Midsommar

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The traditional Swedish holiday celebrated around the summer solstice with maypoles, feasting and dancing ; the middle of summer, the time of the longest days of the year around June 21
2. A festive Scandinavian celebration held near the longest day of the year ; the season of midsummer itself, centred on the summer solstice in late June
3. The Swedish midsummer feast and its festivities held in June ; the midpoint of the summer season marked by the solstice and the longest daylight

Etymology: Midsommar is the Swedish name for Midsummer, the festival held around the June solstice, and it is built from two plain parts: "midsommar" combines "mid" (middle) with "sommar" (summer), so it literally means "midsummer." The Swedish word descends from Old Norse "miðsumar," which in turn belongs to the same Germanic compound pattern as English "midsummer," a word recorded in English since Old English times. The festival itself is far older than the name suggests. Swedes have long marked the solstice with bonfires, dancing around a maypole, and gathering flowers and herbs, and the feast day was tied to the Christian calendar as the Nativity of St John the Baptist on 24 June. Because the date sits near the summer solstice, the name refers to the season's peak rather than to any saint, and the word did not originally carry a religious meaning of its own.