Solstice Start without a Festival?  Who better to celebrate than the Vikings!

Thousand years before organized Faith, Nordic tribes feasted both long-day long-night calendar events.  Summer solstice: Baldur God of Light.  Winter Yule: Goddess Freya.

Luckily today’s Scandinavian Midsummer Festival did not include human/wild boar sacrifice – though our Fjellborg Viking warriors did provide sword & axe combat 😊

Cold, foggy drive to Estes Park.

Arrived early Saturday for Opening Ceremony & raising of the Midsummer Pole.

Flag presentation followed, Swedish folk dance (Folkdanslag & Ring dances) – and of course, festival FOOD.  Schnitzel, salmon, lefse & strudel.

Belly FULL, broke early & Colorado-celebrated ‘long day’ with a Nat’l Park hike.

High in the Rockies – gotta/hafta/must do – it’s SUMMER! 🌞

Midsummer is celebrated near the Summer Solstice.  Historically, bonfires were common for this time, and people would both dance around them and sometimes through them, though it was usually the cattle which were driven through the fires as a purification measure.  The word Blót basically means ‘worship’ or ‘sacrifice’ and it was a sacrifice to the gods and the spirits of the land.  This high day is associated with love and fertility.

Festival MAYPOLE

Nordic FLAG presentation