It is the day when the sun reaches its highest point during the year, directly overhead at noon above the Tropic of Cancer, which runs through Mexico, North Africa, Arabia, India and Southern China. June 21 is when the summer solstice is celebrated in the northern hemisphere, although it can occur a day before or after. It is the summer solstice and time to get in touch with your pagan soul. Ps.ROME-Roll up your yoga mats, hide the virgins, grab your sleeping bags. It’s a great time of the year to visit, so mark the 23rd of June in your calendar, and try to time it with your next travel adventure in Norway. I hope this article gave you some insight on how Norwegians celebrate midsummer and the summer solstice. Unlike the Swedish Midsummer, Norway’s Sankthans is not a national holiday, and most people need to go to work the next day, so there for the celebration tends to not go on all through the night, but we still stay up pretty late. It’s said that the tradition of lighting up a fire goes all the way back to the 5th century, when it was believed that a big fire would scare away the evil spirits. You share a meal, typically a BBQ and then later in the evening you watch the big bonfire together. So basically, you get together with friends or family a bit earlier in the evening. This is the Sankthansbål (Bonfire of Saint John), which we lit up on the evening of the 23rd. If you spend time in Norway before the 23rd of June you will notice that in every village or city you will find one or several piles of firewood stacked up down by the water. It’s a time of year when Norwegians love to be outside and cherish the (hopefully) warm weather and long summer nights. Today the celebration is rather simple, but still very enjoyable. Photo: Kiwi.no How is Midsummer celebrated in Norway today? Supposedly this would be good for the crops. Hurry up and get away from snow and rain and take shelter from the cold night. So how is this tradition celebrated? A couple of older traditions that took place on Sankthans that are not common today were Åkervekking (waking up the fields) & Lekebryllup (Play wedding).Īs the night of Sankthans is said to have magical abilities, up until the early 1900s it was not rare to see an old farmer out in his fields putting down branches in his field on the evening of Sankthans while saying: But we celebrate it the evening before on the 23rd, also known as Sankthansaften (The evening of Saint John). The official day of Sankthans is the 24th of June. So, despite the Christian name, this is a non-religious celebration. So even though this celebration is named after a Saint, it is a tradition that goes back to pagan times. Or is it?Īfter the Viking age, 1100s and onward, as people became Christians, they would mix up their old pagan traditions with new Christian ones. So basically, it’s a celebration honoring the birth of Saint John. Sankt means Saint, and Hans is short for Johannes (John in English). Sankthans, Jonsok, Jonsmesse or Jons vake. In Norway, this celebration goes under different names. Hansaften paa Landet av Knud Bergslien The History of Norwegian Midsummer Celebrating Sankthans in the countryside -St.
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