The Midsummer celebration is one of the oldest holidays in human history, and it is practiced in nations throughout the world.
Midsummer was originally a pagan festival honoring the summer solstice, but it has since been incorporated into the Christian religious calendar as “St. John’s Day.”
In England, Midsummer’s Eve was celebrated with bonfires and all-night vigils to provide light and to ward off evil spirits. The festivities included dancing, feasting, and of course, drunken debauchery. Around this time period, the deeply superstitious also believed that ghosts could pass from the afterlife into the present world on this night. Other people participated in rituals, encouraging the most athletic revelers to leap over high-burning fires. Supposedly, the highest jump of the evening predicted the height of crops for the new harvest season.
At midsummer the first young potatoes are a good meal. They are served with herring, sour cream, chives, crisp bread and cheese.The holiday usually occurs between June 21 and 24, although the actual date may differ between cultures.
Like other spiritual holidays, different cultures have different Midsummer traditions. Check out these six countries that celebrate Midsummer, and the manner in which they honor it. Swedish Midsummer festivals often have copious amounts of food, flowers and alcohol.It is in Sweden where the traditional, flower-festooned maypole is used as the center of a huge celebration. There is also a strong mystical component to Swedish Midsummer traditions. The summer solstice is when magic is said to be strongest, and folks often perform rituals to look into the future. Herbs plucked during summer solstice are believed to be highly potent.
