American Reacts to Sankthansaften | Jonsok | Saint John's Eve

I am danish and we also celebrate Sankt Hans aften / St. Johns Eve. It is actually an Old Norse holiday which was later combined with the celebration of a Catholic saint, St. John, but it is originally a pagan midsummer festival where bonfires are lit to celebrate the longest day of the year (actually a few days earlier). This day is very important for us in the north - just like the winter solstice on December 21, which is now celebrated on Christmas Eve. Our winter days are very short and our summer days are very long in the Nordic countries, so it affects our lives a lot. We used to burn witches too, but it has gone out of fashion, lately 🔥

It was not originally about St. John, it's a pagan celebration that Christians tried to claim.

Its basically us Norwegian's celebrating midsommer😊

Sankthansaften are some of my fondetst childhood memories. My grandparents owned a farm out by the coast in south-west Norway. We would all gather there and make a big bonfire. One year one of our boathouses fell down during a big storm earlier in the year, we kept all the wood from the old boathouse and put it in the bonfire. As a kid I remember this evening beeing the most fun ever, because we would barbecue, gather all our friends and family so there would be almost 30 kids running around swimmng, fishing and having a great time. And since it is the lightest day of the year it woulds feel like the day never ended.

When we moved to Norway in 1985 there was still a tradition of Midtsommar being a holiday somewhat officially in the area where I live, the southwest coast of Norway. The company I worked for allowed employees to take the day off but it was counted as one of your 21 days of vacation each year. On year my wife and I spent Midtsommar camped on a mountain side overlooking a large lake with bonfires on the lake beaches. We watched the sun go behind the mountains in the distance, then come out again an hour later.

we also celebrate Sct. Hans in Denmark, we "send" the witches to Bloksbjerg (Bochen) it's the tallest mountain in Harzen Germany

Christianity has incorporated all norse and germanian mythology religious holidays in all of Europe !!

In Sweden it is midsommer and in Finland it is Juhannus

I would also like to mention that we also have another important holiday in Oslo, and that is 4 July. Then close to 10,000 gather at Norway's trade fair in Lillestrøm, with their Am cars, a convoy is also driven to the center of Oslo, and many take the trip up to Frognerparken where Americans who live in Norway celebrate the 4th of July. This has happened in recent years. And it's great fun to be a part of.

Some of these celebrations are not just older than Christianity, but older than God. This is particularly true for Yule and Midsummer. I would bet my life that these times were celebrated in Norway ten thousand years ago. Because for us it is very difficult to imagine a time without time, but time is a fairly modern invention. Before time, sunlight was extremely important and they would absolutely notice that it was getting darker or lighter. I love to go hammocking in the forrest in the autumn during thunder, because it really is an otherworldly experience. It is completely dark and then for a split second, you can see the entire forrest as if it was the middle of the day and then it goes dark. And then there's an enormous bang. I truly understand why this causes religion.

Slinningsbålet 2021 (Bonfire Ålesund ) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWZnHqHuydg

Summer solstice is celebrated around Europe I think, in different ways. The Norweigan and Danish St Hans feels like a mix of Valborgsmässoafton (Walpurgis Night) and Midsummer. Walpurgis is also around in different forms in different countries.

When it comes to bonfires on Sankt hans, you have to apply to the authorities for permission to burn bonfires, as this happens in the summer, which can be both hot and dry. That is why it is easiest to get bonfires approved by the sea. But there have been years when you haven't been able to light a fire at all. As it has simply been too dry in nature. In Sandefjord, they also celebrate with a boat convoy, which goes from the center of Sandefjord, out into the fjord, and one year we saw fourteen bonfires along the sea, which was really great. And there were an incredible number of boats in the convoy, I think there were close to a thousand boats.

I just celebrated midsummer today. Best tradition ever. Barbeque on an island. A lot of people in their boats watching the fire. I was so drunk when I docked my boat. Hope it still floats tomorrow :)

I have never heard about the christian aspect of this.. Its Jonsok, a celebration of the solstice, like the old norrøn tradition. The christians just clames everything and just makes it a christian thing, when we did this long before the christians came along. The same with christmas(Jol) and other things, we had all this BEFORE they came and forced their religion an everyone.

A few years ago we could put anything on the bonfire, and people would use the opportunity to clean out their houses. Fortunately now we only get to burn virgin woods.

Sankthansaften is the evening before St. John the baptist's birthday as he was born 6 months before Jesus on Xmas Eve. So 24th June is the day of John Baptist. The day before, the 23rd June is St. John's eve and we do BBQ or eat cured meats and sour cream porridge, depending on where you are in the world. The Catholic church celebrates St. John on the 24th, and Lutheran church used to celebrate it, but now it's mostly if 24th is on a Sunday we celebrate 24th June in the church. On the 23rd in the evening we make a bonfire at the seashore and many people use to drive around to watch them. It has many different traditions, depending on where you are.

St. Hans Aften (Evening) is an ancient celebration to the longest day in the year. It's about keeping evil spirits away. Apparently St. Hans is the evening they find it easiest to bother humans. Not sure what they do to be honest ... posses like vampire etc maybe.

When I was a kid, St. hans was a celebrated eve. Us kids raun aoround to gather things for the bonfire - and people gave whatever they wanted to get rid of. The bonfires was really big. At our tradition, is was for chasing spirits and witches, and to mark that there was a chair on the top, end one person was there when we lighted the fire, sitting for some time before escaping - like a witch that waas shased away. Families brought their grills for BBQ, there was traditionally a soccer match between us kids and the grown ups. Also grown up had a beer or three in the celebration. Nowadays everything is safety oriented, and one have some official bonfires. You cannot compare the celebration to how it was.

The largest one is in my home town, and we held the record for biggest bonfire for years and years. Used to topple over all the time while we attended the celebrations. Not super safe.