What Is Midsummer ACTUALLY Like In Sweden? 

Me knowing how midsummer works but still watching this video

I would say we have four "variants" of Midsummer in Sweden. 1. The youngsters. All about booze and getting away from their parents. 2. You and your friends version. More adult, includes food, quite many shots and singing. 3. The elderly folks. Much more about the food, but some shots too and much more singing and perhaps also playing an instrument or two. 4. The very traditional one, celebrated together with the Midsommarstång, traditional clothing, kids and everyone. Usually takes place at an older community space and during the day. The evening is reserved for eating and drinking.

Min man bor i sverige, men jag bor i USA (Oregon!). Jag lär mig svenska för min man, och jag älskar att titta din kanal. Tack så mycket!

To do the tradition with the 7 flowers right, you’re supposed to jump over 7 gärdesgårdar (a type of wooden fence in the countryside) and pick 7 different kinds of flowers all while being completely silent. I could be wrong but I think it’s supposed to be at midnight as well, or at least at night. Then you put the flowers under your pillow to dream of your future spouse. 😄

For a true Swedish experience of Midsummer, you also NEED to be involved in the argument of eating outside or inside. That includes moving the furniture AND the food several times, listening to everyones wishes about the weather (which is notoriously difficult to forecast for that specific day). I did solve that though - I found out about TAF/METAR (the weather forecast from airports), and simply screamed my way through all the noise and said it would rain within two hours. Ahhh, the feeling of nodding knowingly when everyone told me "You where right!". No more carrying furniture and food here. :D

Damn, people in Sweden dress so nicely when having a party.

The best part of Kubb is arguing about the rules :). Since almost everyone has house-rules. E.g., how do you throw at the king. Between your legs? Normal? From base line or can you advance? Do you stack blocks once thrown over? Can blocks move back and forth and infinite number of times or only once? Etc....

We drink booze and eat herring, just like we do on Christmas and Easter as well

In all the times I visited my relatives in Sweden, I have never been to a Midsommer, however I have to say that visiting cousins in Eksjö in 2000 I first experienced the game of Kubb and had a lot of fun playing it. I did once enjoy a typical Swedish summer outing that year, as my cousin lived on an island in the Archipelago just outside of Norrtälje. His friend's wife was turning 40 and there was a big party for her. They were happy to extend the invitation to me and it was a blast. The fish that was cooked over the fire had been caught that morning, the mushrooms picked that afternoon and one person came running up with a bag of freshly dug potato's, which caused great excitement. I had hoped to practice my Swedish but instead everyone else practiced their English. I can honestly say it was one of the most delicious meals I've ever eaten in Sweden. BTW, I really enjoy visiting Sweden vicariously through you. ;-p

Nice video! You've mentioned before how well people dress in Sweden - that's really evident in the party scenes. Sweden seems like a higher and better version of the rest of us. :-)

Fun you have kubb. We play it in Denmark too, but we call it Kongespil. I love it!

Sounds like a great holiday celebration would love to be in Sweden at that time

Nice images and well-told truths about and from Sweden, as I've learned to expect from Stefan Thyron.

It's so fun how you tell your side of how you see our traditions. And how you absorb it. Love it. Keep up the good work 👍

I did live near the polar circle and I can confirm that it nearly no darkness the summer!

After i have been watching your channel for almost 4 years, finally next month i’ll move there 🥰

Great info. Tack så mycket!

We Swedes are weird and we Swedes love it

Jag orkar inte ens bry mig om vilken ordning jag äter maten i! Hahahhaha

Also having just finished the video to me the terrible weather is a loved tradition. If it does not rain during midsummer I will get sad as it has somehow rained every midsummer except a single one. Which is kind of crazy. Also the year when it was colder during midsummer than christmas, that was not something that I want to experience again.

Love your videos, interesting to see your perspective on us swedes. It gives food for thought on one’s own culture.

Since you could not farm all year around, a way to show that you had money was to eat fermented or soured food when fresh food was available. Like, I don't have to eat fresh food, I have food left from last year.

It seems like a very nice tradition overall. It also seems like a very nice travel destination. I can only hope that one day I will get to see it for myself. Thank you very much for such a colorful upload. Hej då.

