Midsummer Celebration

Midsummer is one of the big holidays here in Sweden. It is always celebrated on a Friday. The first Friday after the summer solstice. Celebrating midsummer is always something I have liked and looked forward to. It seems like no one is indifferent to midsummer. Either you like it or you don´t. I think I have been lucky because I have never felt that pressure that people that don´t like midsummer talk about. I don´t plan my midsummer months or even weeks ahead. We don´t have any particular traditions that we just have to do or hold on to. What midsummer looks like and becomes has been different for me from year to year.

This year we were invited to Öland by a collage and friend of C that has a house on the northern part of the island not far from Löttorp. We were invited about two weeks before midsummer and before that we were not running around frantic trying to plan the perfect midsummer. I want to thank our hosts K and A for inviting us and for creating a great, fun and relaxed midsummer celebration. All together we were 10 adults and two kids.

When we left Stockholm on Thursday the rain was pouring down and it was just a cold, wet and miserable day.

As we drove south and reached Öland the weather became better and the sun was even shining. Öland is just beautiful. It is one of two large islands that belong to Sweden located of the eastern coast of the mainland. There is a bridge that connects Öland with the mainland. It is at Öland that the royal family have their summer residence also. The place we were going to is beautifully located just by the ocean. I love the stony beach, the sound of the waves hitting the shore, the scent of salty water in the air.

There was this large Honey Suckle bush growing just by the house. In Alabama there were Honey Suckles growing everywhere. It was almost considered a weed. I like it a lot. I think the flowers are beautiful and I love the way it smells also.

Summer in Sweden is so pretty. We were lucky with the weather because as we arrived the sky cleared up and there was sunshine. Also for midsummer eve we did not have any rain and could enjoy being outdoors.



Öland and it´s scenery is kind of different from the rest of Sweden. Not a whole lot of trees or forest here but more open spaces, fields and bushes. The wind and the ocean are always right around the corner.

Our host and C´s friend had arrived one day ahead of the rest of us and had been very busy mowing the lawn. This is his and his families summer place and no one had been here since Easter so the grass had grown a lot. Actually it was so tall that in order to be able to even use the lawn mower it first had to be cut with a scythe.This is what Barbara is doing here in the picture above.

Many people have the lunch as the main celebration but we decided to skip this and have the main celebration for dinner instead. We did not have a May pole which one usually does for midsummer. People gather around the May pole which is mainly for the kids where dances and songs are held. We instead just let the day pass doing whatever you were up to. I went for a walk with C along the beach taking pictures. Me and Anette baked some pretty advanced baguettes. The recipe took two days to complete.

This was our view from the house. Love this kind of view. It is so relaxing to just hear and watch the ocean.

We played a Swedish game called Kubb. This game is originally from the other Swedish island, Gotland. It is a lot of fun. I played a game of Kubb and did quite well. It is a lot harder than it looks. You have these wooden sticks and have to hit the other teams wood blocks from a certain distance by throwing the rounded wooden sticks. The game is always played on grass which makes the wooden sticks bounce a bit this adding to the trickiness of the game.

Something else that I found in the room we were sleeping in was a bunch of old Donald Duck magazines. Many from the sixties. I always loved reading Donald Duck when I was a kid and now I just could not help myself from taking a good old moment bringing childhood memories back again.

For me midsummer has always been a nice and relaxing days when you celebrate, have fun and do what you feel like. Taking a moment just enjoying the day in the hammock for instance.

Stawberries is something that midsummer is linked with and there was a strawberry pie made of course for dessert. This particular strawberry pie recipe had been in Karl´s (our hosts) family as a midsummer tradition. It sure was as yummy as it looks.

Dinner among friends celebrating midsummer together. Laughter, good food and great company.

There was pickled herring and both smoked and cured salmon which is typical midsummer food. Fresh potatoes and schnapps. American beer next to the Swedish schnapps. We had songs. Something that is done and Swedes like to to is to sing songs together before having a schnapps. I love that song tradition and the singing. Luckily you don´t have to finish your glass for each schnapps that is sung.

After dinner we took a walk down to the beach before we walked up to the house and had the strawberry cake. So this is what my midsummer was like this year. Now I am back from Öland in Stockholm again. I left yesterday Saturday already taking a bus back to Stockholm. C is spending a few more days down in the south. He is driving to his parents farm for a few days. Driving back today Sunday is crazy so that is why I decided to return one day ahead, to beat the traffic take care of some grocery shopping that has to be done.