a picnic blanket, a single-use grill
and a messy wreath of wildf lowers.
Playing Swedish lawn games in good
company beneath clear blue skies
was celebration enough to mark the
passage into summer and welcome
the abundant daylight that had final-
ly returned to Sweden after months
cloaked in darkness.
Ingrid K. WilliamsBoat Festival
PORTSOY, SCOTLAND
JUNE 20-21
Historic fishing boats and compet-
itive sailing teams will sail into the
annual Scottish Traditional BoatMidsummer
in Sweden
JUNE 20Midsummer, a celebration of the
summer solstice, is one of the most
important holidays on the Swedish
calendar. Festivities commence on
Midsummer’s Eve – June 20 in 2020.
Historians trace midsummer cele-
brations to pagan festivals, but most
modern traditions solidified last
cent u r y.
There are specific dishes to be
served – new potatoes, pickled her-
ring, strawberries – and songs to
be sung, including ‘Små Grodorna’
(‘The Little Frogs’), which involves
hopping around a maypole.
Traditionalists dust off their
folk costumes, and f lowers
are tied into colourful mid-
summer crowns.
Beer f lows freely and food
courses are punctuated by
shots of ice-cold aquavit
accompanied by raucous
drinking songs, calledsnaps-
visor. The only absolute must
at midsummer is nature.
Those unable to retreat to
the countryside can join pub-
lic celebrations in city parks
or the three-day festival at
Skansen, an open-air muse-
um and zoo in Stockholm.
I once spent a dreamy
Midsummer’s Eve in a
Stockholm park with only
READER’S DIGEST
112 Augus t 2019