On my recent trip to Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, I was enamored with the culture of each country. The Finns and Estonians are ultimately polite and organized, celebrating their heritage while building for the future. In both countries we were there for Midsommer.
June 21 in Helsinki had daylight for 23 hours and we joined the Seurasaari Midsommer celebration. Bonfires were planned, but wind and fire danger stopped that, but the music performers continued all evening. Seurasaari is an open-air museum, so we wandered thru the large area with traditional costumed locals and thousands of others celebrating. We ended the evening with a “Pollonaise”- a dance that started with pairs moving in a huge circle, each of which joined with another pair to make foursomes, then eight, then single file, hundreds of people-long that snaked to ever louder music. Adults and kids, partners, strangers, all joined in. At the end I said goodbye to my new friend from France who asked to join me to make a pair for the start of the dance.
In Tallinn, Estonia on June 23, we were happy to participate in another Midsommer celebration, with a variety of activities- folk dancers in traditional costumes around a bonfire, singers, games for kids, food of course, horses and buggies, and Steen even tried walking on stilts! This too was at an open-air museum with historic farms, houses and crafts.
What a great way to start our visit, among locals and visitors celebrating their heritage.
Kommentarer