Back to an (almost) usual Midsummer

The Swedish government eased regulations on meetings and the limitations on restaurants and amusement parks on June 1, just in time for the summer season.  

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  Summer in Sweden is soft, sweet, long overdue and like nowhere else. The biggest treat of all: Clean and crisp nature showing off its almost outrageous purity in this season of long sun-lit nights, wild flowers, pine scented forests and sail-dotted seas.

• The Swedish government eased regulations on meetings and the limitations on restaurants and amusement parks on June 1, just in time for the summer season. For example, an indoor event can now have up to 50 participants and an outdoor event up to 500 if there are designated seats, and restaurants can remain open until 10:30 p.m.

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  Item One for every Swedish Midsummer: Flowers ...

• Dancing crowds and teeming parties belong to Midsummer - under regular circumstances, that is. But last year, Swedes were urged to stay home and only gather with those closest to them. Travel restrictions, bans on large crowds and calls for social distance made Midsummer 2020 a very different experience.
  Around the country, the pandemic meant most major events were canceled, while it became one of the hottest Midsummer days of the 21st century. But canceled maypoles and ring dances did not mean the holiday was completely forgotten, and the celebration in 2020 became a test of how well Swedes followed the recommendations that existed: Across the country, thousands of Swedes organized corona-friendly Midsummer celebrations, while one in four Swedes canceled their celebration entirely, according to a survey from SIFO.

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  Happy Midsummer!

• The vast majority kept their distance from people outside their inner circle of acquaintances or met with only a few friends, but many stuck to their traditional wreaths and some put together the Midsummer pole at home on the lawn or in their living room to dance with the children.
  There were smaller parties on picnic blankets with a few friends under umbrellas (it was hot but also rainy in some places) … a simple lunch in the shade under a tree, some salad and red wine, and later in the evening matjessill (pickled herring) and a few schnapps at home … “some herring and potatoes followed by strawberry cake can not be left out this time of year,” says author and lecturer Christer Amnéus.
  The elderly were more anxious in 2020 for natural reasons and almost no one in old age planned for a celebration. This year, because so many more in the older age groups have been vaccinated in Sweden, it could be just the opposite - so far, about 3.5 million Swedes have received at least one shot and only close to 1.2 million have been fully vaccinated with the majority in older age groups.