Midsummer was this weekend and even though we have lots of packing to do we took the time off to go visit friends in Jönköping. It ended up being a really good decision since we had a great time and Simon experienced his first traditional Midsummer celebration. We got lucky with the weather too since the forecast rain didn’t come until in the evening.

The Sunday was spent sorting boxes and packing so not a very exciting end to the weekend. I can’t wait for everything to be packed and ready!

Only a couple of weeks to go until Midsummer so time to prepare yourself and if you don’t know what you need to do here is a little guide - Swedish Midsummer for Dummies.

I just keep going with weird Swedish Midsummer traditions. The night of Midsummer Eve is said to be a magical night and according to old folklore young girls should pick seven different flowers (some believe it to be nine) and put under their pillow. If she does she’ll dream of the man she’ll marry. And yeah, the flowers have to be picked during silence too, if not the magic will be broken and it won’t work. Some also say that she has to clime as many fences as the number of flowers too.

It’s tradition to wear a head wreath with flowers for Midsummer and even if you can buy them, a lot of people actually make their own. Kate Wiseman has made a 5 step guide on how to make your own wreath in her expat blog at Sweden.se. If you want to give it a go, have a look HERE.

Midsummer is coming up, on Friday to be exact. I don’t think non Swedes understand quite how big this day is for us. We don’t celebrate our own National Day half as much and all other public holidays look pale in comparison. Therefore I must say that this year’s celebration, Simon’s first, is a big fail. I’ve been too occupied with work and worrying about other stuff so I’ve sort of forgot about it and therefore I haven’t arranged for us to go to a nice summer cottage with friends or go out in the archipelago. But at least we’re not going to sit here alone, we’ll be heading to Göteborg to hang with my brother and his friends. I’m sure it will be fun but it won’t be the traditional midsummer party that I would have loved to show Simon.

I ended up having a lovely Midsummer in the archipelago. I took the public boat out to Tjärö after waiting in line for an hour (was lucky though the queue got longer after I arrived and the boat only took 50 people at the time) and met up with Maria and Håkan there, they arrived already on the Thursday with their boat to get a good spot.

A weekend filled with lots of boats and people everywhere, no rain in sight and lots of sun, dance around the maypole, the cutest godchild I could ever ask for, good company, yummy food and rosé wine plus one or two schnapps. Nothing to complain about at all except that Simon wasn’t there to share it with me. Missed him a lot! Read more

Midsummer’s Eve or Midsommarafton as we Swedes call it is an important day of the year and it always fall on the Friday between 19 and 26 June. If the Norwegians have 17 May, their National Day, as a huge festive celebration then Midsummer is the Swedish equivalence. It’s more of a National Day to us than 6 June is.

My favourite Midsummers are spent with friends somewhere in the archipelago in someone’s summer cottage or maybe on a boat, eating matjes herring fillets with new potatoes, sour creme and chives, eating strawberries with whipped cream, drinking rosé wine and maybe a schnapps or two, playing games and maybe even dancing around the maypole, perhaps swimming in the ocean (if it’s not to freezing cold) and just relaxing. Read more