Midsummer Night is the lightest of the year, when it doesn’t really get fully dark.
Naturally, this depends on where you are in Sweden. The sky presents as a dim glow on the southern plains of Skåne. In the Arctic north, the land of the Midnight Sun, it is a bright searing daylight all night long. In Stockholm, where I live, we experience a magical dusky twilight that conjures up associations of witchcraft, druids and paganism.
At dusk, at this time of year, the light creates a strange reflection in the water. Lakes turn a petrol blue and the waves seem thick and heady with the magic of the night.
Historically, the light Midsummer night was considered a mystical night, as it was the best time for telling people’s futures. Girls ate salted porridge so that their future husbands might bring water to them in their dreams, to quench their thirst. You could also discover treasures, for example by studying how moonbeams fell.
Also that bright night, it was said, water was turned into wine and ferns into flowers. Many plants acquired healing powers on that one night of the year.
It is no wonder that Shakespeare wrote of the intoxication of a Midsummer Night’s Dream. In Sweden, the light is very intoxicating indeed.
Watching the Swedes 