A Trip to Sweden for Midsommar

When you first think of MidSommar, you might think of the horror film that was created to insight terror about rural Sweden. Although I never actually watched the film (partly because I hate scary movies, also partly because I knew I was actually going to celebrate this holiday), I can definitely say it was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience. This post is to walk through everything I did to celebrate this holiday

What is Midsommar (Midsummer)?

Midsommar celebration in Sweden is an annual holiday to celebrate summertime and the season of fertility. It is based on the summer solstice and usually falls in mid June every year. Young people all around the country enjoy time together and take part in traditional festivities. Women typically wear floral dresses and create floral crowns to showcase the seasonal flowers in bloom.

Feasts including pickled herring, beer, and schnapps are in attendance and eating mid-day. People gather around and enjoy the harvested fruits and vegetables and take part in some activities. In all, it is a wholesome time of year for everyone to get together while the weather is warm.

Trip Agenda

Day 1: Stolkholm

Day 2: Rural town for celebration

Day 3: Rural town for celebration

Day 4: Eksjö

Day 5: Stolkholm

Trip Details:

I was lucky to have a friend I met in NYC that is from Sweden and graciously enough invited a few friends to visit his hometown in Sweden for the event. Everyone can go and there are celebrations throughout Stockholm and other smaller cities in Sweden, but I was in a more rural area where there are rolling hills, horses, small cottages, and natural lakes. Every experience is unique and definitely worth looking into at least once. 

Stolkholm and Travel

I flew into the Stockholm airport and spent the day there. I was able to walk around, eat some Swedish meatballs (sort of a right of passage), and get to know the older part of the city as well before making the 3 hour drive to my friend’s hometown. We rented a car from the airport because public transportation did not really get us close enough to my friend’s town, which was near the city of Eksjö. The ride itself was very scenic and gave me a glimpse into the life of Swedish people.

Tip: Go to a grocery store in Sweden. I found it very interesting how big the sweets and candy section is. I took a bag of fun and interesting candy for the drive. 

We stayed at his family’s home, but there are house rentals that you can get all around the country - usually through Airbnb and Vrbo. The countryside of Sweden is very lush during this time of year and peaceful, as houses are typically more far apart outside the city.

Festivities

For the festivities, the first thing we did was make the maypole. This structure looks like a cross with big hoops off the center and covered in vines and branches. This is said to be a symbol of fertility and represents linking the earth, heavens, and underworld. Our friends got together to collect branches, flowers, ropes, and a pole to create this structure and participate in the tradition. 

Flower Crowns

After that, we spent some time finding flowers in the pastures to create our flower crowns. THis is traditional to sweden and was a lot of fun finding all different types of flowers to create our crowns. As an inexperienced flower crown maker, my crown was not as put together as some of the native folk who’s looked like they were out of Vogue. 

Feasting

The next thing we did was enjoy a lovely feast. This included many cured fish (salmon, herring, trout), some breads, potatoes, herbs, yogurts with fresh dill, and more. THe drinks were traditional schnapps of different flavors that are known to Sweden. We enjoyed a reading in Swedish from their family and then had a lovely meal together. There were some drinking songs where we would sing a few verses and then drink together. All in all, it was a lot of fun and good bonding time. 

We played a few yard games and then had cake together. One of the great things about coming to Sweden during this time of year is the abundance of fresh fruit. In particular, the strawberries were superb. I never had such fresh and ripe strawberries in my life. 

Tip- for breakfast, it is tradition to cut up fresh strawberries and eat it in a bowl of milk. I did it one morning and it was tasty, although I used non-dairy milk..

Relaxing until Sunset

Later that night we played some drinking games and hung out in the backyard until sunset. The catch is, the sun doesn’t set in Sweden that time of year until 2am! It was a crazy realization how light it stays out in the Nordic countries in the summer, something I am not used to. If you like to go to bed early, look into hotels or house rentals that have blackout curtains or bring a sleeping mask because it stays light out until very late. 

Eksjö

The next day we took a trip to Eksjö, a quaint town with lots of bridges and cute little shops. There we got lunch and the tradition was to have Turkish pizzas (I am not sure why). I’ve never had one before, and realized they are more like flatbreads with kabob, sauce, cheese, and herbs. It was fun to try!

I definitely would recommend coming to Sweden this time of year as the energy is contagious and the scenery is spectacular. If you need any more recommendations, feel free to email me at defilippisj13@gmail.com