Midsummer is the big holiday alongside christmas in Finland. It is a festival of light and the nightless night. It is commonly celebrated with barbeque, bonfires and naturally horrifying amounts of alcohol. It is celebrated on the saturday between the 20th and 26th of June in Finland, and also in Sweden if i’m not mistaken.
In Finland midsummer is today known as Juhannus, which is derived from John the Baptist’s day. It was originally a pagan celebration but the rebranding came with christianity around the 13th century. I guess they just gave it a new meaning to keep their tradition of alcohol poisoning.
So does your country have an equivalent?
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Yeah, but it’s not nearly as big as in Sweden and Finland. It’s not a day off and fall on weekdays more often than not. We basically eat picnic/generic “summer foods” (no special tradition) and burn a witch doll on a big bonfire. Typically in a park or just the local neighbourhood somewhere. It’s surprisingly not a time to get super drunk, even though getting drunk outside in the summer is a national sport.
A lot of people especially those without kids don’t really participate. It’s a shame, I’ve been to a Swedish celebration, it was so much fun.
There are some celebrations, but not close to what they have in Sweden. It’s more a thing along the coast I think. It’s called St.Hans in Norway. One of the big thing with those celebrations in Norway is the bonfires. In a place in western norway called Ålesund they have one of those that for some years have kept the world record regarding size/height of a bonfire.. They will for days stable/stack pallets.. and set in on fire during midsummer.. You can see some nice pictures of it in [this norwegian article](https://www.nrk.no/mr/her-bygger-de-norges-storste-sankthansbal-_-slinningsbalet-i-alesund-1.15549382)..
A couple of years ago someone had a “[horse](https://gfx.nrk.no/XC-34Z9Kdvcggk4kFjDaywLIZhiws_ELV2qJb9BOZUGQ.jpg)” in the water outside Oslo which was set on fire. A norwegian version of that one they have i Gävle, Sweden during christmas time..
Yes they do. 23rd of June is a major holiday with gathering near a bonfire, outdoor cooking and consumption of beer and cheese. A house in the suburbs or the countryside is needed. It is a “name day” for people named “Jānis” (John), kinda like a second birthday. On the day after the cops check all drivers for alcohol intoxication.
Midsummer is not actually celebrated in Germany, but in some parts of Germany Johannistag is celebrated, also after John the Baptist. However, the celebrations are considerably smaller than in Finland.
There are different traditions, especially in the deep south, fires are lit on mountainsides, often, forming symbols, like here.
https://youtu.be/uoQ_HvS_6CY
But there are also areas where wood is piled up, which is more like in your country.
https://youtu.be/wDYRwVFtWD8
Not really. Traditionally people make big bonfires, walk around fields with torches or roll flaming cartwheels off hills to celebrate the light and encourage a good harvest.
Nowadays people might throw a barbecue party or if they can they make a small bonfire and that’s about it.
Some spas are open until midnight and organize special sauna sessions, open a pool bar, etc, and we also have the night of the museums when a bunch of museums and other places stay open until midnight on the weekend.
Yes, we celebrate St John’s Eve on the night of the 23rd. The 24th is even a public holiday in some parts of Spain, such as Catalonia.
As you described, it’s mostly a pagan ritual, the only Christian thing about it is the name (St John’s). The main activity is lighting a bonfire. In the Mediterranean region specifically there are also a lot of firecrackers going around.
In Italy Ferragosto (15th of August) is a big holiday, in some cities there are fairs or religious procession, in most places kids make wars with water baloons or water guns. In the night there are fireworks from the beaches.
We have “Ferragosto” on 15 August as a public holiday. It is a very old holiday dating back to the ancient Romans, when emperor Augustus added it to the period of rest festivals and that at first was celebrated on 1st August.
As time went on the festivity was united by the Catholic Church with the Assumption of Mary and from then it stuck as a traditional holiday in the peninsula.
From the 1920s the fascist government through its “leisure and recreational organizations” organized trips, in the 1930s also with trains, to allow the lower working classes to enjoy a period of rest of 1/3 days where they could travel to other cities or to enjoy the mountain or the sea.
Traditionally people still go to mountain or sea destinations or other cultural and historical sites (like Rome) and spend the whole day there and typically barbeques or packed lunches are what is eaten.
