About Midsummer
Midsummer is the great northern celebration of the summer solstice — the night the sun barely sets and, north of the Arctic Circle, does not set at all. Pre-Christian in origin, it was nominally Christianised as the feast of John the Baptist (24 June) but in practice retained its older character: bonfires lit at the lakeshore, flower crowns woven from cornflower, daisy and clover, the maypole (midsommarstång) raised in the village, herring and new potatoes on the table, schnapps in the glass.
For a deeper historical treatment, see Midsummer — Wikipedia.
Each Nordic and Baltic country puts its own stamp on the festival: Sweden's midsommarstång and ring-dancing; Finland's lakeside bonfires (kokot); Estonia's Jaanipäev with its leap over the bonfire for luck; Latvia's Jāņi, where men named Jānis are crowned with oak leaves; Denmark's bonfire-and-witch-burning Sankthansaften. Cards sent for Midsummer tend to be informal, warm, and bound for friends one will see at the lake.
Traditional greetings
The phrases below are the ones most often used to mark Midsummer in person, by phone, and on cards. The native-script column shows the greeting as a recipient would read it; the transliteration is for those who would like to say it aloud; the English column is a literal rather than a poetic translation.
| Language | Greeting | Transliteration | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swedish | Glad midsommar | Happy Midsummer | |
| Finnish | Hyvää juhannusta | Good Midsummer | |
| Estonian | Häid jaanipäeva | Good St John's Day | |
| Latvian | Priecīgus Jāņus | Joyful Jāņi | |
| Danish | God sankthans | Happy St John's Eve |
Design tips for printable Midsummer cards
Hand-printed cards for Midsummer reward restraint and specific reference. The notes below distil what the most thoughtful cards in the tradition tend to do — and what the most commercial ones tend to get wrong.
- A flower crown viewed from above — daisy, cornflower, clover — is the festival in one image.
- A maypole silhouette against a pale blue summer-night sky for Swedish recipients.
- For Finnish and Estonian cards, a small bonfire on a quiet lakeshore.
- Use the colours of a Nordic summer evening: pale blue, soft yellow, white, sage green, with one warm ember tone.
- Inside, a single line about the long day rather than a long verse — Midsummer is plain-spoken.
A starting palette:
Five verses for Midsummer cards
Each verse below is short enough to copy onto a folded card by hand. They progress from formal to intimate; pick the one that best fits the relationship and the year you are writing into.
- On the longest day, may you spend most of it with people who do not check the time. Glad midsommar.
- Hyvää juhannusta — may the bonfire hold, the sauna stay hot, and the lake stay warm enough to swim.
- Flower crown on the head, herring on the plate, schnapps in the small glass — the simple grammar of a perfect Midsummer.
- Häid jaanipäeva. May the leap over the fire be small, and the year ahead be long.
- From a country where the sun barely sets, the quiet pleasure of doing nothing for an entire night.
Related cultural holidays
Other holidays observed in the Europe family of traditions: