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The Midsummer maypole tradition dates from the Middle Ages, while the summer solstice celebration can be traced to Norse pagan times, when the culture revolved around the mystical natural world.
While midsummer day is celebrated throughout Europe, many Lithuanians have a particularly lively agenda on this day. The traditions include singing songs and dancing until the sun sets, telling tales, searching to find the magic fern blossom at midnight, jumping over bonfires, greeting the rising midsummer sun and washing the face with a ...
Midsummer in Stockholm, raising and dancing around a maypole, 2019 (video). Raising and dancing around a maypole (majstång or midsommarstång) is an activity that attracts families and many others. Greenery placed over houses and barns was supposed to bring good fortune and health to people and livestock; this old tradition of decorating with ...
These celebrations can range from religious observances to secular holidays, and often incorporate unique customs and foods. Major festivities include Midsummer, Christmas (Jul), Easter (Påsk), and Walpurgis Night (Valborg), Semel day. Many Swedish festivities are closely tied to the Lutheran Church of Sweden, although participation in ...
In France, the "Fête de la Saint-Jean" (feast of St John), traditionally celebrated with bonfires (le feu de la Saint-Jean) that are reminiscent of Midsummer's pagan rituals, is a Catholic festivity in celebration of Saint John the Baptist. It takes place on June 24, (St John's day). Nowadays it is seldom celebrated.
On May 1, countless people around the world celebrate the spring holiday, one that marks roughly the halfway point between the Northern Hemisphere’s Spring equinox and the summer solstice in June.
Occasionally used in the 20th and 21st century, the use of Līgo as a word to describe the whole celebration is still debated. Linguists have stated that either Līgo is simply a misused refrain sung in many traditional Jāņi songs or that it comes from the name Līgā or Līgo - a purported minor Livonian pagan deity representing merriment and amity.
The modern Icelandic festival of Þorrablót is sometimes considered a "pagan holiday" due to folk etymology with the name of the god Thor. [5] The name, while historically attested, is derived from Þorri which is not explicitly linked to Thor, instead being the name of a month in the historic Icelandic calendar and a legendary Finnish king.