|
Midsummer Festival
|
When:
|
22 Jun 2008 (annual)
|
|
Where:
|
Seurasaari Open-Air Museum
|
| Costs: |
€13; under 12s free
|
| Opening Hours: |
6pm-10pm
|
The Midsummer Festival Juhannus (still celebrated as the Feast of St John in some parts of Europe) is one of the biggest events of the year on the museum island of Seurasaari.
The roots of the annual midsummer celebrations are found in the ancient pagan rituals that surrounded the summer solstice, the day on which the sun reached its highest point in the sky. The interval between sunset and sunrise is only a few hours in the Helsinki area, and most of this is twilight. On the island, huge bonfires are lit, traditional dancing kicks off and the energetic test their strength in rowing races.
The celebrations reach a crescendo when a young couple wearing crowns of Burnet roses are married in the Karuna Church, with appropriate pomp and ceremony. This is no act put on for the tourists, but a real live wedding. In fact, the midsummer weekend is the most popular time for weddings everywhere in Finland and it's apparently every girl's dream to be a bride on this day at this place!
|