Celebrations vary, with some places doing religious processions, though the vast majority of towns, especially those on the coast, make large bonfires and fireworks shows, generally after dinner. Siena instead helds its traditional Palio di Siena.
In Romania we celebrate summer solstice on June 24th. It’s called Drăgaica sau Sânzienele. They are some sort of good forest nymphs.
We have local fairs with small Market places, amusement rides and sweets – for children and adults.
I think in some parts in rural areas there are still some pagan rituals, but I don’t know what they are.
[Here is a romanian wiki link. Please use Chrome translate.](https://ro.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A2nziene)
It’s also the Birth of John the Baptist.
Sure. It’s called [Ivan Kupala](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kupala_Night). It’s an ancient (pre-Christian) Slavic holiday that celebrates the middle of the summer.
The night of Ivan Kupala is filled with rituals related to water, fire and herbs. Most of the ceremonies are performed at night. It is considered obligatory to bathe before sunset: in baths, rivers or lakes. Closer to sunset, on high ground or near water, fires are lit. On the night of Ivan Kupala, betrotheds were chosen and marriage rituals were performed: jumping over the fire with holding hands, exchanging wreaths (a wreath is a symbol of maidenhood), looking for a fern flower and bathing in the morning dew.
Like in Finland, it is The Holiday, alongside Christmas (and it’s always a free day). We use it as a landmark of time in common speech (like “Midsummers is over, soon it will be Christmas again!”).
Everybody gathers at a friends summer cottage or a relatives countryside house. [Big bonfires](https://harjuelu.ee/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/georgiana-avram-1024×768.jpg), staying up until the wee hours, enjoying the white nights and of course, sauna. Often accompanied by beer and shashlik and first strawberries of the season. Historically, singing and hanging out on [the village swing](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Keemu_sadam_2.JPG) were common. Nowadays, singing is not much of a thing and swings are not a thing in towns and cities, but playing sports games is somewhat popular (petanque, mölkki, rope pulling, volleyball, etc). People often also visit other peoples bonfires and the public ones, in addition to throwing their own. Public concerts are also common.
In my city, we celebrate the spring and blossom of orange trees. It is around 4-5 days in each year at the beginning of April. It is full of local and international cuisines and chefs, music, dances, concerts later parties at bars at the centre. It has about 5km diameter which you need to select which event you want to attend. This carnival is the biggest outdoor one in Turkey which started 10 years ago. Also, this one is quite different than traditional one. Traditional one is when you see orange blossom, you would gather family in one of the elder’s home to celebrate within family. Make food then send it to bakery to cook in stone oven, kids playing in the garden, adults talking and making plans which next day, you would go hiking next to river to enjoy cold water from mountains and do barbecue while enjoying nature.
All (former) agrarian societies do. They may have been “translated” to new religious rites one or several times (Celtic>Roman>Christian).
For Roman Catholicism, it’s been assimilated to the celebration of St. John the Baptist. I’m not sure how it goes in other Christian rites, as it was specifically adopted for the Celtic rites (Britanny, Gaul, Hispania, Italia Cisalpina), where it was extremely prominent.
It has ceased to have any meaning in the modern world, religious or otherwise, and devolved into an excuse to party.
It’s still celebrated with bonfires in some parts of Ireland as St John’s Eve, or Oíche Eóin, especially in the West and around Cork and Kerry. When I was growing up in Cork it was usually called Bonna Night.
There’s lots of old customs that have kind of died out over the years – like the youngest person throwing a bone into the bonfire when it’s lit. But it has its roots in an ancient pre-Christian festival, celebrating Áine the summer goddess.
It’s developed a bit of a reputation for illegal bonfires and anti-social behaviour but there’s been an effort to clean it up in the last few years I think (especially in Cork).
From me is ” Ferragosto” 15 Augustbut is a another “type” of celebrate. PAGAN cose because of the Romans, but also a Christian holiday for believers.
