Wednesday was the longest day of the year, and the Friday after the Nordic countries celebrate the pagan tradition Midsummer.

It varies the way you celebrate, but most people dance around a maypole, eat traditional food such as pickled herring in different flavours, sour cream, chives, new potatoes, meatballs and strawberry cream cake.

As an expat I won’t celebrate Midsummer the same way as I would at home. First of all it is a bank holiday or half day in Sweden but a full working day here, but in Sweden you would gather with your friends in the countryside, pick flowers, hang out and prepare for the traditional meal, put the bottles of snaps in the freezer so they are really cold, put the beer in a large bucket with ice to cool that down, and usually rush in when a rain shower comes, and back out when it is over.

It is seldom sunny and warm on Midsummer’s Eve, but it is part of the tradition now. 🙂 You have to make sure you have a warm jumper at hand for the chilly evening, and you just sit together, drinking, eating, singing snaps songs and chatting.

It is a lovely laid-back affair, and as I wrote this I realise how much I can miss traditions like these. But, I will celebrate Midsummer together with a Scandi friend and a few other friends on Sunday, outside in a garden in the countryside, and I know for sure that it will be lovely!

Happy Midsummer to you all!