Stockholm Arlanda Airport to offer foreign visitors a crash course in Swedish Midsummer traditions

This week, Stockholm Arlanda Airport will show visitors how we celebrate Swedish Midsummer. A maypole and a long table will be set up in Terminal 5, where visitors will get a crash course in Midsummer traditions. Airport courtesy staff will demonstrate how Swedes celebrate Midsummer, and visitors can sample Swedish food and even dance around the maypole.

Stockholm Arlanda’s own Midsummer celebrations will be under way throughout the Midsummer week and are aimed primarily at international visitors. They will market the Swedish offering at the airport and provide an inspiring view of the Swedish Midsummer holiday. There will be finger food such as herring, salmon, fish roe and Västerbotten cheese. Beverages including elderflower juice will be available, but no alcohol will be served. Passengers will also be able to buy products at attractive prices, including food as well as accessories such as cheese slicers and a book of Swedish drinking songs.

”We know that our visitors appreciate celebrating the Swedish culture & traditions at the airport, highlighted through Swedish products. We believe this effort will be greatly appreciated by our visitors
and create good memories of their trip to Sweden,” says Roel Huinink, Managing Director of ADC and responsible for retail, F&B and commercial services at Stockholm Arlanda Airport.

Midsummer celebrations will also be accompanied by Swedish music, everything from Evert Taube to the classic children’s song “Små Grodorna” (Little Frogs). The foreign visitors will also get a leaflet describing why and how Midsummer is celebrated in Sweden.

There will be five subjects in the crash course:

1.  Dancing around the maypole (for good luck in marriage and childbirth).

2.  Wearing a Midsummer wreath with flowers on one’s head.

3.  Singing Swedish drinking songs, best learnt by heart.

4.  Dreaming: Seven kinds of flowers placed under one’s pillow and a dream of one’s true love.

5.  Eating: On the Midsummer table, there are herring, new potatoes, salmon, Västerbotten cheese, and strawberries and cream.