How Vogue Scandinavia editors celebrated Midsummer in 2022

With the weather turning it up for this year's festivities, Vogue Scandinavia's editors made sure to mark Midsummer in style. With days spent in Stockholm's archipelago, at summer houses or on the west coast, our editors didn't stray far from tradition with lake swims, herring, schnapps and dancing high on the agenda. Scroll down for a little taste of Scandi summer.

I live in the Stockholm countryside so the morning was spent swimming and lazing on the jetty before a lunch of potatoes, toast skagen and herring in the garden. Elderflower Schnapps featured heavily throughout the lunch. In the evening, we headed to a neighbour's house where the maypole was raised and we skipped around the pole to 'Små Grodorna'. Dessert was, of course, strawberries and ice cream.

My sister is visiting from Costa Rica and it’s my first official midsummer in Sweden, so we naturally looked for the most touristy thing to do. We set for Skansen, Sweden largest open-air museum, for the day. We ate traditional Swedish midsummer food, shopped in the local market, made our own flower crowns (which I believed I slayed), heard the old tales and, of course, watched the rise of the maypole. While I didn’t actually dance around the pole, I did have a wonderful time. The only downside? I thought more people were gonna wear white.

As colleagues and friends are well aware, in my family, Midsummer is (arguably) more important than Christmas. Three generations come together in Stockholm's archipelago, where my grandparents' summer house has housed the festivities since 1980. Over the decades, the house has been expanded to accommodate both friends and family, while the routine has remained pretty much the same: Flower crown binding and a herring lunch, followed by a dance around the communal maypole, a dip in the ocean, a Kubb tournament, and finally a dinner party lasting long into the night – with incredible renditions of all the classic schnapps songs of course.

My setting for Midsummer was the picturesque Saltsjö-Boo in the Stockholm archipelago, just a short boat journey from the city centre which was already eerily deserted by the time we departed. Joined by friends from different corners of the globe, we donned our flower crowns and produced a feast of sillmackor, gravlax, potatoes and cheeses accompanied by aquavit and schnapps. Despite best intentions to bake and decorate a show-stopping Midsummer cake, it was instead procured from my favourite local bakery in Vasastan, Bergstrands Bageri. The following day was spent swimming at the nearby Sågsjön lake – the perfect antidote after a long night of celebrations.

This was my first Midsummer in Sweden, so I opted to stay in the city over the long weekend, rather than slip off with the majority of others to the archipelago. And I’m so thankful I did, Stockholm felt eerily electric, akin to that sense of rising anticipation on New Year’s eve. The day was spent at a stunning nature reserve, Hellasgården, just 15 minutes by bus outside the city, splashing in the lake’s waters, sunning myself on the jetty and hopping in and out of the sauna (yes, summer saunas are acceptable too). Lakeside picnicking consisted of strawberries and cream, washed down with an Aperol Spritz. And I rounded off the day at Mosebacketerrassen, the ideal spot for eye-watering city views, watching an air balloon hover over Stockholm’s fading sunset. An unconventional, but unforgettable Midsummer.

Midsummer, dear Midsummer, thank you for allowing us to celebrate the arrival of summer in the most gorgeous way - surrounded by loved ones enjoying traditional food and drinks. Late Thursday after work, I along many friends, started our long drive from Stockholm to Gettjärn, almost reaching the Norwegian boarder. We came to a place where the sun sets right in front of the porch and where there is nothing else but trees, birds and insects (read mosquitos) around. After waking up with the sun shining through the curtains on Midsummer morning there was non-stop celebration for two days. Dancing, eating, laughing, swimming, singing, picking flowers and drinking schnapps.

Being a Swede that’s lived many years abroad means my Midsummer celebrations have looked very different over the years — however, this year I was so excited to celebrate Midsummer in Sweden. Although I’m originally from Skåne, the South of Sweden, my family and most of my friends reside on the west coast, in Gothenburg. So, that’s where we headed to celebrate Midsummer with a group of friends this year. We may have skipped the flower crowns and we may have opted for a vegan tofu-sill (tofu-herring), but we definitely enjoyed a schnapps or two, danced around the Midsommarstång (maypole) and spent 24 hours filled with laughter.

This year I went to more of a mini-festival midsummer celebration with a diverse and international group of friends. We were roughly 50 people at my friend’s new house in Värmdö, overseeing a beautiful lake. During the day there was a line-up of DJ's, people dancing on the patio, swimming in the lake, and hanging out at the cozy rug-filled bohemian tent. Everyone brought vegetarian and vegan dishes for an outdoor buffet. In the evening everyone enjoyed the incredible sunset across the lake and danced into the wee hours. Although I went home at midnight like Cinderella, my wooden clogs came home with me.