Midsummer’s Eve – Sweden’s Biggest Celebration

The Food – Pickled Herring, Potatoes and Strawberries by the Bucketload

No Midsummer is complete without pickled herring. It may seem odd to a newcomer that a holiday should centre around preserved fish, but that’s just how it is. The herring comes in every flavour: classic, archipelago-style, mustard, even curry, and is served with new potatoes, dill, soured cream, and sometimes a boiled egg or two. Accompanying dishes often include Västerbotten cheese pie, crispbread, gubbröra (an egg and anchovy mixture), cured salmon, and perhaps some cocktail sausages or meatballs for the sceptics. Naturally, it all ends with strawberry cake - or simply a bowl of fresh strawberries with ice cream or milk. It doesn’t get more Swedish than that.

What to Wear on Midsummer? 

In some areas, traditional folk dress is worn with pride, while elsewhere it's light summer attire – linen trousers, dresses, polo shirts. Many begin the day looking stylish and cool, but by evening, emergency trousers come out when the temperature drops to ten degrees. It’s not uncommon to see someone in a floral dress and a down gilet, or men in shorts and a thin puffer jacket, after 9pm. 

Games, Dancing, and a Mosquito Banquet

After the meal, the festivities truly begin. The Midsummer pole – Sweden’s version of a maypole – is raised on the village green or someone’s lawn, typically to the sound of applause and a touch of anxiety that it might topple over. Around it, people of all ages dance in circles to traditional songs. "The Little Frogs" is the most famous, perhaps thanks to Alicia Vikander’s explanation of the bizarre frog dance to a bemused Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show. But there are many more songs: "We Are Musicians," "The Carousel," and "The Fox Hastens Across the Ice" (yes, even in summer) – all complete with choreographed movements and absolutely no rhythm required.

From there it’s on to the games: kubb (a wooden lawn game), tug-of-war, welly throwing, pentathlons, and quizzes. Anything can be turned into a competition.

Schnapps, Songs, and Surprisingly Good Harmonies

With herring comes schnapps – it’s tradition. O.P. Anderson is the most iconic, but Midsummer schnapps comes in many forms and flavours: Skåne Akvavit, Hallands Fläder, and homemade infusions that taste like bottled summer. But really, it’s not the schnapps that matters – it’s the songs. Before each little tipple, you sing a schnapps song. Group singing is the only acceptable format. Classics like "Helan går," "Nu tar vi den," and "Lille sup" ring out across meadows and patios.

Midsummer’s Eve – The Year’s Most Unreliable Forecast?

Can you predict the weather on Midsummer’s Eve in Sweden? Absolutely not. The forecast says sunshine, but 18 hours later, fifteen people are huddled under a party tent in blankets and rain ponchos. Hoping for sun and being disappointed is practically a tradition in itself. Still, we refuse to give up our breezy summer outfits. We barbecue in the rain, dance in the mud and curse the mosquitoes. And we happily do it all over again, year after year.

So What Makes Midsummer Sweden’s Biggest Celebration?

Perhaps it’s the blend: togetherness, singalongs and schnapps, ritual dances and utter chaos in the dress code, pickled herring and flowers in your hair. It’s a holiday where everyone is welcome. So the next time you see someone hopping like a frog with a flower crown on their head and a piece of herring in hand – don’t be surprised. It’s just a Swede celebrating Midsummer.