Midsummer in Dalarna

Midsummer is one of the biggest holidays of the year for Swedes. Celebrated on Midsummer Eve, the longest day of the year, it is often spent with family and friends, and it involves eating things like herring, potatoes, and cake with strawberries. For a traditional festival, a flower-covered Maypole is also raised, after which people join hands and dance around the Maypole (to songs like "Little frogs..." and all kinds of other children's or traditional songs involving lots of action and jumping!) Ethnologist Agneta Lilja has written a very short text about the holiday here, including its origins: Midsummer Traditions

Since we are in Dalarna right now we celebrated Midsummer first with lunch with Tomas's family, with a traditional meal of very salty herring in thin bread, and then we went to the traditional festivities at Hembygdsgården in Dala-Järna. There probably thousands of people had gathered--and thankfully the weather was quite nice. First the Maypole was raised by a group of men, then there were speeches and folk music played by folk costume-clad musicians, and then dancing around the Maypole. Yaminah had a blast--she laughed and danced and never wanted to stop!

Many people wore traditional folk costumes (from whichever area of Sweden they are from) and especially the children are always adorable in folk costumes, and many people wore wildflowers in their hair.

Yaminah and her Great Grandpa Yngve--90 years apart

Yaminah dancing with her second cousin, Esther

Afterwards we were very happy to spend a fun, relaxing evening with my cousins Helene and Charlotte and their families, at our little house, for food, and Tomas's homemade cake with strawberries.

Yaminah ready to start in on the cake with her second cousins, Arvid and Naomi

Thankfully the cool breeze kept the mosquitoes away until late in the evening, and since it was so light outside, the kids were outside in the sandbox and playing lawn games until 11 PM, when we finally forced Yaminah to come inside and go to bed.

Happy Midsummer!