It's
rather fitting that half-way through our challenge we come to today's
topic of midsommar. You already learned sommar
(sum + are). Mid is pronounced “mead” as in the
fermented beverage made from honey. Can you guess the compound word?
google image
Middle
of summer. Summer solstice. June 20th or 21st
depending on the year. In Sweden, this is a big deal and celebrated
in a big way. I'll be sharing my childhood memories, and based on
what google has helped me find, my memories appear to be rather
intact.
The
most memorable part of the celebration for me was the dancing. I've
always loved to dance, and dancing around the decorated pole is a
treasured memory. The post card above shows a typical midsommar
dance. (In Swedish dance is dans
as in dunce, go sit in the corner.)
There
are a lot of different traditional dances that are performed during
the celebration. I guess the easiest way to describe them is
that they are called out just like in square dancing, and a lot of
the moves are similar. The music is sometimes live, but not always.
Some dances are very complex, and take an hour or more to finish
with all kinds of complicated moves. Not individual moves, but group
moves. In one part of my favorite dance of this type, Polynåsen,
all the dancers are connected in interlocking rings that move around
and through each other. You don't have to be an expert or have
studied these, but it helps to have a strong partner. Anna, you
gotta help me out here. I couldn't make YouTube speak Swedish like I
can google...
The
other part I really liked was making the flower wreaths for our hair.
We wore these during the midsommar celebration. Some girls had the
traditional Swedish dresses to wear for the party – each county
has it's own style – but the rest of us just wore a skirt and
blouse. Skirts are very popular. Girls threw them on like we do a
pair of jeans. Took me a while to adjust when I was 14, but by the
time I returned at 16, I knew the drill and came prepared.
google image
The
final tradition I'd like to share is the flowers under the pillow.
Legend says that if you find seven different wildflowers and put them
under your pillow when you go to bed on midsommar night, you will
dream of your future love. I of course tried this many times, but
since there was very little sleeping these night, there wasn't much
chance of me dreaming of my intended.
It
was really special to watch the sun start to set, and a sort of
twilight settle in, but before we were even aware of that, it
started getting lighter again. I think we went to bed around 3 am the year I was 16.
After all, we were at camp, the counselors had long since gone to
bed, and we were young and hopeful, and had just spent the evening
dancing and dreaming, with flowers in our hair and the future ahead
of us. Still young enough to think that life will turn out great, if
you just dream hard enough. With seven flowers under your pillow.
16 comments:
Vacker text! Jag hade inte kunnat beskriva midsommarfirandet bättre!
Vad behöver du hjälp med?
Kram,
Anna
Wonderful post! I could not have described Midsommar in Sweden better.
Hugs,
Anna
See folks, I can write it twice!
Around here, with temperatures approaching the 95-100 mark, the only thing I'm celebrating is that its (hopefully) half-way over! :)
the flowers in the hair are def cute....and i am down with any reason to celebrate you know..smiles.
Hej Tina!
Hoppas att Din son mår bra.
Anna
How fun, we both wrote about Midsummer for the letter M, but covered different aspects of that beautiful time of year in Sweden. I enjoyed your description of the dances around the Maypole.
Lovely post! I had my first Swedish Midsommar last year and I loved it so so much! I made a kranse, which was so pretty and I loved collecting up all the flowers for it beforehand. Thank you for the lovely memory!
Nikki – inspire nordic
Midsommar - it can't be more "svenskt" than this - you have given a beautiful picture.
Was playing with the thought myself to use Midsommar, but I will save it until June.
This year will I put 7 guys under my pillow instead and try to dream about flowers.
Half way now .. well done.
Hey Tina,
How wonderful and some of the traditions you note are rather similar to what they get up to in lil' ol' England. They have the Maypole dancers during what is called "Well Dressing".
Summer solstice is a big deal in the town I live. Leek is famous for its "double sunset" on the summer solstice and strange folks with long hair and weird beads, dance the night away in this town. Of course I'm involved :)
Oh, by the way, I did my "M" posting on the challenge I'm not involved in, on Friday the 13th :)
Have fun, enjoy the alphabet challenge. Kind wishes and seven flowers under your pillow, Gary....
This reminds me of May Day celebrations that used to be held in many countries on May 1. There would be dancing around a may pole and people would secretly leave flowers on others doorstep. Lovely customs, so sad that they die out.
Just don't ask me to dance.
and here we're heading into winter and I'm very unimpressed.
So sweet. and we're heading into winter here.
I always love celebrations steeped in traditions and this is beautiful. Great fun and post. I hope you post a list of all the words we've learned since the challenge.
Midsommar = Summer solstice = Sommersonnenwende.
Sommer = summer
Sonnenwende = solstice.
Tack for another great post.
'm afraid I can't visit your blog until next weekend due to lack of time.
Please do not think that I do not like your posts any longer.
Going to pick flowers...
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