I sive in the far south side of sweden. and near midsummer the sun begins to go up at 3am.. love it!

Midsommar is the real National day in Sweden. And 6/6 hasn't been our national day for very long!!! It used to be "svenska flaggans dag" til recently. Celebrating summer solstice goes wayyy back. Midsommar is always on a Friday now, so that everyone can celebrate, but the "real" midsommar is the solstice

I'm a fellow Washingtonian watching your channel. I go to church. ;)

The order you are "supposed" to pick the food makes sense if you know the origin of the swedish smörgåsbord; brännvinsbordet ("the liquor table"). In ye olde times it was hard to predict when everyone would arrive. So a small table was set out as a courtesy to guest who arrived early. It had liquor and sill and other cold food you could pick on a small plate and eat while waiting for everyone to come. The hot food was then served at the table when everyone was there. But today it's all served and eaten at the table at the same time so the order isn't obvious.

Good video Stefan. Pretty much how an adult/youth Midsommar party is over here in Sweden :) Keep it up

June 6th became national holiday in the 1980’s, but not recognized as a weekend (the ”truest form” of holiday, where you get a day off from school or work) until the early years of this millennia. Before that, it was just a day to celebrate the Swedish flag🇸🇪 and was mainly called Svenska Flaggans Dag (The Day of The Swedish Flag). This means that our National Day isn’t a part of traditional Swedish culture at all, while Midsommar has been celebrated in Sweden since long before our country was christian, and through the centuries it slowly morphed into what the midsommar celebration looks like today.

looks like a normal adult midsummer party. good representitive video of how it usually is for me and my friends aswell.

As a Swede I find it facinating how other people see us! I also talk to some American relatives and I share your videos with them so they will know what to expect when they get here! :) I have a brother named Stefan!

Great video!

I've played a lot of kubb in my life, but I've never seen that rule regarding hitting the king at the end throwing between your legs.

Now i subscribe on your channel! Keep up good work🙏👑

Love that herring is your (sort of) thing now

The lines outside Systembolaget get really long when a holiday is coming, but this year they were even longer because of the Corona-restrictions. There can only be 8 people in the store at the same time. Btw, Stefan, are you aware of the english version of "Helan går"? It's not a translation. Instead, all the swedish words have been replaced by english words that SOUND alike. So you're singing english words, but put together in a way that make no sense at all. If you haven't heard or read it, here it is: Hell and gore, shun gope father Allen, lallen lay Hell and gore, shun gope father Allen lay For handsome in the hell and tar and hell are in the half and four Hell and goooore. Shun gope father Allen lay.

Du är en legend mannen!

Screw Cold then hot tradition, I wanna get a mix of the deliciousness that is our holiday foods

The story of the 7 different flowers is like this (i used to do it as a young girl with my grandmother and mother). You should climb over 7 different gärdesgård (kinda like a fence) and pick 1 flower after each and they all have to be different flowers just as you said. When you completed the task you shall place those flowers under your pillow before you go to bed and the tail is that you will dream about your future spouse. There might be a few different versions of this but since ive had this told to me by great grandma', grandma' and my mother it seems to be true as far as it goes for those with their roots in Roslagen.

Two out of four is great. More typically the day is a mix of rain and sun and temps maybe reaching 70F. Two of my twenty five midsummers were highs of about 40F and rain (no shit) and yes that was in Stockholm.

Herring, salmon, saugage and meatballs those are a must at Christmas Easter and midsummer for me at least. On Christmas the Christmas ham is very important as well. Eggs on eater is very important.

I felt the same way about sill. Took several years of growing up and forcing it down before I started to enjoy it. :) I miss fish foods now though. As for nationaldagen it used to not be a holiday until pretty recently and I heard several horror stories in the past where people wore a shirt or face paint of the flag on nationaldagen and got beaten up in schools and such for wearing the flag and got called racists and what not so I personally didn't feel comfortable celebrating it even a tiny bit until I lived in the states where country pride is more accepted. Midsommar and sport events are the only times really where it feels safe to do anything flag related. It's why you are more likely to see the UK flag on purses or shirts because the UK flag is more "accessory friendly" and safe. Not sure why the Swedish flag got associated with racism but it's borderline taboo to have any pride at all unlike the US where it's almost the entire opposite where you are weird if you don't show pride, especially July 4th. I wish there was some middle ground.

