Trevlig Midsommar!
Looking Across the Hudson on Midsummer's Eve
Happy Midsummer!
A traditional may pole in Dalarna, Sweden, 1987, © Anthony Henry Smith, 2009
(Midsummer begins Sundown, Saturday, June 20th, and lasts to Sundown Sunday, June 21st, 2009)
Midsummer Eve
From the moment of the June solstice, nights in the Northern Hemisphere become gradually longer, while days become correspondingly shorter. Gradually, the axis of the earth points further and further away from the sun, and things resume their more accustomed appearance. The December solstice, when the earth’s axis is tilted so the North Pole points most directly away from the sun, marks the end of fall and the beginning of winter. In the Northern Hemisphere days begin to lengthen again.
Midsummer 1984, Scandinavian Choir
The night before the June Solstice is marked by many in the Northern Hemisphere as Midsummer Eve or Midsummer Night, the shortest night of the year. This is followed by Midsummer Day, the year’s longest day.
This Maypole is on the West Coast of Sweden. Photo 1988, Sweden, Bohuslan, photo© Anthony Henry Smith, 2009
Traditionally, revels are held at this time in celebration of the ending of spring and the beginning of summer. It is thought to be a time especially associated with changes and new beginnings.
This poster celebrated the 4ooth anniversary of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream!
Shakespeare’s play “A Midsummer Nights Dream” is filled with traditions of magic and fairy lore associated with the time. The play is thought to have had its first performance at a wedding held on Midsummer Day, 1596.
Mary Tengstrom and "Bottom" translated into an ass. (Mache ass head by AHS.) © Anthony Henry Smith, 2009
"Bottom" as an ass frightens his fellow players. Shadow puppets and screen by AHS. © Anthony Henry Smith, 2009
Four hundred years later to the day, Folkevirke Appleseed, a learning community, held an anniversary performance of that play in the old Dutch Barn at Mount Gulian, New York. Mount Gulian, now a museum, was the ancestral home of Gulian Verplanck, the first American scholar to be recognized for his definitive commentaries on Shakespeare’s works. The Acting company was “Witches’ Brew,” a company organized and directed by Ruthy Rosen. She worked from my scripted, shortened version called “ A Masque Version of Shakespeare’s Midsommar Nights Dreame.”
Jill and the shadow puppets, 1996 © Anthony Henry Smith, 2009
I realized we didn’t have enough men available to play all the necessary male parts. I also realized we could make up the difference by creating a very large shadow puppet screen to be used in the section when the tradesmen go to the woods to rehearse their play. I rewrote the scene to be played almost entirely by shadow puppets. Once “Bottom,” has been completely transformed into an ass, he frightens off his fellows and is left alone. He starts to wander in search of his companions and emerges out in front of the screen and in full view of the audience! It’s a great moment, much magnified by the happy anniversary.
Flora Jones, long time Folkevirke Appleseed member celebrates Midsummer at Boughton Place in Highland, NY. © Anthony Henry Smith, 2009Anthony Henry Smith, c. 1989
It was once the custom of our ancestors to mark each day’s end exactly at sunset, and this is the reason Midsummer’s Eve is the period of darkness that precedes Midsummer Day, just as Christmas Eve is the period of darkness associated with Christmas Day.
AHS Mariann Elizabeth Grey Smith, c. 1989© Anthony Henry Smith, 2009
Some Christians associate Midsummer’s Eve and Midsummer Day with the birth of Saint John the Baptist, much as the December Solstice is associated with the birth of Jesus Christ. In Scandinavian countries, many of the songs traditionally sung while circling the flower laden Maypole at midsummer are exactly the same songs used in December while circling the Christmas Tree.
Midsummer Maypole celebration at Van Wyck Homestead in Fishkill, New York, © Anthony Henry Smith, 2009
These slab roofed chambers are oriented to mark solar events. When the sun is correctly aligned, a shaft of light reached the back wall of the chamber. They may be very ancient. This one's in Putnam County.
(The Swedish name for the flower laden pole at the center of the midsummer festivities is “majstång,” a word translated as “Maypole,” even though it’s widely used at midsummer in June. However, the Roman goddess “Maia,” for whom the fifth month is named, seems to have been associated with the spring. The phrase “to go a-Maying.” seems to have meant “to go to gather flowers”)
Debora A. Carlson, Bridge Street Midsummer© Anthony Henry Smith, 2009
Since ancient times Midsummer’s Eve and Midsummer Day have been noted and celebrated as a time of contrasts, of magic, and of change.
Billy Goats Gruff, Midsummer, puppets and screen by AHS© Anthony Henry Smith, 2009
Candace Coates at Midsummer, 2004
It was Midsummer Day in 1687 at Falun in central Sweden when the copper mine called Stora Kopparberget, (“The Great Copper Mountain”) caved in almost completely, leaving only a very huge pit. The mine had been in nearly continuous operation, both day and night, since somewhere between 850-1080, and by 1687 consisted of many tunnels separated and supported by thin walls.
