Valdemarsviken

Happy Midsummer Eve! We definitely did not plan our trip around this but found out only a few weeks before we left Sydney that we would be in Stockholm for one of Sweden’s biggest public holidays! It is essentially a celebration of the summer solstice, the longest day of the year which is said to be the ‘middle of summer’. The time is said to have magical powers and there are a number of traditions associated with the day!

Although most locals leave the city and celebrate in the countryside, there was still a lot happening in the city and we went to an outdoor museum/park type place called Skansen at around 10am after a lovely 45 minute walk along the harbour from our hostel. There was a lot to do there and we started in the Baltic Sea Science Centre, learning about the different animals which are in the Baltic sea and their habitat.

We then went to the traditional start of Midsummer celebrations, the raising of the Maypole at 11am! We cheered on the folk dancers as they raised the pole (which happened in a number of steps by pullibg ropes up the pole) and then joined in the dancing around the pole, which included some very interesting dance moves! We were pretending to be frogs and other animals and even did dancing involving laundry and other house chores and skipping home from church! We had so much fun and picked up the moves quickly in a big mosh pit around the maypole.

We then explored the various enclosures containing various Nordic animals, including moose, bison, brown bears, seals, lynxs and even reindeer! We attended a short talk about the reindeer where of course we learnt a lot of interesting information about the reindeer including:
- Reindeer lose their antlers in the winter time but females take longer than males to lose their antlers (because they are more reliant on the nutrients in the antlers for reproduction). At the end of December, male reindeer have all lost their antlers so Rudolph would most likely have to be female!!
- Reindeer have a clicking in their knees so that in a snow storm where there is no visibility they can hear and find each other. The babies don't grow this tendon in their knees until they are a year old so to help protect them from being hunted by predators.
- Reindeers' predators in Sweden are brown bears, wolverines and lynxes.

We then attempted (and succeeded!) to tie our own wreaths - another tradition of Midsummer. Gab’s was quite delicate (not as many leaves) whilst Daniel’s was very heavy (many leaves)! We then of course wore these for the rest of the day!

We returned back to the Nordic animals to see the animals which we hadn't seen and managed to catch the grey seals being fed their afternoon fish.

In the later afternoon, we attended a talk by a ‘wise old lady’ who shared us the stories of old wives tales used to describe the presence of spirits and how to heal ailments (like taking three strands of hair, spitting on them and throwing into a fire to get rid of a headache!). She also explained special spirits and traditions in relation to Midsummers (which is known to be a time where trolls and faires and other creatures are more prevalent because they are confused by the sun always being up whereas usually they are only around at night!)

After an hour or so of hearing different tales (in both Swedish and English), we then had to seek shelter for about 30min whilst a massive storm hit Stockholm before we continued on a walk around Skansen and exploring the old town area. We decided to try cardamon and cinnamon buns (called kanelbullar and kardemummabulle) which are the local pastry delicacies - very yum!

We finished our day by watching a traditional folk band perform under the maypole by the lake. We then explored the rose and herb gardens which were very lovely and had a nice view over Stockholm and left Skansen after around 6pm after a long day in the sun filled with fun and dancing!!

We then enjoyed a nice stroll for about an hour along the harbour back to our hostel. We made use of the sauna again, had some dinner and chatted to some other travellers from NZ and then going to bed.Read more