It has to be 7 different flower from 7 different fields.

Rain will not keep a Swede from celebrating our beloved Midsummer! I remember the year when it rained so hard that we used the kid pool up side down as a roof while we raised the Maypole. Yes... we might have been totally not sober. 😂

What opened my eyes with the herring was midsummer like 3 years ago when my father had bought some really good herring from the fish truck in his town. So much better then the "Abba cans" you buy.

Don't worry about getting the food in the right order! You do you! Haha never had people react weirdly when you take the hot food first. Those people must be super boring to think that's so important! Haha I usually put it all on the same plate 😅

The pole is something everyone gets wrong it's hilarious, it has NOTHING to do with the male genitalia or Vikings, it's a custom we got from areas around Germany from around the 1800s, there is actually nothing that can connect the male genitalia with midsummer stången. What is interesting is that on the continent there is a much warmer climate so it was raised in Germany during may, but here in Sweden it's a bit colder so we simply waited a bit into June to celebrate

To me strawberry cake was wierd the first time i heard about it as we've always had the strawberries in cream with sugar on top. I was also surprised you didnt talk about the importance of new potatoes >w< New potatoes with cream or gräddfil with gräslök on top and then herring with that. And at the evening you grill ^^ Everyone celebrate differently though. Just fun to hear the differences. Everyone argues of the kubb rules though XD I dont know why there is different rules.

I’m Swedish, and I have played Kubb since I was a little kid and I have never heard that you must stand backwards and throw between your legs to take down the king. That must be something they do in Stockholm.

Hey Stefan! What's your favourite herring? Mine is Matjes. I eat no other herring, maybe löksill.

Your midsummer sounds nothing like my midsummer XD We just sort of had a little get together where we had food and just chatted for a couple of hours, and this thing about there being a specific order you have to take the food in is as weird of a notion to me now as it was during Christmas, everyone just took whatever they felt like. There were no games, there was... some alcohol, but we didn't have any drinking songs or anything, and I didn't have any personally on account of I don't like the taste. Might've had to do with that I spent it with my family and not with a friend group, so that's probably why it was a lot more laid back than what you described. I gotta admit though, I *do* miss the maypole from when I was a kid.

Kan vi inte bara lägga nationaldagen på midsommar 😎 finns det något mer svenskt än kära midsommar 🇸🇪

We do it the other way around, we always eat the warm food first then the cold stuff😁

I think why not are more excited about June 6 is that we as a country is more of less thousands of years old. Midsommar is for me get together with family and friends eating traditional food like in this video and some really good wine, but not meat or birds as a longtime choice. Always strawberries

About National Day. We are a fairly old country with a long history of its own. Norway did not become independent until 1905, so it is celebrating properly. Denmark, which is even older than Sweden, does not celebrate either. France has a revolution to celebrate 1789 not long ago at all. "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" is still a motto that is used. You already know what you are celebrating on the US.

Maybe you should go explore the suburbs of Stockholm like farsta where I live. Maybe it could be a fun experience!

The pole looks like a “manhood” because back in the Viking-age it was believed to give a good crop and well germinated soils if you celebrated midsummer. It was a way of celebrating one of the gods of Asgård.

I live in a smal town in Sweden, its intresting to see the differens and simularities....

You are lucky, it always rain onmidsummer (I live in Stockholms archipelago) I dont remmember last time it was good weather on midsummer 😂

Don't forget that the strawberrie prices goes up from like 35 kr per box to like 100+ kr per box during midsummer and then after the weekend on monday it goes back to about 35 kr again.

I’ve been celebrating Midsommar all my life, never once have I thought the may pole is phallic lol

Midsummer is calm. No stress.

"Helan går" is actually not about emptying the whole glass at once. Instead it's about taking the first "snaps". "helan" = the first one, "halvan" = the second one, "tersen" = the third one.

