I would like to concentrate my project on the Swedish holiday of Midsummer’s Eve. This is one of my favorite holidays, because it is so fun and unique. I think it would be interesting to explore just because it is so different from other well-known and widely celebrated holidays. Midsummer’s Eve takes place on the Friday that occurs between June 19th and June 26th. This is the longest day of the year and in some parts of northern Sweden it stays light out the whole night. One of the main components of Midsummer’s Eve is the maypole. It is usually set up in the middle of a bare grassy space in the shape of a cross and then decorated with leaves and flowers. The people celebrating are supposed to make wreaths with native Swedish leaves and wildflowers for their hair. They then partake in traditional singing and dancing around the maypole for a good portion of the night. One of the most well known songs is “Små Grodorna,” which translates as “Little Frogs.” This song consists of dancing around the maypole with the sounds and movements of a frog. Many of the songs are extremely silly, but several of them date back hundreds of years and have great meaning behind them. I think one reason that Midsummer’s Eve is such a popular holiday is that it celebrates the start of summer in Sweden, which is why it is such a cheerful event. Summers are short in Scandinavia and it is cause for great celebration when the long, dark winter finally ends.
There is a Swedish Midsummer Festival in Battery Park every year and it is now the third largest midsummer celebration in the world. The celebration has been growing larger each year and is attended by many non-Swedes, showing the growing popularity of this holiday. This holiday is celebrated in several other countries, such as England and Spain, and I would like to explore how it has transferred over to New York from these cultures. I would also like to investigate why midsummer is so much more popular in Sweden than it is in other countries that celebrate it. Though the Sweden-born population in New York is not very large, there are many Scandinavian Americans who live here and who hold onto the Swedish traditions, though they have been in the United States for several generations. Midsummer’s Eve is such an interesting and special holiday and deserves to be discussed in our NYC Holidays project.
Below is a link to a video of people dancing to the song “Små Grodorna:”
