Sunday 24 June 2012

Midsummer celebration

In Sweden celebrating midsummer is a big thing. Our plan was to camp out in the forrest but since it was going to rain we just went for a walk and then celebrated the evening in my studio.

Everyone eats pretty much the same food, new-potatoes, pickled herring, sour cream, chives and then strawberries for desert. And of course we drink snaps :)
You can pick seven different kinds of flowers and put them under your pillow and you will dream about the man/woman you will marry. Since I'm already married I picked more than seven kinds of flower, I didn't want to tempt fate.
Read more about Midsummer.

19 comments:

  1. What a lovely and cozy way to spend midsummer!

    I would like to try snaps one day! ;)

    Happy midsummer, dear Camilla!

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  2. Lovely chirpy reportage. I can tell you enjoyed it. Happy Midsummer Camilla and Friedns x

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  3. I wondered what some of that food was. Thank you for listing it out.
    Beautiful pictures as always :)

    ps: I still remember the other film about midsummer that you posted some years back courtesy johann. that looked like a lot of fun.

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  4. It's the first I heard about this tradition and I like it.
    Beautiful flowers...

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  5. I love it! I'll have to do something special for Midsummer next year!

    Such a fascinating beetle that you found, too :)

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  6. Happy midsommar, Camilla! Hope you had a great weekend.
    I always wanted to go to sweden to celebrate it because it is around my birthday.
    Love, Barbara

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  7. happy midsummer festivities! I love that you don't want to tempt fate with putting more then 7 kinds of flowers under your pillow- this made me smile!

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  8. happy mid summer.
    that beetle is amazing.
    and i love how you said you don't wait to tempt fate. too cute

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  9. happy mid summer! the picnic looks delicious! i'm going to go to ikea now and look for some herring.

    : )

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  10. What a beautiful tradition! My grandfather was first-generation Swedish immigrant who settled in Michigan, and he passed a lot of lovely traditions on to us. I haven't heard of this one before, though, and will have to start celebrating with my own kids! Happy Midsummer!

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  11. Glad Midsommar Camilla! Härliga bilder med den sköna svenka midsommarandan i varje :)

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  12. Happy midsummer!

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  13. Poland has the same tradition :) I am really upset that I somehow missed it this year, i really don't know how - it's work and all these things that distract you from what's really important!

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  14. Happy Midsummer Camilla! :-) Lovely images!

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  15. looks lovely!
    thanks for sharing
    ;^))

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  16. Glad midsommar. I'm sorry that I forgot that it was midsommar and my poor Swedish husband had to go without his feast. I believe in Finland you have to pick 9 kinds of flowers for that to work, at least according to Tove Jansson.

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  17. Thank you, all!
    Priya, I don't even remember that film myself!
    Zyzanna, it would be impossible to miss it in Sweden. We have Christmas, New Year and Midsummer.

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  18. Vilka härliga bilder! Picknick är ju det ultimata sättet att fira midsommar på.

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  19. i like to acknowledge the arrival of midsummer too. it feels like a kind of connection with our past and the old ways whose rituals somehow got lost amongst this electronic and commercialised modern way of life.
    it makes me green with envy that i was not in sweden to witness it in all it's glory.

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