Today is Midsummer’s Day, a traditional holiday that celebrates the summer season. The holiday, which pre-dates Christianity, is especially popular in the Northern European countries. Midsummer is celebrated with maypole dancing, bonfires, feasts, singing, and festivals. Below is a typical Swedish Midsummer celebration.

Summer officially begins at 11:59pm tonight, June 20. (The solstice is on June 20 during leap years, on June 21 on the other three years.) See the excellent chart above for more of the technical details.
The summer solstice precedes the Pagan Midsummer Festival on June 24. You’ll be hearing more about that next week.
(graphic © newscom)