solstice.

 

Sometimes all green, made from branches and vines; sometimes woven with ribbons or decorated with flowers, depending on local tastes and availability of flowers and leafy branches after the winter.

 

There's quite a few variations in style, as you can see - hoops of decreasing size, a triangle with corner loops, a pyramid forming a tree silhouette, a cross with loops, and often just a simple leaf-clad cross or pole.

"This is the classic Swedish Midsommar (Midsummer) design, used on shirts and many other items.

It has all of the traditional elements, a Midsommar pole (Majstång or Midsommarstång), Dala horses, boys and girls in costume, the word Sweden in English and Swedish, lots of flowers, and of course the Swedish flag.

 

The girl on the right wears the "national" costume designed around 1900.
The girl on the left has a traditional regional costume, or an imitation of one.

Midsummer Eve (Midsommarafton) is a legal holiday in Sweden.
It is a Friday close to June 21."

image and quote: Roger W

Sometimes the Midsummer maypole-tree is exactly that - a living tree. Pine or birch trees are decorated with coloured ribbons, streamers, and bells.

The poles, whether all-greenery or beribboned trees, are a focal point for intricate pattern dances, morris, a group folk dance, and simple community ring dances.

 

Many pole dancing activities around a greenery-decorated maypole have their roots in fertility rituals and ceremonies, for births over the coming year, and to encourage good autumn harvests for the crops.

 

Incidentally, there's also a lot of traditions around midsummer that incorporate nakedness, presumably as an encouragement to fertility - so if you plan on recreating those, remember to slop and slap even if you don't slip!

Flower crowns and wreaths are a popular decoration for many Midsummer revellers of all ages and sexes.

Daisies and other meadow flowers are popular - a more exuberant form of the simple children's daisy chain.

Wildflowers, ferns, and local foliages are often incorporated for a more natural look.

Our categories of

• daisies
• herbs and
• cut flower garden

will give you lots of ideas for flowers to use in your own flower crowns.

images: Balp Allen ; Filippo C ; Lisa Risager ; Mats Adamczak

In Latvia the women traditionally wear flower crowns - puku vainags - and the men luxuriant oak leaf crowns - ozolu vainags - to celebrate Jāni.

That's the festival of St John, the Christianised version of the pagan midsummer.

"In Latvia, the celebration of Jāni (both St. John and a mythical all-father sort of dude who is supposed to show up on the morning of the 24th of June) is probably almost as big as Christmas. On Jāni, we are all John’s Children (Jānu bērni)!"

 

images: Saeima
quote: Jeff Grinvalds

Oak (Quercus) and birch (Betula) are significant trees for Midsummer celebrations across northern Europe.

 

Oak can be used to make flour, ink, barrels and corks. Its bark can tan leather; its roots can grow truffles. It's a longlived tree of immense proportions, perfect for furniture and shipbuilding. It's the national tree of fifteen countries.

 

Birch can be used to make canoes, beer, and paper. Its oil can waterproof leather and fabric. It's a pioneer tree that can quickly regrow areas damaged by fire or destruction. It's the national tree of Finland, Russia, Sweden.

 

Sometimes twigs and short branches are bundled into simple bunches.
Sometimes leaves and pliable stems are fashioned into flower crowns and wreaths, as the Latvian oaks above.

 

Sometimes the construction is more ambitious - like these large scale birch wreaths - krans - from a Swedish celebration.

image: Bengt Nyman

Glad Midsommar!

In Sweden for Midsommar, Norway for Midtsommer, and Finland for Juhannus, there is a tradition for unmarried women to gather seven different flowers in bloom.

Placed under their pillow on Midsummer night, the flowers will help them dream of their future husband.

(There's no rules, as far as we know, to stop unmarried men joining in, or anyone who wants to find a husband instead of a wife this way... perhaps someone could try it and let us know?)

 

So why not take a green leaf out of the Scandewegian's book and hunt for seven flowers blooming in your garden, to put under your pillow.
(If you find fourteen, does that snag you TWO husbands? Try it and see!)

 

If you only place one flower under your pillow, lavender is helpful for promoting calm restful sleep, so you'll wake up refreshed. But single.

image man with bunch: Mattias Jansson

In Seattle, Washington USA, they fill the streets each year at Midsummer with the Fremont St Solstice Parade.

It's an all-purpose carnival, parade, community event and street fair,
a "kaleidoscope of joyous human expression" as the organisers say -
but beneath the lycra and facepaint there are glimpses of old pagan celebrations...

 

Why not start your own Midsummer tradition?

Have a picnic outdoors in your garden or local park.

Decorate your lounge table with jugs of greenery and herbs.

Turn your Christmas tree into a Midsummer tree.

Bring flowers from the garden into your home to enjoy (they'll last longer in their airconditioned cool, too.)

Wear a flower crown or leafy buttonhole or boutonniere to seasonal holiday parties.

Bake a tasty cake like the Swedes do, and decorate it with petals and flowers - take a look at our edible flowers category for more baking inspiration.

Happy Midsummer solstice!