A little slice of Sweden came to downtown Zagreb last Saturday with the traditional celebration of Midsommar, organized by the Swedish Embassy in partnership with Swedish companies. Midsommar – one of the biggest Swedish holidays that welcomes Summer, was hosted in the park of Academy of Fine Arts on June 11th and it lasted throughout the day and night.
This was a Midsummer celebration almost like those one can see in Sweden. A maypole adorned with sunflowers and linden boughs, people with flower wreaths on their heads, Swedish music playing, and the park decorated to resemble the Swedish countryside.
The celebration begun with a picnic, and FIKA with coffee and typical strawberry cake. Kids were enjoying the excerpts from the Pippi Longstocking and workshops on making flower wreaths, as well as toys they made from recycled materials. Guests of all ages played traditional Midsommar games and danced around the maypole. All of the trappings of the holiday were there here, but mainly it was about spending time in the nature, lounging, and being with friends and family.
This unique celebration throughout the day gathered around two thousand guests of all ages, but the largest crowd was at the concert of the ABBA real tribute band that started in the evening.
To mark thirty years of friendship between Sweden and Croatia – on the 30 anniversary of diplomatic relations, a small exhibition was set up in the park showing moments in history of the countries´ partnership.
