Juhannus |
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Juhannus |
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| Midsummer is celebrated in the latter half of
June. At Midsummer the day is the longest and lightest in the whole year. Midsummer was celebrated here even before Christianity. Now it is a special day of John the Baptist. |
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Midsummer is celebrated in the middle of nature, preferably at a summer cottage on a lakeshore. |
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| At Midsummer Finnish towns are quiet and empty. Traditionally young people have also gathered together to dance. |
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Swedish speaking people make colourful midsummer poles. |
| On Midsummer Eve families get two birches from a forest and set them on both sides of their outdoor. |
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| Usually we also make a bath whisk of birch twigs which we call "vasta" to be used in sauna. |  |
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At midsummer we eat grilled food, sausages, meat or fish with new potatoes, herring and salad. |  |
| Darts is a fun game at the cottage. We make big bonfires on lakeshores, which are burned at the midnight. |
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In most parts of Finland the sun goes down for a couple of hours, but in northern Lapland it doesn’t go down for two months. |
| Midsummer is a time for magic. On Midsummer Eve all unmarried young ladies should find seven wild flowers and put them under their pillows. In the night they would see their future fiancés in their dreams. |
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