# Midsummer Day



## deine

Hello,

On 24th of June we have Midsummer Day or Feast of St. John in Lithuania. We called it - JONINĖS. On this day we celebrate John (males and females) name-day. It is very popular and have a lot of traditions... 
I am wondering how is in other countries. Do you celebrate this day? How it is callled?

Thanks


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## pistakee

Hi.
In America we do not celebrate it. In fact, I had never heard of it! At any rate, Happy Jonines!


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## Whodunit

*Mittsommer* (Midsummer) is not really celebrated in Germany. Some North Germans do celebrate it, however.

Some Christians celebrate the *Johannistag* (John's Day), but I don't.


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## perfavore

Hi, 

It is celebrated in some towns in the Philippines but I am not sure about the date. Unfortunately, some passersby get really upset because the celebrants throw water at them to mimic the baptisms done by St John.


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## jonquiliser

It's called *midsommar* (Swedish)/*juhannus* (Finnish). The name in Finnish came about with the Christianisation, in order to give a Christian meaning to the already existing pagan customs. It's celebrated big time here 

And poor me had to come to town and work...


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## dn88

In Poland it would be called "Dzień św. (świętego) Jana".


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## pistakee

When Perfavore mentioned the water, I remembered that during the two summers I spent in Mexico, it was celebrated in the same way; people were "baptizing" one another with water for the "dia de San Juan".


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## Chazzwozzer

No, we do not celebrate _*yaz gündönümü*_ in Turkey.


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## pistakee

I am presently in Spain and it seems we will be celebrating with fireworks.


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## jaunis

Here in Argentina we celebrate "El día de San Juan" (Day or Feast of St. John) but there is not any kind of special celebration. For example my name is "Juan Manuel", and maybe some people will tell me "Happy day", but no more than that. ^^

In the south of the Argentina and Chile (it has nothing to do... but) they celebrate the Mapuche New Year. Mapuches are the Indigenous inhabitants of Central and Southern Chile and Southern Argentina

(wikipedia)


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## Χριστινα

In Denmark we celebrate Midsummer´s Eve or "Sankt Hans aften" on the evening of June 23 (tonight). We have bonfires to ward off evil spirits and we put a witch made of straw and cloth on the bonfire as a remembrance of the church's witchburnings. This burning sends the witch to "Bloksbjerg", the mountain Brocken in Germany where the great witch gathering was thought to be held on this day.

 Χριστίνα


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## Nizo

Hi!  In Esperanto literature, I have seen the holiday translated as "Sankt' Johana festo" and "Johana festo." A couple of Scandinavians have used it on web pages or blogs as "Mezsomera festo."


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## samanthalee

We observe the Summer Solstice on either June 21 or June 22, depending on the Chinese Almanac. My mother will light an incense stick and lots of fruits offering in honour of our household god. I think that's all my family do on that day. Chinese traditions are getting rather little attention these days.


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## badgrammar

In France, June 21st is _La Fête de la Musique. _That evening, everyone everywhere is encouraged to gather to listen to and to make music.  It's a very nice, relatively new tradition (dating from 1982).  But it has nothing to do with St. John, it simply coincides with the Summer Solstice....


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## barbiegood

In Hungary we call it Szentivánéj  - Night of Saint John
But we don´t celebrate it in any special way.


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## Etcetera

We call it Ив*а*нов день in Russian or Ив*а*н Куп*а*ла, but it's celebrated on July 7th - if celebrated at all.
Midsummer Day can be translated into Russian as День серед*и*ны л*е*та.


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## Maja

Etcetera said:


> We call it Ив*а*нов день in Russian or Ив*а*н Куп*а*ла, but it's celebrated on July 7th - if celebrated at all.


Same in Serbian Orthodoxy. It is called Ivanjdan / Ивањдан ( St. John's Day), it  is celebrated on July 7th and it represents the birth date of St. John.
It is  important Church holiday and the Slava to many  families. 

Shakespeare's Midsummer  Night's Dream is translated as "San letnje noći".


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## halfminded

It is celebrated here on 24th of June and it is called "_*jaanipäev*_"


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## betulina

In Catalan it is "Sant Joan" and it is much celebrated. The night before ("la Nit de Sant Joan") we light firecrackers and fires and eat "coca", a sort of flat cake. It represents the entrance to Summer. So have a nice Summer everyone!


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## cajzl

In the Czech Republic St. John's Day is quite popular. All Johns (common first name) and their friends have a reason to drink. 

BTW, John the Baptist-Precursor was reportedly born six months before Jesus (hence 24th June).

There is another important John, St. John the Apostle. He has his holiday on 27th of December.

So Johns have a choice when to drink.


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## alex.raf

In Iran we don't have this day


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## Tolovaj_Mataj

Midsummer day it's not celebrated here, but the Midsummer night was on the countryside. There were many peasents rituals connected to this natural phenomenon. the night itself is called _kresna noč_, and people light bonfires.



Maja said:


> Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream is translated as "San letnje noći".


 
In Slovene: Sen kresne noči.


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## Pteppic

In Norway, as in Denmark, we celebrate on 23 June, called "Sankthansaften" (St John's Eve). We also have bonfires, though we don't burn witches made of straw (here, the witch sabbath was believed to be on Walpurgis Night, the night from 30 April to 1 May). In my neck of the woods, it's customary to have the bonfire near water (on the beach, or the shore of a lake), and most people bring disposable barbecues, food and ludicrous quantities of beer.


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