Midsummer Maypole
The midsummer pole (midsommarstång or majstång), a tall pole decorated with greenery, flowers, and rings, raised on Midsummer Eve and danced around in Swedish tradition. Songs, ring-dances, and games circle the pole, and the custom is recorded in Sweden from the 17th century. The pole is central to the Midsummer celebration and its bonfire-night rites. The pole is decked with leaves and flowers and hung with two crossed rings, and the village raises it in the open place of the farm or village before dancing the ring-dances that circle it. The custom was already described in the seventeenth cen