Swedish Fish and Absolut

My first experience with Swedish Midsummer was in Freiburg, Germany, where the Swedish contingent of our language class threw a party that was a brilliant mix of song, alchohol, dancing, and precision event management. When the Swedes set their fun loving personalities and not-inconsiderable organizational skills into motion, the results can be staggering. This year's Swedish Midsummer party in Central Park was no exception, and offered New York's Swedish expatriate community, lovers of Swedish culture, and random passers-by a genuine breath of the Swedish spirit.

First to the history - Swedish Midsummer has its origins as a pagan fertility rite dating back to the time of the Vikings, and the Swedes held on to the holiday even after Sweden became Christian. The original role of the Maypole was as a phallic symbol in keeping with the emphasis on spring and fertility. After Christianization, the crossbar and flower loops were added to make the Maypole a bit more religiously correct. Midsummer today is primarily a secular holiday, in the words of a Swedish friend of mine, "It's a well-ordered party, with all the proper accessories." Proper accessories means traditional food such as Swedish meatballs, pickled herring, and of course, Snapps (Vodka spiced with herbs, such as Absolut Kurant).

Watching the Swedes organize Midsummer is a breathtaking experience. Without any need for coordination, almost as if the Midsummer rite is buried in their genes, the men assemble the Maypole, while the women collect flowers to decorate the Maypole and make crowns of flowers. According to tradition, the gatherers remain silent while collecting the 7 flowers. Legend has it that if you lay the flowers under your pillow that evening, the person you dream of is who you are destined to marry. No-one's explained to me what happens if you dream of different people on different Midsummers, but I'm sure the Swedes, an exceptionally tolerant and open-minded lot, are up to the challenge.

Once the Maypole is erected, partygoers sing and dance around it, combining whirling, festive colors with the Maypole's nature imagery. One song, Små grodorna (The Little Frogs), is danced hopping in a circle in true froggie style, fingers on the head symbolizing the ears which frogs do not have. The song is repeated, this time as Små grisarna (The Little Pigs), with the hands on the back to represent the little pigs' tails.

Another key element of Midsummer is that it takes place on the longest day of the year - or as Swedes put it, the shortest night. In a country where a winter day can last only 5 hours, sunlight plays an important role and is much appreciated. The celebration lasts until sunset, which in this case meant that the Stockholm Midsummer festival and Central Park Midsummer festival took place at the same time. Sunset in central Sweden occurred at around 11.00 PM, with sunrise only about 4 hours later. In the north, near the Arctic Circle, sunset and sunrise become the same event, where the sun just approaches the horizon before beginning its upward turn.

This year's Midsummer celebration was a charming meeting of two of my favorite cultures, the Swedish and the American. The park authorities took the courageous step of allowing the sale of alchohol on the grounds, preserving a critical building block of the Midsummer spirit. Central Park joggers got treated to an unexpected vista of colors and motion on their way past the field. Mayor Bloomberg sent a certificate to Swedish Consul-General Olle Wästberg declaring June 21 Swedish Midsummer Day. And visitors of diverse nationalities were treated to enthusiastic renditions most traditional of Swedish drinking songs, Helan går. Loosely translated, Helan går means "You'd better drink the whole shot otherwise you're not going to get anything out of the evening".

Just to close up, astronomers, pagans, farmers, and other solstitially aware people will know that the Summer Solstice actually occurred on June 22, one day after Swedish Midsummer. In Sweden, perhaps because they want to have a functioning economy on Monday morning, Midsummer always occurs on a Friday.