Hyvää Juhannusta!

Juhannus. Midsummer. Traditionally observed on the Saturday between the 20th and 26th of June it is the celebration that marks the summer solstice. Jarkko's parents had us over for the weekend and we had an incredibly nice time. I took a bunch of photos some of which turned out but a lot of them didn't since the weather and the light conspired against me on many occasions. We didn't have the best weather but it was still a lot of fun anyway.

On Friday afternoon we had a fabulous lunch and relaxed with HoneyBear before going to Seurasaari for the bonfires. Erikki and Eila hadn't been there for Midsummer since 1967 so it was incredibly nice of them to go along for what must be terribly old hat for the locals but new for me.

It was crowded along the way to the far side of the island, an outdoor museum of culture and architecture, with local craftspeople lining the path. There was a cute young girl dressed in a traditional costume selling 'magic spells'.

One after another, each fire was lit and accompanied by singing. There were people crowding the shore, sitting up on the rocks along and in boats on the water waiting for the main fire to start. A long boat carrying the Juhannus wedding couple, married just hours earlier on the island, rowed out and back with a torch to light the largest and final bonfire. Afterwards there were several hours of music and dancing in the outdoor festival grounds nearby but it began to rain so we didn't stay.

» Kokko, kokoo koko kokko kokoon!
» Koko kokkoko?
» Koko kokko.

» Kokko (name), gather the whole kokko (midsummer fire)!
» The whole kokko?
» The whole kokko.

We went to Porvoo on Saturday and walked around the old town though few of the shops were open. It's a town on the King's Road which is rich in history and I'd like to return some afternoon to see the markets when they're open as Eila mentioned they are quite good. One of the radio stations we were listening to in the car had a roving reporter with a microphone running around the deserted center of Helsinki which was pretty amusing. I finally got to try the Finnish makkara, a bratwurst-like sausage, and enjoyed them quite a lot but what's not to love about meat and fat grilled and eaten with mustard and bread? :)

It was a very quiet, restful and lazy holiday marking the time where we must now watch the amount of daylight wane until December.

23 Jun 2003 at 2:13, Helsinki