It’s official! The summer has officially arrived with it’s full glory and and greatness and to mark the occasion special, as the day of beginning of summer is also my name day as well as summer solstice than we did our best to make the best out of the day and flowers and dances was a must.
Midsummer night or summer solstice in Nordic countries has been always a great celebration. In Finland it’s on 19th June, Sweden on 20th June, in my home country – Latvia as well as Norway it’s on 23rd when the people make flower crowns, eat typical food, sing traditional songs and be merry all night long with friends and family around a bonfire if possible.
To give a general idea how the midsummer is celebrated, check this lovely Swedish video – dummy guide for Midsummer night – it will give you an idea what’s the celebration all about. More information about this Swedish tradition on their homepage.
As in Milan it is not a tradition nor a holiday than the only thing that we organize our own little celebration. To set the right mood and feel closer to my Nordic roots I headed to Ikea temporary store in Milan which organized several midsummer, or as they call it Midsommer and took a part in their festivities and created my own flower ring and even tried my skills in their traditional dances.
I arrived at Ikea, already dressing the part – with floral pattern dress and a flowers in my hair, but seeing that you can create a real flower crown yourself I had to have it upgraded for the real one.
me and Maija who already had a flower crown
Actually her boyfriend had a flower crown..
The real owner of flower crown
…so we had to have our own made too.
Flower crown making corner at #IKEAtemporary store
Making you own flower crown is something that goes hand-in-hand with a beginning of a summer.
The first step – create your own flower crown
The next step was adding flowers
Voilà! a simple flower crown is ready
Also my friend Maija created one to take the part
my flower-power midsummer look and Swedish maypole
Maypole and traditional dances
As a proactive person who has to try her hand, this case – feet in new challenges than I without hesitating went in the dance circle to go around the maypole.
When the dances was finished it was time to head to home where we prepared a lovely summer meal for ourselves, with chicken – zucchini balls, spinach, meat filled buns and some bacon eggs.
dinner on the way
trying to master Latvian meat filled buns the right moon shape
as for each festivity there should be also a sweet – like berry tart
This was how my festivity and midsummer went – what about you? Do you celebrate Midsummer? if so – how?
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