Tomorrow—Friday, June 19—is Midsummer’s Eve in Sweden. The Midsummer holiday is one of the most important celebrations of the year in the country. On Sweden.se, the official site of Sweden, it’s introduced as follows:
“Swedes are fairly well attuned to the rhythms of nature. At Midsummer, many begin their five-week annual holidays and everyone is in a hurry to get things done during the relatively short summer season. Midsummer Eve is usually celebrated in the countryside, which means that on the day before, everyone leaves town, everything closes and the city streets are suddenly spookily deserted. The country’s main thoroughfares, on the other hand, are normally packed. Queues of cars stretch away into the distance, and at the end of the road, family and friends wait among silver birches in full, shimmering bloom.”
In 2020, people are not able to travel to Sweden for the celebration as they may have in the past. Major celebrations in Sweden and even U.S. cities have been canceled. (The Swedish Midsummer Festival in New York City has been canceled for the first time in 24 years.) In response, Sweden and its tourism board have decided to live-stream a number of special Midsummer-themed events for free. “In fact,” wrote Visit Sweden in an email, “this year’s Midsummer will be even more special because the nationwide celebration – from Skåne in the south to Swedish Lapland in the north – will be shared with everyone through Visit Sweden’s Facebook live streams. Local Swedish hosts will guide the viewer through activities and share their very personal Midsummer traditions: from their take on the infamous frog dance around the Midsummer pole to skiing under the midnight sun.”
Recipes, tutorials, and more kick off at 5am ET/2am PT tomorrow. More information is available here.
Here’s the live-stream schedule for tomorrow (June 19)
Throughout the day tomorrow, you can tune in free on Visit Sweden’s Facebook page for some really interesting and fun Midsummer content. Here’s the schedule of events:
- 5am ET/2am PT: Flower-wreath making in Skåne
- 7am ET/4am PT: Midsummer lunch in West Sweden
- 9am/6am PT: Dancing around the Midsummer pole in Dalarna
- 1pm/10am PT: Flower picking and evening dip in Roslagen
- 6pm/3pm PT: Midnight sun and skiing in Swedish Lapland
Have you ever celebrated Midsummer in Sweden?
Please share your experience in the comments below!
Have your own tip? Email it to whitney@johnnyjet.com!
Want to see more tips? Click here for all 1,733!
Want even more travel tips? Sign up here for the Daily Travel Tip newsletter! Enter your email address and check “Daily Travel Tip” to receive Johnny’s best tips in your inbox each day!
If you already subscribe to our weekly newsletter, you can sign up on the same page. Just fill in your email and check “Daily Travel Tip” on the same page. You’ll receive an email with a link to update your JohnnyJet.com preferences. On that page, just click the Daily Travel Tip box and Update Profile.
