Midsommarros

[Hasse Admin Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Hasse]

Midsummer is here soon and the midsummer rose is in bloom.

Here - a picture taken today in our garden - the traditional finnish midsummer rose.

Hasse

[SusanR Registered Find all posts View Profile Close SusanR]

That is a beautiful flower.

[KUunila Registered Find all posts View Profile Close KUunila]

midsummer

I can almost smell that flower.
Do people still cut birch saplings and place them by the front door on Midsummer's Eve? I recall doing that with the family I worked for on a farm in the Turku archipelago (on Aasla) in 1973. Then we sat on the dock and sang late into the evening. It was too dry that year, though, so traditional bonfires were forbidden. It was still a most memorable time.

Kirsti

[Hasse Admin Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Hasse]

The midsummer birches -tradition is still live, at least in Ostrobothnia.

Other traditions worth mentioning are among others:

Midsommarstång - midsummer "-pole"
A tradition mainly on the Åland islands and in the Åboland archipelago in the south west.

- http://www.mhbibl.aland.fi/eng/aland...ommar.eng.html
- http://www.wakkanet.fi/museot/svenska/inio.htm

Midssummer Bon fire - "kokko"
- http://kotisivu.dnainternet.net/taps...annuskokko.jpg
- http://kaunis.to/archive/photos/mokk...nus/kokko4.jpg

Midsummer magic
"The future and love are connected with most of the Midsummer magic. There are several ways for a girl to find out the identity of her future husband. The most common method is to pick nine (sometimes seven) different kinds of flowers and sleep with them under her pillow. The husband to be will be revealed to her in her dream. If she shakes the bunch of flowers in the morning she might find a hair from his head. If she is impatient she can pick the nine flowers on nine different meadows and she will meet her future husband on Midsummer’s Eve. Another method is to sweep the floors backwards on Midsummer's Eve dressed only in a vest. If she sweeps the yard backwards she will meet him at the gate."
(Source: http://www.mhbibl.aland.fi/eng/aland...ommar.eng.html )

Food and drink
For some reasons we all anticipate having "nypotatis", ie. the first potatos of the year. Herring and potatoes... This year we probably won't get Finnish strawberries this midsummer - but a strawberry cream cake is otherwise a must in may families.
If the weather is fine many of us celebrate midsummer eve having a late meal in the evening, many times going on until early hours. This is of course possible because of the light nights.

Glad midsommar till er alla!

Hasse

[June Pelo Senior Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close June Pelo]

Midsummer

Hasse,

I don't know if sweeping the floor dressed only in a vest is a good idea - I'm sure there will be more than one person waiting at the gate!!

As for the Strawberry cream cake, I agree. One summer when I visited my many relatives in Finland, they all served that cake and during a 3-week period I ate 51 slices of it!! Yum.

June

[SusanR Registered Find all posts View Profile Close SusanR]

If I was to sweep the yard in only a vest - there would be someone at the gate - the local Police as I live in an apartment complex.

As for the cake, it sounds yummy - is there a receipe for it?? Is it different from the English Strawberry Shortcake?

[Hasse Admin Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Hasse]

Well, well, ...

You seem to be thinking in a rather modern way. Forget a modern gate - and think about a gate in a old time fence. The vest should perhaps also be thought of as a piece of more covering cloth...

A quick glance at the Swedish version of the same text gives an explanation. The girl is dressed "only in a nightgown"...

Don't let your imagination gallop too much...even during midsummer... Go pick seven different kinds of flowers and sleep with them under her pillow instead...

Hasse

[June Pelo Senior Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close June Pelo]

Strawberry Cream Cake

It seemed to me that the cake was a basic 2 or 3 layer cake, maybe almond flavored, with whipped cream and strawberries between the layers and over the top and sides. It was a good summer and the strawberries were large and plentiful.

June