Everything Midsommar Gets Wrong About The Real Festival

While the rituals and traditions represented in "Midsommar" have an ominous vibe and pagan roots, according to Jonas Engman from Nordic Museum's Department of Cultural History, modern Midsummer "is a celebration of St Johannes (St John) — it's a Christian holiday that probably entered Sweden when we became Christians in 10th or 11th century" (per Elle). Engman explained that despite having religious origins, however, Midsummer has been embraced as a secular celebration that's popular throughout Sweden regardless of religious affiliation, saying, "it is one of the most celebrated holidays in our country." 

We often celebrate Christian holidays around the same time of year as ancient pagan festivals, which suggests that these Christian holidays also have pagan origins. In Sweden and other Scandinavian countries, the Catholic Church found it easier and more useful to just take over pagan festivals, rather than try to erase or stop them completely (per Real Scandinavia). Midsummer is celebrated near the summer solstice, much in the same way that Christmas is celebrated near the winter solstice, and in this way, Christian celebrations can envelop pagan rituals and roots.

In "Midsommar," the residents of Hårga did not get the memo and clearly observe the Midsummer festival from a pagan perspective: They incorporate pre-Christian practices and rituals, and celebrate the fertility of the land and the energy of the sun. However, if you visit Sweden to enjoy their Midsummer festivals, you needn't worry about mysterious pagan rites, ritual sex, human sacrifices, or cults. Midsummer is a joyful and light-spirited family holiday that's spent in the countryside, where you can enjoy plentiful sunshine, food, and drink with family and friends, as summer begins.

One of the most shocking sequences in "Midsommar" is the Ättestupa suicide ceremony that Dani, Christian, and Josh witness soon after arriving to Hårga. Pelle explains the life cycles of Hårga residents earlier in the film. Spring is childhood until you turn 18, summer lasts until 36, fall is working-age until 54, and then you become a mentor until you are 72. When Dani asks, "What happens after 72?" Pelle jokingly makes a motion of cutting his neck.

Later, Dani and the others discover what happens after 72: Two elders take part in a ritual suicide, jumping off a towering rock to the ground, where their community waits below. In Hårga, this Ättestupa ceremony is seen as one of honor, although Dani and the other visitors are disturbed to varying degrees. Josh approaches the Ättestupa ceremony from an anthropological and scholarly distance, while Christian attempts to keep an open mind, but is visibly shaken. Dani, however, is still grieving after suffering the loss of her family, and is re-traumatized by watching the Ättestupa ceremony.

Po Tidholm, a Swedish journalist and authority on Swedish traditions, told Matt Miller in an interview with Esquire, "to my knowledge there [have] never been any sacrifices on midsummer. Not even in ancient times." Although Ättestupa rituals are part of Swedish and Norse mythology and folktales, their practice in reality has long been disputed. Sweden's Consul General Annika Rembe told The Ringer via email, "Historians today agree Ättestupa never existed in real life but it is a myth inspired by a story in the medieval Icelandic saga 'Gautreks saga' set in Sweden."

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline​ at​ 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.

In "Midsommar," we see girls picking flowers while walking backwards, but never learn the purpose or significance of this practice. The truth is, spring comes late to Sweden, so wildflowers are at their peak in Midsummer, and picking flowers for crowns and love charms is part of the Swedish Midsummer tradition. As reported by Newsweek, during Swedish Midsummer, girls and young women pick seven (or sometimes nine) different varieties of flowers, and put them under their pillow, so they will see the face of the person they will marry in their dreams.

Although "Midsommar" doesn't offer this information to the audience, there are hints about it throughout. At one point, Pelle tells his friends that children learn about the runes by carving them and sleeping with them under their pillows, so they will dream about the runes' meaning. We later see Maya place a love rune under Christian's bed. Likewise, we also see one of the young women place a pair of scissors under the pillow of a crying baby, which is a folk charm to ward off nightmares. 

You may have also noticed the artwork on the banner depicts this ritual of picking flowers as one of the beginning stages of the love charm, which Maya uses on Christian. The banner shows a young woman picking flowers while walking backwards and then placing them under her pillow. So, while this real-life tradition is alluded to in the film, "Midsommar" doesn't show it fully enough for viewers to grasp its meaning.

Maypole dancing happens at Swedish Midsummer festivals, so the inclusion of this in "Midsommar" is accurate. Journalist and Swedish tradition expert Po Tidholm told Elle, "The Swedish midsommarstång, or maypole, is said to be of German, Christian heritage." Dancing around the Maypole is a pagan custom that originally was celebrated on May 1st or May Day, and involves decorating a pole with ribbons, flowers, and greenery, to represent a tree (per Learn Religions). This goes back to the practice of ancient people dancing around real trees, as this was believed to bring in a large crop harvest.

