Midsummer!
The text below is taken from the book The Life of the Swedish Common People in Folklore, Beliefs, and Poetry by ethnologist Tobias Norlind. The book was published in 1912, but primarily depicts the work and customs of the Swedish peasantry during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Midsummer was once again celebrated as a festival, this time in honor of green foliage. Everything had to be decorated with greenery, a practice known as "maja." Linnaeus reports from Scania that all churches were "majad" at Pentecost and Midsummer, meaning adorned with leaves and flowers. Homes were similarly decorated, with greenery placed over doorways and scattered across floors. Even grain fields were "majad," with leafy twigs placed in the furrows. This, it was believed, guaranteed a good harvest. Sometimes people simply placed leafy branches in the corners of their fields. Such decorations were intended as much to prevent pests as to encourage growth. At the heart of everything, however, stood the Maypole, jointly erected by each village community. Linnaeus observed a magnificent one in Skanör:
"Young men and women gathered at the village square; the men had fetched poles and the women brought flowers. The poles were linked together into the shape of the tallest mast, adorned with crossbeams, and within minutes the entire pole was dressed in flowers and wreaths hanging from its arms. Thus decorated, the Maypole, which was most beautiful and splendid, was raised amidst shouts and cheers, and around it the young people danced all night, despite the rain."
Another description of a Maypole comes from Lloyd:
"It consisted of a straight, tall fir tree, often as thick at the base as a fully grown man's body. Sometimes it featured rings or barrel hoops, sometimes simply crosswise wooden arms at intervals. Others were equipped with arches, appearing almost like a person standing with arms at their sides. From top to bottom, the pole and its decorations—rings and all—were covered with leaves and flowers, colorful fabric strips, colored and gilded eggshells, and at the very top was a rooster, a large pennant, or a flag, usually red or white, bearing either the name of Saint John or perhaps the name of the village and the date."
The rooster at the peak was the village’s particular pride, and remnants of superstition regarding it could still be detected in later times. Villages would sometimes mischievously steal the rooster from a neighboring village’s pole, as losing one's rooster was believed to cause great misfortune for that year's crops and harvest.
In certain regions, bonfires were traditionally lit on Midsummer's Eve. Lloyd writes:
"In some parts of the country, especially Scania, Bohuslän, and areas bordering Norway, Midsummer was celebrated with much firing of guns and large bonfires, formerly known as 'Balder’s fires.' These fires were lit at dusk, casting bright illumination over the surrounding countryside. Remarkably, people still continue the custom of dancing around these fires, as well as leaping through or over them."
Another custom during Midsummer celebrations involved making offerings at sacred springs or drinking their water for health. Not only the water but also the dew collected on Midsummer night was considered to have healing powers. If someone in a family was sick, sheets and linens were laid out in graveyards to soak up the dew, and afterward these sheets would be wrapped around the sick person's body. It was certain to bring healing (Lloyd). Midsummer dew was also collected to mix into bread dough, preventing spoilage. Conversely, if someone wished harm upon a neighbor’s crops, they would use a sheet to remove dew from their field.
Midsummer was, above all, a time for predicting the future. People often performed a special walk, known as "årsgång," at this time, similar to the midwinter practice (to be described later in connection with Christmas). Many other methods existed for foreseeing future events. One could interpret the songs of birds for omens, or lie wrapped in a sheet upon the roof of the house, where "many secret things would be revealed." To know whether happy or sorrowful events awaited, one would select two stalks of grain of equal height in a field, tying one with a red band and the other with black. Whichever stalk grew taller afterward indicated the nature of one's future (Lloyd).
Another method of divination was treasure-hunting, best carried out at this time using a dowsing rod. This rod was made from four sticks joined at their ends to form a square. Each stick had to come from a different type of wood: rowan, aspen, mistletoe, and one other wood the informant could not recall (Lloyd). The treasure-seeker placed the rod on various spots on the ground, and on the "correct" location, the instrument would begin to move on its own.
Dowsing rods were also used to locate other hidden things, such as underground springs. For this purpose, the rod often consisted simply of a forked twig. The two branches were held apart by the hands, with the undivided end pointing outward. Upon passing a water source, the tip would move independently.
Another divination tool was the bouquet of nine different kinds of flowers, gathered silently on Midsummer night. Sometimes two bouquets were hung from the ceiling beams, one representing the father and the other the mother. The person whose bouquet wilted first was believed to die first. These bouquets also possessed the power to ward off trolls, which is why they were traditionally hung in barns and stables until replaced the next Midsummer. Girls wanting to glimpse their future husbands would place these bouquets beneath their pillows on Midsummer night, dreaming of their intended.
Mistletoe, like the Midsummer bouquet, also had protective power against evil forces, so it too was often hung above doorways or ceilings in homes and stables. Another remarkable Midsummer plant was the fern, which was believed to bloom between midnight and 1 AM on Midsummer night. Whoever managed to pick such a flower would have all their wishes fulfilled (Grip). Daphne (tibast) was also believed to flower on Midsummer night (and according to other traditions also on Maundy Thursday and Walpurgis night).
Many methods existed for lonely girls to discover their future spouses. If a girl sat on a stone on Midsummer night and listened carefully, the first sound heard would indicate the direction from which her intended husband would come. Between the second and final church bells ringing on Midsummer day, she could also dig up a turf, place a few hairs beneath it, and on the third day see her future husband if she retrieved the hairs (Uppland). Alternatively, on Midsummer night, she could wrap herself in a white sheet, climb onto the roof with a washbasin in one hand and a towel in the other, and then see her future husband appear to wash himself. Another practice was baking a special salty pancake, but for it to be effective, she required two companions. The three would jointly mix ingredients (flour, eggs, milk, and salt), turn it over, divide it into thirds, eat it together, and immediately afterward go to sleep. Naturally, thirst soon arose, shaping their dreams, where the man who appeared offering them a drink would become their future spouse. Alternatively, they could simply eat salted herring alone.
To know how long one would wait before marrying, another method involved selecting three rye stalks on Midsummer Eve, trimming them equally, and binding them with red, green, and black threads. The tallest stalk on Midsummer morning foretold one's fate: green for love and marriage within the year, red for happiness, and black for sorrow.