Mark Your Calendar for Midsummer's Eve

After long winters in Sweden, everyone is ready to welcome the summer solstice. This year, the celebration starts on June 20, Midsummer's Eve. This centuries-old Swedish holiday marks the longest day of the year, with Swedes picking fresh flowers to make wreaths or wrap around the Midsummer Pole. In the U.S., many Scandinavian communities celebrate variations of the holiday. And it's everything a good summer celebration should be: family fun, great food, music and dancing. So, whether or not you have Swedish heritage, make room in your backyard-party schedule for this. After all, who couldn't use another summer holiday?

Have Your Own Midsummer's Eve Celebration

The natural beauty of summer is a focal point of Midsummer's Eve. Swedes celebrate the greenery by gathering wildflowers and weaving them into wreaths to wear as crowns. They also use them to wrap around the Midsummer Pole and to decorate their homes. And the first fruits of the season help make up the holiday feast.

Here are a few ways to bring these touches of Midsummer's Eve to your own summer celebration:

Make a wreath.
To add a bit of Swedish culture to your summer party, help kids make their own wreaths with flowers or greenery from your garden. Start by making small flower bouquets (You'll need about 18 bouquets.); keep the stems long to make the wreath sturdy. Bind each bouquet with string or thin wire. Loop a long piece of wire around the bottom of each bouquet, and create a garland by alternately placing one bouquet to the left and the next to the right. When the garland is long enough to measure around your head, fit the stems of the last bouquet under the first bouquet and bind the garland into a round wreath. Keep the wreath in a plastic bag in the refrigerator until use, and spray it with water occasionally to keep it fresh.

Wrap a pole.
The Midsummer Pole is the centerpiece of Midsummer traditions. Every Swedish community raises a pole in the afternoon, wraps it in fresh flowers and greenery, and spends the rest of the day dancing and singing around it. Many families make their own poles. To make yours, use two wooden poles (or thick boards) with one half the size of the other. Nail them together like a cross (You can use a Christmas tree stand to erect them.), and decorate. The Swedes place a wreath on each "arm" of the pole and run garland from top to bottom.

Decorate.
In Swedish tradition, young women pick flowers and put them under their pillows, confident that the Midsummer flowers will reveal their future husbands in their dreams. Families decorate their homes with flowers to bring good fortune to the household until the next Midsummer. Have fun doing both!

Enjoy first fruits.
New potatoes and the first strawberries of the season are Midsummer's Eve staples. Others include herring, caviar (served in egg halves) and meatballs — plus plenty of beer and schnapps. Add one or more to your summer party.