Probably not all of you celebrate the summer solstice, but for us Swedes it is one of the most, if not the most, important holiday of the year. This celebration dates back a very long time, one of the few non christian holidays to have survived into modern Swedish traditions. The three most important aspects of the celebration are: [b:0f9945da2f]1.[/b:0f9945da2f] The maypole. Early in the day, before the brännvin (see number 2) has taken it's toll, we dance silly dances such as the frog dance around a big maypole, which some claim to be a phallic symbol related to Frej, the fertility god of Norse mythology. [b:0f9945da2f]2.[/b:0f9945da2f] Brännvin. As with probably all Swedish holidays, getting drunk from brännvin is one of the most important traditions, which has survived through generations. Some people even claim to enjoy this vodka-like beverage. [b:0f9945da2f]3.[/b:0f9945da2f] The weather. By tradition, the weather during midsummers have to be quickly switching between heavy rain and bright sunshine, so you can move your dinner table in and out from the garden as many times as possible. This also includes complaining on the lines of "the midsummers when I was young had much better weather than these days!". Bonus tradition: Some say that if you pick seven different flowers from seven different fields, and put those under your pillow on the night between midsummers eve and midsummers day, you will dream of your future wife/husband. Never been much for this tradition, really. Happy midsummers to all of you!
Happy Midsummer's day/night/weekend-plus-extra-half-day-off to you swedish people ! Here we have what is called the "fête da la musique" (can be translated as "music feast" or "music day". All day, and especially in the evening, there is music everywhere, people come out to play on the streets, there are concerts organized or improvized all over the place, and it's generally good fun, in theory. Practically speaking, here, it rains every single 21st of june, no matter what the weather has been like for the rest of the month, you can always be sure of rain on june 21st. There are so many people in the town center you can hardly move, and the techno stands blast out so loud you can hear them hundreds of yards away louder than the small rock group that's attempting to play just in front of you, which is unfair, stupid and pointless. It's supposed to be about sharing and variety, not who has the biggest woofers. Ahhh, maypoles... Now that brings back memories ! In my primary school in England, we used to danse around it with those ribbons that ended up plaitted into a neat pattern and then undone in the same way, which was quite beautiful and mysterious to me as a child. Here they have poles, but they rub them with soap and tie bags of food to the top, and the aim is to shin up the pole and grab a bag... Apparently this dates from medieval times...
It's looks a bit grey here, but slightly pleasant nonetheless. Happy middle of summer to the northern hemispherers, from here it can only get worse. For the southern hemispherers, have a gloomy midwinter - from here it can only get better.
meh, I think the only difference here is a sunrise/set about 1/2 hour earlier than it was in winter. Wow...I know.
Yes, it is rather strange being near the equator when you're used to variable sunset/rise times... we went to the French Carribean for our honeymoon, and there the sun sets at precisely 6pm every day all year, give or take a few minutes. And boy does the sun set fast... blink and you've missed the beautifully coloured sunset on a postcard beach and you're stuck in the dark in a sandy place with coconut landmines... Well, they don't exactly explode, but you do tend to trip over them or if you're really unluck, get hit by a falling one...
pffffft. happy ,midwinter. Its freezing and I have to go to bed just to escape the cold that is freezing my fingers off. ON a side note. yet again I am pissed and struggl;ing to hit my keys correctly but it is too much effort to resurctt my old drunken thread so i thought I should mentyion it here instread... Happy drunken mid year everyone!!
I think it was warm for our midsummer (I forgot the date when it happened, and my dad thought it was yesterday. The US thinks summer starts on the 21st, which confuses me) It never EVER rains on 5 May- my grandparents' anniversary. My theory is that my grandad was some sort of weather god, because it always did what he wanted. Even appropriately gloomy rain at his funeral.