LoL a bit of rain ? We had snow on midsummer a few years back lol. It was colder that year on midsummer then on christmas eve :D

3:55 that’s exactly how i imagine an American Church would look like. Some preacher saying ”Can i get an Amen!?” and everyone going crazy. Stuff like that’d never happen in a Swedish Church

You got at least one churchgoer here that got your reference!

Du kan äta i vilken ordning du vill. Dock tycker väl de flesta att fiskrätter smakar bättre före kött? Har du hört den här? "Vi äter inte klockor men dricker gärna ur."

Never knew it was called Cubb, and that you swedes called it that... we just call it Kongespil in Denmark.

i live in kiruna which is above the artic circle and i gotta say, these long ass days are kinda tiring haha

What kind of animal are the meatballs made?

“It slaps.” Is that a Portland thing? I’m 3 hours north of Portland and I’ve never heard it (lived here since 1985).

Thanks for doing this. Hated the fact that the holiday was used as a plot for a horror movie.

17c inside and 33c outside is ideal temperature for me.

The comments here from Swedes are all so defensive around their midsummer traditions. But they shouldn't be. I think it's cute actually that such a stodgy group can "let their hair down" once is a while. It's good for the soul. And it doesn't matter where it comes from or how silly it looks!

It seems like you had a great midsummer but I got a thought recently. How many people in Sweden who aren't "Swedish" actually celebrate midsummer? As someone who always had big family celebration, been to parties with friends or worked on midsummer I never gave that much thought before. Say your parents were/are immigrants from Turkey, Poland or China how many midsummers, traditional or just gathering with friends like you did, have they actually experienced? Offcourse some have maybe only Swedish friends so they get invited naturally but those others?

me: "You eat the same food every holiday" also me: "We need to get turkey for thanksgiving" :D:D:D

Varje midsommar så åker vi till min mammas kompis och firar hemma hos henne. Det är ganska kul

But that long queue is not normal. Due to the corona, it is only allowed with a certain number of people in the store. Normally, there are no queues at all.

I am kinda surprised that in Sweden or basically anywhere in Northern Europe that "mid summer" days can be mostly ALL daylight. I knew that in Alaska, which is right above Canada, which is above the Continental USA, to the NORTH, it can remain in FULL DAYLIGHT 100% for MONTHS in the summer time. BUT, in the WINTER, in Alaska, which is RIGHT above Canada, and the Continental USA, in WINTER, it is mostly `100% NIGHT TIME. And, IF there IS ANY daylight, it is really NOT real daylight, BUT, perhaps just a tiny bit of light. And, the "aurora borealis" is the BEST 'show of light" that anybody can ever even HOPE to see. I had a British Lady tell me that in summer in her area of Britain, it can stay light out until 10PM. Now, in MY area in the USA, in summer, it can stay light up until about 9 Pm and possibly a bit longer, BUT, now, it is getting darker sooner a little bit at a time. And, I would NOT really care much about it, BUT, this being the HOTTEST time in the season, with days in the 90's F here in MY area, I have to wait until the evening hours before I can even start cutting my lawn. SO, being that my property is kinda BIG, I need about 2 nights to cut it all since I must start cutting it in the evening, when the temps have gone down. I really can NOT be out in too much SUN. I am on some medications that make me more sensitive to sunlight. I had gone a couple of years ago to "Virginia Beach" with some friends, and OMG, just with about 3-4 hours of sunlight, I was RED like a freakin LOBSTER after it has been dumped into BOILING hot water. BUT, I would go again, JUST because seeing the ocean is a really GREAT experience. And, I will admit that the waves had really hypnotized me, watching them roll in was really almost "intoxicating", and I had NOT drank a drop of alcohol. To be honest watching those waves had mad me dizzy as all hell. But, visiting the ocean is a great experience, EVEN IF you do NOT actually go diving in and swimming in it, it can be a really nice experience. I had really TRIED to "get out there" into the sea, BUT, I am NOT very steady on my feet, so, my "confidence" had built up to the point that I was thinking, "I can do this", meaning that I could just go and walk out into the sea to where my 2 best friends were out there in the sea. I mean, IF they can do it, why can't I? So, I went walking out there, and THEN, a nice strong wave had hit me, and MY weak ass just fell down, and then, each wave that had hit me had rolled me up the beach. I had sand in every crevice of my body, and in my hair. I was SUPER embarrassed, BUT, I had pretended that I had laughed about it, because it had seemed like the best way to "save face", or to seem like I was NOT embarrassed by it. SO MANY people that were in the ocean had been able to "ride that wave", BUT, I had NOT been able to. I mean even little KIDS, had been okay in that situation, and my 2 best friends had jumped when that wave had come through, BUT, it had knocked my ass over, so easily. Previously, I had enjoyed just SITTING on the beach while the waves had just rolled in, and had washed over me, BUT, THEN, I just HAD to go and try to walk into the ocean at about waist deep water, and the waves just bowled me over. That had been MY first time in the ocean trying stand up and walk. Previously, I had been in the ocean in Florida, on Big Pine key, BUT, I had just sat in the shallows because there had been signs up warning about a very dangerous type of "Jellyfish" that had been seen on that beach, and we had seen some of them all semi dried out on the beach. Anyway, it is Vodka that has made me so "chatty" here. BUT, soon in the USA, it will be getting dark much sooner, like at about 5Pm in the wintertime, in the USA, it will be dark in winter. And, in fall here in the USA, we have to turn out clocks back 1 hour, and in spring, we turn our clocks forward 1 hour.

