Midsummer is one of Sweden's most popular holidays. It's when we celebrate the sun being highest in the sky and welcome summer with folk dancing, music and Swedish midsummer classics. A traditional midsummer table usually includes fresh potatoes, several types of herring, gravlax, cheese pie, rum sauce, snap, meatballs and strawberry cake.

In the past, in the farming community, midsummer meant the break in the working year and dressing the midsummer pole with leaves symbolized good sowing and growth. But the tradition is older than that.

Ever since the Middle Ages, we have celebrated Midsummer in Sweden and, according to folklore, the Midsummer night itself was considered to be full of magical powers and supernatural beings. Even today it is said that if you, on Midsummer night, pick and put seven kinds of flowers under your pillow, you will dream of someone who holds you in love.

Today, Midsummer is for most Swedes the start of summer and vacation. In Vaxholm we traditionally celebrate at Lägret where we dress and erect the midsummer pole before the Vaxholm Folk Dance Guild invites you to dance. Many people pack their picnic baskets with goodies and lay out their blankets in the sunny park.