L-R Norma Charmaz, Bernice Silver, Max Charmaz, Henry Blid, Art, Devon Seekamp© Anthony Henry Smith, 2009
Amazingly, no one was hurt. The mine was completely empty at the time, but only because all the workers were safe above ground, celebrating Midsummer. Any other day, possibly excepting Christmas and Easter, as many as a thousand workers might have been expected to be at work in the mine. There would have been no possibility of escape. Those who experienced the event from their positions of safety considered it to be nothing less than a miracle.
The collapse even exposed new veins of copper to be mined. The Great Pit continues to be a major tourist attraction. In fact, the word “turist,” the Swedish word for “tourist,” was first used at Falun in 1824. “The Great Copper Mountain,” possibly the world’s oldest corporation, continues to exist as “Stora Enso.” It is now famous as the world’s largest paper marketer. It always did take trees to shore up the mine and to make charcoal to process the copper, so the corporation has been in forestry at least as long as it had been in mining.
Midsummer, 1988, Bohus Fortress on the Goeta Alv © Anthony Henry Smith, 2009
Goeta Alv
By Anthony Henry Smith
( Goeta River; An “alv” is a slow moving river.)
Goeta alv, keep on rollin’ on, mighty river to the sae;
Bright mirror of the dawn, gliding gently, free.
Bohus, darped in violet sky; flushed by golden rays of sun;
Mid-summer’s drawin’ nigh; deep the waters run.
Night comes and the shadows fall,
The river flows beneath the wall
Out to a place beyond recall
And it keeps on flowing.
My people, ever moving on; mighty river to the sea;
Though I may seem far away, all are joined to me.
- ©Anthony Henry Smith, 2009
This song was written a few days after midsummer while seated high on a cliff overlooking the Bohus Fortress at Kungalv, Sweden. My days were spent in classes with the Nordic Academy at the folk high school, but the short midsummer nights and long twilights were spent high above the Goeta river, watching its progress past the ancient stone fortress, and thinking of the many sons and daughters of Bohuslan who followed that river to the sea and beyond; following the highway of the sea to America and other destinations far distant from the mists and spray and mystery of this coast.
THE NECK
This is Sivert Ackerstrom’s carving of a water spirit. Early versions of this musical monster show him playing a harp. Violins followed the horse cultures and later representations of the Neck show him as he’s represented here, with a violin. He is thought to take the shape of a horse from time to time. Many musicians are thought to have acquired their skill from him. The water monster Grendal who was killed by the hero Beowulf is thought to be his relative. The poem Beowulf is set in Bohuslan on the Swedish West Coast.
The Neck, by Sivert Ackerstrom, playing beside a waterfall.© Anthony Henry Smith, 2009
Carl-Erik Forsslund's farm on the lake. ©Anthony Henry Smith, 2009
STREW WITH FLOWERS
Words and Music by Carl-Erik Forsslund
English version by Anthony Henry Smith
Now all the world’s bedecked with flowers; one rainbow kingdom fair;
The sun looks o’er his wealth below; there’s not a corner bare.
Now grasses sprout; green fields burst out; the scent of lilac is all about; And lillies everywhere.
The South wind blows the dandelion down; the grasses gently sway;
Each tuft of down spins round and round; And sails upon its way.
This lovely show falls like blooming snow; Upon the gardens down below; To bloom another day.
Apple blossoms white flakes fall; Around the tree trunks grey;
They dance on toe, small dancers all; And lightly float away.
This sun-warmed snow is so fragrant, Oh! With velvet-smooth soft steps we go; white petals pave our way.
We go in sunlight’s brilliant glance; we move through fragrance fine;
We go in song, we go in dance, we go in joy sublime.
So let us ring the earth scattering Those apple blossoms and seeds that bring Life’s blessing to our time.
Our gentle South wind sings a song of passions colored bright;
Our warm sun knows it won’t be long before the cool of night.
Our warmth o’er flows; life no limit knows; Age and death are but helpless foes Before a flower’s might.
So seek not after name so fine and be no slave to power
And open wide your heart and mind And pick both leaves and flowers.
Old, old are those who with hearts kept closed; on wind and wave let your blossoms go; Your own midsummer shower.
Commentary:
One hundred and ten years ago, Carl-Erik Forsslund and a few friends founded the Brunnsvik Folk High School during the Mid-summer celebration. This song has been closely associated with both Midsummer and the Brunnsvik Folkhogskola ever since.
Its message is simple: Live a life in harmony with nature; get the most you can from the experience; don’t hide your light under a bushel; open your heart; and “On wind and wave let your blossoms go!” Good advice for anyone.
Happy Midsummer!
Poughkeepsie, New York, 12601
Poster for A Masque Version of Shakespeare's MSND by Anthony Henry Smith © Anthony Henry Smith, 2009
