ummer is a rare commodity
in the North-European country of Finland where winter’s reign lengthens
its grip far into spring. But when summer arrives with its solstice on
or around June 25, celebrations take over and take on grand proportions.
Symbolic of the climate, Finns are sober, serious people who view the
world with furrowed brows from underneath their fur hats, but as soon
as the sun eclipses the equinoctial line, the hats are thrown off, brows
smooth and the Finns’ alter-ego is set free.
Juhannus, as the summer solstice is called in Finnish, referring to
the commemoration day of John the Baptist or Johannes, is the initiation of
all Finnish summer ambitions. It is a holiday that is a quasi holy day,
vehemently kept apart for special occasions such as family reunions,
weddings and christenings, and is by far the best time to visit Finland to
view her in her verdant summer dress.
Days before the holiday, preparations begin. On the home front, it means
cleaning the entire house inside and out, and cutting—or purchasing—tender
green-leafed, fragrant branches of birch trees that will be tied in
bunches to adorn doorways and porches to bring the summer’s glories even
closer home. The Finnish flag is also cleaned and pressed, so that it can
fly gloriously bright against the azure skies all through the nightless
night. National costumes are brought out of the attic to air out and are
readied for the year’s most important national outing.
In the towns and villages, the building of the kokko, a huge
bonfire, commences. Old boats and cast lumber are used to fashion the
distinct conical shape of the kokko. Excitement builds as the
silhouette rises on a prominent location near water—there is always water
nearby in any town in Finland, a lake, a pond, a river, a stream.
Children especially rejoice in the prospects of watching the kokko burn
late into the night at the appointed hour.
That special incineration of the bonfire happens on the eve of Juhannus,
but not before lengthy entertainment and feasting have taken place.
Folk songs, accompanied by the national Finnish instrument kantele—
a lute-like musical implement first mentioned in Kalevala,
the Finnish national epic—dances known as tanhut, brought to life
with the call of accordions and fiddles and rendered by skillful
performers dressed in their colorful regional national costumes, both men,
women and children alike, and audience participation in some raucous
polkas and waltzes precede the hour of burning.
Close to midnight, the darkest hour of the night, which in most places is not dark at all, the kokko is ceremoniously set on fire. The spectators express their admiration as the flames roar up to the sky, ferociously licking the dry wood of the boats while black smoke towers up from the tar and oil used to render the boats waterproof in their earlier role. But this role is the most glorious one: assuredly not fireproof, the burning vessels brighten up the already light midnight sky to the endless delight of the observers who linger far into the early morning hours, enjoying the warmth and magic that burning fire somehow conjures up.
Another summer solstice is over, but in Finland it only wakes up the sleeping winter-worn spirits, and summer comes to life in the land of the midnight sun.
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This page was created on February 25, 1998
Most recent revision: March 1, 2007