Giant phallus?

We start with the big snack ice cream: the corn bar. You've heard it joking around the long table between the nubs. You have witnessed how your Swedish friends with pleasure and joy tell foreign friends how we in Sweden remember every year dancing around a giant penis. An up-and-down phallus symbol that symbolizes fertility right down to the ground.

But, is it really so? No, says the Nordic Museum:

“The links to a kind of unconscious, historically inherited fertility cult must be rejected on a scientific basis. The same applies to the interpretation of the midsummer bar as a phallus - nowhere in our rich archive sources is this link referred to, ”one writes on his website.

The midsummer bar probably came to Sweden from Germany and the appearance has varied over the years.

The earliest known image is in Erik Dahlberg's Suecia Antiqua, which was first published in the late 1600s. Here were several rings threaded over the pile instead of being two to the number today and attached to a crossbeam. Today's appearance has been more or less cemented in Sweden since the first half of the 19th century.

Why is it called maize rod?

You celebrate midsummer in June! May in this respect derives from the word maja, an older term meaning "to adorn with leaves".

John the Baptist's Day

Like so many other feasts, Christianity has a finger in the game even when it comes to midsummer, despite the sometimes very pagan expressions.

Originally, the celebration was a church celebration dedicated to John the Baptist, whose calendar day is June 24.

In our neighboring countries Norway and Denmark, the connection is clearer. This is where you celebrate Sankt Hans, which is the Norwegian and Danish name of John the Baptist. However, the celebration itself in our neighboring countries is more reminiscent of election night than midsummer. Large fires are burned during the evening.

Small frogs - a mockery of the French

The tune for the little frogs first appeared in a songbook in the 1920s. It quickly became a puppy and was linked to midsummer.

The original melody derives from a French song used by British soldiers as a nudge about the French during the Napoleonic Wars in the 19th century.

Magic

In the old peasant society, midsummer was a breaking point in the working year and the night itself was coupled with magical powers and supernatural beings. Predictions and predictions became especially popular during such festivals.

Here, for example, is the tradition of picking seven kinds of flowers that were then placed under the pillow to dream of their future love.

Source: Nordic Museum.