What midsummer means to me

Midsummer's here!
Being Swedish midsummer doesn't pass by unnoticed. In Sweden is a big celebration for everyone and why wouldn't you celebrate 24hr sunshine when living in a place that in the winter there's 24hr darkness.

So how do we celebrate? Most people leave town, dance around a pole and get really really drunk.
I've never been into celebrating a very traditional midsummer, but there're certain things that I love about midsummer. It's the best time of the year in Sweden and most of the things might not make sense to an outsider. I guess that's what makes it Swedish.
I've decided to list what midsummer is to me.

1. Pole dancing
At midsummer, pole dancing means something completely different in Sweden (midsummer pole) We take two big poles put them together into a cross and cover them in flowers. We then mass dance around it. The bigger the ring the better. Our favourite is the frog dance and everyone's involved from toddlers to grandpa.

2. Strawberries
Around midsummer, we eat a lot of strawberries. I mean a lot no a lot. I don't think you can celebrate midsummer without strawberries. We also cover all cakes in strawberries. In the month of June I normally eat at least 1ltr of strawberries a day until the end of the month I start getting rashes because clearly I've overdosed.

3. Sun shines at night
24hr the sun. That means the sun is shining for 24 hours. It doesn't get dark at all. It's amazing. You'll never know what the time is without looking at the clock and it's easy to forget to go to bed. The best is to sit outside with a great friend, a bottle of wine and just talk all night and before you know it, it's 6 am and you had no idea.
One of the most magical things I've ever seen is a sunset and sunrise at the same time. It's breathtaking.

4. Flowers
Picking flowers is something most people do at midsummer. You'll need flowers for the midsummer pole, the flower crowns for your hair and of course plenty of flower bouquets everywhere. In Sweden, we're allowed to pick flowers wherever as we have the "allemansrätt". Meaning we have the right to use the land even if it doesn't belong to us.

5. Rain
For some reason, it always rains on midsummer. If for some reason it doesn't snow.  (That does happen )
It's very few midsummers that's actually sunny and very warm but when it is, it's heaven.

That is my five things that come to my mind when I think of midsummer and I can't wait to celebrate this weekend with lots of strawberries and, of course, Swedish cider. No summer without Swedish cider.

What do you think about midsummer?