Andra lekar på midsommarafton är dragkamp, hoppa säck, springa med potatis på en sked, kasta hästskor på en pinne

While kubb is similar to many ancient games, the game as such is not recorded until the 1990s.

About the food, resistance is futile, you will be assimilated! Congrats and welcome on becoming a Swede!

Haha u american love celibrations i was in usa was so difffent 😁 the halloween in usa ex was crazy 😂😁 midsummer can be fun if its a good weather 😂

👍🏻🌸🌸

You missed the big barbecue that happens in the evening..

Thanks for saving us from Hollywood fans, or whoever made the movie.

If I remember correctly from my own research of Wiccan that I follow the maypole comes from that belief in the pagan festivals

Här har vi den svenska psalmboken med tillägg i kyrkan

I'm from Canada and it's good to know Midsommar is not a horror movie. 😂

I have hard of "Swedish meatballs" BUT, I have always THOUGHT that the American version MUST be NOTHING like the Swedish version, and in the USA, "Swedish meatballs " are really meatballs served in a "sweet and sour" sauce. Okay, so THIS guy has mentioned eating the "cold foods" first, like Herring. SO I am guessing that Swedes eat Herring COLD? I really am NOT sure that I could EVER even TRY cold Herring. It is sold in a store chain here in the USA called "Giant eagle", and it is in a jar, and is refrigerated. I had been brought up eating only fish that had NOT looked anything like it once had when it was alive. It would be breaded and fried, looking NOTHING as it once had looked. BUT, I had tried a tin of "Sardines" a while back, it was soaked in mustard, it was NOT TOO BAD, BUT, it was NOT TOO GOOD either. As the video goes on, Strawberries are great when ripe, I just MAY plant some inside a GREAT BIG tire that is in MY yard next spring. Watching your videos about Sweden are really interesting, sorry IF I have posted TOO long replies to the videos, it is all of that Vodka I have been drinking. :>)

that midsommar movie really terrified me

👍‍‍👍‍‍🐸👍‍‍👍‍‍!

Anledningen till att Svenskarna inte firar nationaldagen så mycket beror nog mycket på att vi inte varit i krig på över 200år. Det är väldigt bra men vi har glömt bort vikten av att va stolta över vårat land lika mycket som länder som minns krigen och kanske även upplevt dem på nära håll. Tack för en bra video....

My issue with the movie midsommar is that the nature, flowers and clothing are so off if you’re actually from sweden

Helan går, doesn't mean drink the whole. Helan is the name of the first shot, halvan is the second then there is some other named ones after that. Helan and halvan. A filled glas followed by a half filled one.

The food is not the same. There's meatballs on Christmas. Totally not the same. 😆

2:10 Where is that? Thats not Stockholm

This is so similar to danish and norweigan parties lol

I am swedish and have never properly celebrated midsummer coz I live in Germany

I always go to the hot dishes first beacuse I like them more. If I still have room for more I take the cold dishes , or just a little bit more of the hot ones. It´s not that important.