Juhannuspäivä (midsummer festival, Saturday after the summer solstice

Juhannuspäivä is the happiest of all Finnish festivals. It is properly celebrated, like many festivals in Finland, on the eve and night of Juhannus Saturday. Therefore, the shops are already closed from midday on the Juhannus day before (Friday).

The origin of Juhannus lies in an ancient pagan fertility cult at the summer solstice, which after Christianization was equated with the memorial day of John the Baptist.

The flags are hoisted the day before Juhannus and wave all night and the following day. The burning of midsummer bonfires, originally an Eastern Finnish, primarily Karelian, tradition has become simply a part of Juhannus. Furthermore, the houses are decorated with birch branches. Most Finns head to their mökkis (holiday homes) in the countryside over the midsummer weekend. The first new potatoes are often served on Juhannus and there are different types of fish. In the Swedish-speaking regions, a midsummer tree (similar to the maypole) is erected on Juhannus.