Discover Top Posts Tagged with #midsummer's night

Peter Strang porcelain figure, 'Titania and Nick Bottom", Meissen, Germany.

#Peter Strang #porcelain #figurine #art #Germany #Titania #midsummer's night #william shakespere

'Tarot of the Witch's Garden: Four Of Wands' by Nataša Ilinčić.

#Art Of The Day #Art #AOTD #Natasa Ilincic #Tarot #Tarot Of The Witch's Garden #Midsummer's Night #Summer Solstice #Fantastical Art #Imaginative Realism

Midsummer’s Night, a tea to sip while you’re being kidnapped by fairies.

#as you do #midsummer night's dream #midsummer's night #murchie's #murchie's tea and coffee #murchie's tea #cottage core #shakespeare

Hey uh I liked your post about Estonian midsummer traditions and I think my mum who is Lithuanian once told me about the fern flower, could you idk explain this one and maybe some other traditions? it's just apparently it's a common thing and I'm very curious thank you

Hey! Sorry for the late answer.

The fern flower is a legend (as ferns do not have flowers); in romantic literature lovers would look for the flower inside woods on Midsummer’s Night (the night between 23rd and 24th of June) and finding it signified love. I also found online site saying that it would give you riches, luck, the ability to understand all birds, animals and people, the knowledge of all things in the world and would allow you to see your future. This tells you to only look for it alone and not to listen to, respond to or follow any noises or calls, and to not be frightened by beasts that might appear. (sources in Estonian: x, x) I’ve been told the first story, but the second one sounds much more appealing.

As for other traditions, it is customary to build a large fire on the evening of the 23rd of June. There is a tradition of leaping over the fire to ensure good harvest and to keep evil spirits away, however most fires I’ve seen built would require a vaulting pole for that to be possible. In some places (Saaremaa, if I remember correctly) you stick a large barrel on top of a pole and light that on fire. According to x (in Estonian) you did that because then the fire can be seen far away and it will keep evil away as far as the light can be seen.

Aside from the fern flower, another connection to lovers is the story of Koit ja Hämarik; Dusk and Dawn. It’s the one night where they see each other and exchange a brief kiss. At Tallinn’s latitude, there’s about 2 hours of actual night on this night. Thus it’s the one night of the year where staying up all night or at least until the Sun rises again (which isn’t that late, and yes, I would say late rather than early. The Sun rises at 4 am, however it’ll start getting light at 3 am, maybe even before.) is customary.

Swinging on a large village swing is a tradition as well and you would sing songs while swinging. If you have the chance to swing on one of those, would recommend, however you generally need at least two people to actually get some speed up. Four is the optimal amount, I’d say, others can just sit on the swing. If you want to do loops, I would suggest looking into kiiking as those swings are made for that.

The wiki page lists some more things, it’s accurate from what I know. Off the top of my head I can say that Midsummer’s Eve also marks the point after which you shouldn’t eat rhubarb any more, as it will have gathered too much oxalic acid. It also marks the point after which the mosquitoes should lessen (and then the regular housefly and the painful horseflies take over. There is always something buzzing around you during summer).

Latvia has many more traditions, or at least they follow traditions more than any Estonian Midsummer’s fire I’ve been to. Flower and oak leaf wreaths are made, the oak wreaths are given to all Jānis who are present. They also sing songs and play games, there is also cheese with caraway seeds and other foods and drinks. The wiki page seems pretty accurate, if you want to read more.

I am not sure of any specific traditions relating to Lithuania; I’ve never lived there. I do think the traditions will be broadly the same, or at least the lighting the fire bit and probably the singing bit. And the drinking bit. Everyone seems to do the drinking and the eating bits.

As for what happens on Midsummer’s Eve currently in Estonia is what I described in that gothic post, mostly. Probably every village in the whole country has it’s own village fire, though many people (like my family) will have their own fire (my grandparents always have a fire and host for this evening). Generally you eat and spend time with relatives and/or friends, while drinking and trying to not get entirely eaten by mosquitoes (tip: mosquitoes hate smoke. Now I just need to find a smoke sauna I can go to and I’ll be fine). Oh, I presume people may go to sauna as well and probably swimming, though I’ve never been that close to the sea during a Midsummer’s Eve. Then when it starts getting dark you light the fire and move to sit around the fire because a) cold, b) mosquitoes, c) the fire is mesmerising. When the stuff to put on fire has ran out and the fire is a pile of ash and a smoldering large branch, you call it a night and go home.

I hope this was interesting!