19/06/2026
😃🌳🎊 HAPPY MIDSUMMER!
We hope you enjoy some wonderful festivities. Our office is getting so quiet now as we eagerly approach summer semester!
In Swedish speaking communities there are a few traditions you may have observed. Along with retreating to a summer cottage (sommarstuga/mokki), or heading out to the archipelago (skärgården), lighting a bonfire (midsommarbrasa/kokko) on Friday night to ward off evil spirits, you may experience:
Decorations of birch branches everywhere, including the sauna.
Girls making flower wreath crowns (midsommarkrans). Joking about old folklore regarding love and magic which says a ritual can make your future love appear in your sleep!
Decorating and raising the midsummer pole (midsommarstång). The dancing around it whilst singing Små Grodorna (The Small frogs song) and of course you must do all the actions! The kids love it:
https://youtu.be/Ka9YlTq19DM?si=8cXW3TQw2H9JXHRR
And for the more, or less, mature participants will join in the ritual of singing merry songs whilst drinking snaps. Typically you will hear the "snapsvisa" (snaps song) - Helan Går:
https://youtu.be/4W9q_v2kg9c?si=-z0YhTlagMlpw9GJ
GLAD MIDSOMMAR! HYVÄÄ JOHANNES! 🌞🌷🥂