For most Swedes, Midsummer is right up there with Christmas and Easter as a major holiday. Despite the name, for many it marks the beginning of summer, and the extended holidays/annual leave that is the norm in Sweden. At the Royal Swedish Golfing Society, we celebrate the holiday with an annual Summer Meeting at Effingham Golf Club. We do it a few weeks in advance to enable as many members as possible to join, after all, they may well have other plans on the actual eve…
When is Midsummer?
Midsummer Eve is always celebrated on a Friday between the 19th and 25th of June. This year, 2024, it will fall on Friday, the 21st of June.
Why do you celebrate Midsummer?
Midsummer is the longest day of the year and was long considered a magical night. In agrarian times, Midsummer celebrations in Sweden were held to welcome summertime and the season of fertility. In some areas people dressed up as ‘green men’, clad in ferns. They also decorated their houses and farm tools with foliage, and raised tall, leafy maypoles to dance around, probably as early as the 1500s.
Midsummer was primarily an occasion for young people, but it was also celebrated in the industrial communities of central Sweden, where all mill employees were given a feast of pickled herring, beer and ‘snaps’. It was not until the 1900s, however, that this became the most Swedish of all traditional festivities.
What do you eat at Midsummer?
A typical Midsummer menu features different kinds of pickled herring, boiled new potatoes with fresh dill, soured cream and chives. This is often followed by a grilled dish of some kind, such as spare rib or salmon, and for dessert the first strawberries of summer, with cream. The traditional accompaniment is a cold beer and snaps, preferably spiced. Every time the glasses are refilled, singing breaks out anew.
Do you believe in magic? Find your ‘dream partner’ …
Ancient tradition says that if a young woman puts seven different flowers under her pillow on the night between Midsummers Eve and Midsummer Day, she will dream of her future partner. (Should it work, it probably also works for young men.)
Celebrate Midsummer with RSGS
On Friday the 7th of June, the RSGS Summer Meeting will be held at Effingham Golf Club. Ladies will battle for ‘Dampokalen’ and men will play for the Midsummer Trophy. The format will be 18 holes Stableford, followed by drinks and a Midsummer-inspired dinner (there are alternatives for those who do not feel that pickled herring is for them). For more information on the event or how to join the society, please email secretary@rsgsgolf.com
