Next: 25 to 26 Jun 2027
Midsummer
A pole dressed in green birch leaves, crowns of wild flowers, white summer clothes and a sky that never gets dark.
The colours of Midsummer
Midsummer is kept across the Nordic and Baltic countries at the summer solstice, when the northern night is only a few hours of blue twilight. In Sweden a tall cross-shaped pole is covered in green birch leaves and flowers and raised in a field, and people dance round it. Women and children wear crowns woven from wild flowers: white daisies, blue cornflowers, yellow buttercups, red clover. Many people dress in white or in pale summer clothes, or in folk costume. The table has red strawberries on white cream. In Finland and Latvia the night is marked with bonfires by the water, and Latvians wear crowns of oak leaves. Tradition says a girl who puts seven kinds of flower under her pillow will dream of her future husband.
#6DAA48Birch greenLeaves that cover the midsummer pole.#FFFFFFDaisy whiteFlower crowns and summer dresses.#5B8FD9Cornflower blueWild flowers in the crown.#F7D638Buttercup yellowMeadow flowers.#D62839Strawberry redThe first strawberries of summer.Values are fair approximations, not official shades.
Read about the colours
Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Midsummer" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from family to family and place to place. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.