***The etymology of the term Ferragosto derives from the ancient Feriae Augusti, a festivity that was celebrated in ancient Rome. The feast was in honor of Augustus and the name, which means the rest of Augustus, also gives its name to the month.5 Aug 2022ù***
It is celebrated in different ways, obviously all related to alcohol otherwise what a celebration it is! hehehe
I remember when I was little we used to have bonfires on the beach.Or rather they went out with a boat at sunset, we fished some octopus and small fish, then we had a GRILL on the beach as soon as the sun went down with a big bonfire.
With guitars, beer, tequila, music, night surf, watermelon and night swim.
I remember putting 4 light poles in the shallow water, and playing football games in the water. so drunk football in shallow water was SO FUCKING FUNNY and hilarious eheheh
We slept on the beach, basically we were on the beach for 24 hours from morning to night.
I remember the worst part was waking up with a hangover in the morning at dawn and having to clean the WHOLE beach before people arrived.
BUT we did it we were young and full of hair 😀 😀
Obviously I’m talking about years ago, in southern Italy where we are all “sailors” 🙂 and we have the sea in our veins.Unfortunately those fucking paid beaches for tourists are taking away space from free beaches, it really sucks!
We celebrate midsummer eve, so we’ve got Friday off.
We mostly celebrate ‘eves’ though, same with Christmas Eve being the official day for Christmas stuff, whereas Christmas Day is usually nothing special.
Yes, we call it Joninės (John’s day), but it is a pagan holiday (and public holiday!). We also have a bonfire and alcohol, but a few other things as well. A common (folklore) tradition is to jump the Joninės bonfire, but almost nobody does it, for obvious reasons. Another one is young couples looking for a flower of papartis (fearn), which only blooms one night a year. Fearns don’t actually bloom, so we have a lasser known pagan holiday called gandrinės (stork’s day), which just happens to coincide with 9 months after midsummer. I wonder why…
Some people do, yeah. Especially in Cornwall, where the Golowan Festival is held. This year Golowan is from the 16th – 25th June, and Mazey day is on the 24th. The celebration includes a bonfire (Tansys Golowan in the Cornish language). The name comes from the Cornish word for midsummer (Goluan).
It’s also celebrated in other parts of the UK, too. In Wales it’s called Gŵyl Ifan Ganol Haf (St John’s of Midsummer), and also involves a bonfire.
We have two things, but neither is a big deal here today, because usually it is on the same day as the end of school and the start of summer vacations for kids and teenagers.. and their teachers, etc.
One thing is called Šentjanževo and it is on the 24.6., because that is the birthday of John the Baptist.
Šentjanževo = Saint John’s, a catholic holiday.
The other thing is, there is an old god called Kresnik. A god of summer, god of fire, god of the sun, the sky, thunder, lightning and fertility. Kinda like the slavic Perun, or Jarilo..? It could be just another name for Perun, because he was the god of thunder and lightning and “kresiti” means to hit or to ignite, while “kres” means bonfire. And according to some sources, Jarilo the child of Perun, became Ivan Kupalo, the god turned into a human form. In some places here, Šentjanževo is also known as Ivanje, as the night of bonfires and gatherings. Ivan is another way of saying John, Johan, Jovan, Jan, Janez, etc. So this could all just be a mess from a thousand years ago, when christianization tried to reinvent, replace or rename old established rituals, to fit their narrative and not immediately make everyone a devil worshipping heretic, etc. It also doesn’t help that John the Baptist is called Janez Krstnik, which sounds really close to Janez Kresnik, aka Ivan Kupalo.
Today it’s not a big deal, but it just so happens that we are planning with friends to spend the night and light a bonfire this saturday. I don’t think anyone had midsummer in mind, it is in general just the start of summer vacations here. So, accidentally, we seem to celebrate old rituals without knowing it.
We do! We call it “Popular Saints”, and it includes three celebrations: Saint Anthony (13th of June), Saint John (24th of June) and Saint Peter (29th of June).
These are some of the most important celebrations on the portuguese calendar, and make up the largest festivities in many portuguese cities.
Traditionally, grilled sardines are the choice of food. Associations, restaurants and everyday people will set up their own grills on the street and sell them. Bifanas (a sandwich made with specially prepared meat) are also common. To drink, beer or wine are the way to go. Caldo Verde soup is also a common food. All of this is accompanied by the music of local singers, which can be found on squares or large streets.
