Today is Midsummer's Eve, a very important holiday in Sweden! In ye olden times, it was a most significant day for all Europeans (and others, of course--the summer solstice is worthy of remark all over the world!). In the Middle Ages, Midsummer was combined with the Feast of St. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ. John the Baptist's feast day marked the halfway point on the way back to Christmas! The celebration of his feast, and of the solstice, made for an interesting combination of Christian and earlier traditions, from bonfires and burning effigies, to dancing and music. Regional variation abounded. The priests often took part as well, facilitating the frivolity with the church's approval (better than letting the folk just do whatever they want, right?)
Here in Sweden, the tradition continues in full force! All the shops are shut, and they will be tomorrow as well. Uppsala is silent. So today, the UISS crew loaded onto a bus and traveled out to the charming town of Hammerskogs, about half an hour from Uppsala.
The weather was warm and breezy, and the countryside here is very green. We traveled through rolling hills flanked by distant forestland, catching sight of horses and cows, small houses and farms. Hammerskogs means something like Forest of the Hammer, which may refer to Thor somehow. We unloaded and walked up to the green, where the maypole had been erected (it is a fertility symbol, of course).
I ordered and ate a very nice hot dog (a korv I svenska), and walked with some of the other students in the program down to the lake's edge. An adventurous few had taken a swim. We gathered flowers and made flower crowns, as is tradition on Midsummer. Then, at Klockan tvo, the dancing began!
It was a wonderful day. What a joy to experience one of Sweden's most important traditions so soon after arriving!
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