Olen niin suomalainen, että sattuu

Hyvää Juhannusta 2026!

Glad Midsummer!

Here Juhannus is a two-day celebration, with Juhannusaatto (Midsummer Eve) and Juhannus, with the magucal, powerful Juhannusyö (Midsummer's night) between them. It's a tradition for, mostly children nowadays, to do all sorts of "midsummer magic" during this night. Collecting seven different species of flowers into a boquet and putting it under your pillow to dream of your future spouse; running naked through a grainfield, and at the seventh or tenth strip you will meet your future spouse; walking naked backwards to a pile of logs will tell you the nature of your future spouse - for if your butt touches the end of a qhole log, you will be your spouse's first marriage, and if it's the end of a halved log, your spuse will be a divorcee or a widower. While majority of Midsummer magic has to do with romantic love and getting married, there is a one tradition that's something else. If you throw a shoe on the roof of your house in Midsummer night, the toes will point towards the direction you will move to one day.

I'm aromantic so I won't be doing any Midsummer magic myself (and our two-story home is way too high for me to throw my shoe on the roof!). Nonetheless, I wish a magical Juhannus to you all!

And then there's this whole juhannusheila thing. There once was somewhat pressure to have a date for midsummer, but with times changing and becoming more, well, modern, the whole thing kinda shifted into harmless fun. Still newspapers make every year juhannusheila quizzes and follow-up articles which celebrity was the most "popular". It's basically a mainstream version of reader x character fanfiction.

Here's Iltalehti's version of a juhannusheila Käärijä.

Is there any better company for midsummer than Jere Pöyhönen, aka the one who brought Finland success in Eurovision, Käärijä himself. With Käärijä midsummer will exactly what it's supposed to be. The rapper will park his sauna truck into the cottage's yard and between [sauna]löyly you'll jump into a lake and float on a huge inflatable flamingo. Although it'll be crazy and wild and there'll be a huge amount of people celebrating, Käärijä takes care you get the attention you deserve. The night will reaches its peak with a playful poker game. And as the night turns into a morning, Jere will be there enjoying a peaceful summer night with you.

Eng. "The Mid Summer's Light"

This work is based on a real midsummer bonfire (fin. "kokko") I saw this year. Obviously it wasn't that large, the fire was kinda small, but it's the thought that counts

It had been ages since the last bonfires were lit here in the south due to the risk of a wildfire erupting. This year there were no warnings, so it was super nice to finally get to see one in forever it feels like!