Each celebration also has their own traditions:
Saint Anthony: celebrated on the 13th of June, it’s traditional to organize contests of Marchas, which are marches and choreographies organized by neighborhoods (in large cities) or towns/ villages (in rural areas) to the sound of an original song. It’s also traditional to offer a bush basil to your loved ones, family and friends. There are also the marriages of Saint Anthony, which began in Lisbon and ended up spreading throughout the country. These are multiple marriages, that happen all together, organized and payed by the local municipality. It begun as a way for poorer couples to be able to afford a good marriage. The largest celebrations of Saint Anthony happen in Lisbon and surrounding towns and cities.
Saint John: celebrated on the 24th of June, it’s traditional to hit (lightly, to avoid hurting) other people in the head with hammers (calm down, we don’t use real hammers, we use toy ones, made out of plastic, that squeak when you hit someone, and don’t hurt). This tradition comes from an older one, in which people would hit eachother in the head with leeks, which have a phallic shape, and represents fertility. Jumping over a bonfire is also somewhat common, although that is more associated with Saint Peter.
The largest celebrations of Saint John happen in Porto, Braga and the Azores. In Braga, they also have Rusgas, which are musical parades, meanwhile in the Azores, they have the coronations, in which each local Império presents their crown.
Saint Peter: celebrated on the 29th, it is traditional to jump the bonfire. This festivity has a lot of variation throughout the country, and each town and city celebrates it their own way. In Afurada, there’s a procession for the fishermen. In Póvoa do Varzim, the six neighborhoods compete over which can make the most beautiful throne. In Montijo, there’s bull runs and an Alvorada (a procession during the night). In Seixal, there’s Marchas, just like in Saint Anthony’s celebrations. In Macedo de Cavaleiros, there’s accordion and concertina battles. The largest celebrations of Saint Peter happen in Sintra, Évora and Setúbal.
About like Christmas, but without the family part.
It’s «la nit de sant Joan», saint John’s night, the night from 23rd to 24th of June.
Fire crackers, fire works, drink alcohol, jump over the fire, [eat «coques»](https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_de_Sant_Joan), party till sun rises…
I’m from Madeira islands, Portugal (just off the coast of Morocco, north of the Canaries). The difference between the longest and shortest day of the year is only (roughly) 3hrs.
Also the weather is fairly monotonous throughout the year so there’s no real celebration there.
August 15th in Greece. It’s the same holiday as mentioned above in Italy.
It’s the Assumption of Mary. People usually call it Dekapentaugousto. “15 August”. It’s one of the three major holidays, alongside Christmas and Easter. Everyone goes on vacation, and goes to the countryside or coasts. Many people inherited homes or property to build in from grandparents (where their grandparents or great grandparents were originally from), so people go to “the village” -is what they call it.
August 15th there’s festivals, music, dancing, food, live bands/ concerts, etc in the evenings. Daytime: beach.
The origins of the holiday are ancient. The ancient Greeks and Romans had midsummer festivals. Roman Emperor Octavian, aka Augustus, consolidated the festivals, and made them officially August 15, on his birthday. After the spread of Christianity, the early church turned it into the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. And here we are today.
The tradition slowly died out during the centuries following the middle ages, probably due to the rise of Calvinism. There is still a small amount of people who celebrate it and apparently it’s slowly making a comeback.
I’d personally love to see the tradition return here, it’s an ancient tradition we lost in favour of Christian celebrations. I wouldn’t be surprised if the alt-right is going to ruin it though since they’ve ruined most things related to Germanic paganism for over a century now. Luckily most people who want to reconnect with their pre-Christian roots have no affiliation with the alt-right so hopefully we can make it work.
Edit: I forgot to mention that it was (and in some places still is) celebrated as Saint John’s eve (Sint-Jansfeest/-avond in Dutch) between the arrival of Christianity and the disappearance of the celebration.
In Sweden we have this template for our pagan holidays (yes they are called Christian today) but it boils down to herring in all shapes and forms, debauchery and unhealthy amounts of liquor. Midsummer is the pinnacle of this. We also have valborg which I like to call the night of amateurs because it’s such a bad time to get shit faced outside as you are going to freeze your noggins off.