Midsummer Eve is a holiday that includes Midsummer Eve and Midsummer Day during the time from 20-26 June, originally a celebration of the longest day of the year - Summer Solstice.

In Sweden, Midsommar is celebrated on the 3rd Friday around the Adjusting, a tall maypole covered with flowers and greenery. Many women wear a flower wreath on their heads and some people dress in traditional folk costumes. Some regions in southern Sweden also lit bonfires to celebrate the Midsommar.

In many parts of Sweden and Finland, many parents send their young girls to pick a bouquet of seven or nine flowers, alone and in total silence. The tradition says that if they put the flowers under their pillow, they will dream of their future husband. Swedish and Finnish homes are decorated with flowers and birch tree branches, once again the importance of a well cleaned house in the Scandinavian culture.

ST. Lucia - Festival of Lights
December 13th was the longest night of the year by the old calendar and the Swedish families would celebrate on this night - in memory of St. Lucia. The oldest girl in the house is Saint Lucia. She has a long white dress with a red sash and a evergreen or lingonberry twig garland with lit white candles in her hair. She carries a torch and baked goods to local farms and returns home at the dawn. Early in the morning the Lussibruden: Lucy Bride serves lussekattor: Lucy cats: saffron buns, cakes and coffee or gløgg. Her sisters follow carrying lighted candles; and her brothers wear white cone caps decorated with stars. Schools, offices, and communities have Lucia processions and sing carols that thank the Queen of Light for bringing hope at the darkest time of the year.