According to Real Scandinavia, dancing around the Maypole is a newer tradition in Swedish Midsummer celebrations, which came directly from Germany. However, since spring comes to Sweden later than in Germany, there wasn't enough greenery to cover the pole at the beginning of May, and so the Maypole ritual was pushed to Midsummer instead. As Tidholm explained to Elle, "Dancing is a way to make Midsummer fun for kids."

While the Maypole is part of Swedish Midsummer traditions, the dance competition shown in "Midsommar" is not. As explained in the film, the Maypole dance competition in Hårga is in defiance of the "Black One." According to Tidholm, this dancing is probably inspired by an old myth from his home province, Hälsingland: The devil disguised himself as a fiddler, and lured young people to dance till they died, as described in the film. However, according to Tidholm, "the tale has, to my knowledge, no connection with Midsummer" (per Elle).

In modern Swedish Midsummer festivals, there is no May Queen at all, let alone one to bless the crops and livestock. But in Aster's "Midsommar," after being crowned May Queen, Dani is taken in a chariot to give her blessing to the land and animals of Hårga. In the film, the ritual is shown as one of burying meat, grain, and an egg, which is followed by singing and holding a torch in a fertility ceremony. These are not customs of Swedish Midsummer celebrations, but rather seem to be a melange of Beltane festivities and those practiced for Ostara to welcome spring at the vernal equinox.

While there are some practices tied to the May Queen that are meant to bring in a bountiful harvest — such as carrying boughs and branches from home to home — human sacrifice has not been confirmed to be one of them (per Learn Religions). Pop culture and films like "The Wicker Man" may show the May Queen offered as a sacrifice to ensure abundance, but Aster subverts this trope at the end of "Midsommar." Dani is given the responsibility of choosing the last sacrifice for the purification ritual, and in doing so, she taps into her full power as the May Queen and cements her status as a new member of the Hårgan community.

Once Maya sets her sights on Christian, his fate is sealed. After all, the visitors aren't just in Hårga to be sacrificied, but also to expand the gene pool of this isolated community. This element of ritualistic sex in the film probably comes from the pagan fertility rites associated with goddess of spring Ostara (whose worship and rites later turned into Easter) and Beltane, but not Midsummer festivities.

The practice of ritual sex also heightens the cultish elements of the Hårga: Everything is arranged by community elders, who tell Christian that his zodiac chart is compatible with Maya, and effectively bless their union. As writer-director Ari Aster pointed out to Thrillist, "They're not the most diverse community," which indicates it might be intentional that the only visitors who live long enough to procreate during ritual sex or become May Queen visually blend into the ethnically homogenous Hårgan community.

This isn't to say that sex is totally absent from Swedish Midsummer, since the Maypole — universally recognized as a phallic symbol — and the custom of girls picking flowers to divine their future partner suggest that Midsummer celebrations do have an amorous vibe. Po Tidholm told Elle, "Since people get drunk on Midsummer, they also tend to have sex with people they shouldn't have sex with. That, and the romantic feel of a beautiful and long night when the sun almost doesn't set, used to make March 22, nine months after Midsummer, the day when the most babies were born in Sweden," before adding this isn't the case anymore.

Bonfires may have been a traditional part of numerous midsummer festivals, but they aren't a prominent aspect of modern Swedish Midsummer traditions. As Newsweek points out, "Some older, more explicitly pagan rituals, have been lost from the Swedish Midsummer tradition, such as the rolling of burning wheels down hills, which has been traced back to the 4th century." However, in Norway, summer is still ushered in with a huge bonfire known as Slinningsbålet (per Business Insider).

The use of a bonfire in "Midsommar" is probably borrowed from other pagan cultures, like those celebrating the Celtic Wheel of the Year, where building a bonfire is customary when celebrating Litha. Using fire for purification is common in many cultures, so Aster incorporating this use of fire into the ritual in Hårga is both visually and symbolically powerful.

At the beginning of this purification ceremony, before the fire is started, the people of Hårga speak the words: "With you, we purge our most unholy affects. We banish you now to the deepest recesses, where you may reflect on your wickedness." This incantation brings to mind the ancient scapegoat rituals that were used to purge a community of their shared sins, ensuring luck and prosperity for the future. Although this type of ritualistic purification through fire has nothing to do with Swedish Midsummer, it certainly fits within the fictional Hårgan community Aster created for "Midsommar."