yesterday we celebrated the summer solstice. to be correct, the exact time was early in the morning at 4.42 but we were asleep then even though the sun rose at 4.06. instead we celebrated with a wonderful start-of-summer Saturday evening by the harbor. tomorrow is the official celebration here in Norway. it is called St. Hans Eve but we all know it is midsummer night we are celebrating. it's not that the Norwegians got the date wrong. when Norway was Christianized, in order to ease the transition the pagan festivity was not cancelled but the date was moved a couple of days and dedicated to the birth of John (Johannes) the baptist. the conversion from Norse to Christianity was drawn out over four centuries and was at times intense and brutal. so rather than introducing new and foreign religious elements into the culture, the ancient tradition of lighting and gathering around a bonfire has been maintained to present day. fire is a symbol and tradition rooted in both cultures so as such the earlier celebrations helped ease tensions and unify a split nation. along the coast the event is also a festival of boats where pretty much everybody who owns or has access to a boat takes a tour in the evening to mark the beginning of summer
in case you are wondering why it's called midsummer's eve and midsummer's day if it marks the beginning of summer. well in the old Norse culture the beginning of summer was determined to be May 1. there were basically two seasons summer and winter and the end of winter was an important event indeed especially regarding agriculture
.the wind was fresh in the afternoon but by 21 the wind had slackened sufficiently so that the water in the outer harbor had become still enough for decent reflections of the boats at dock. these photos were taken just after 21.30 while the sun was still bright. the official time of sunset was 22.36 but it sinks behind the low hills to the northwest first. so the sun was no longer on the boats by the time the water became still.
