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

Submit a video suggestion here:

As an American I don't know about Norwegian holidays. Today I am very interested in learning about the Norwegian holiday of Sankthansaften and what it means, If you enjoyed the video feel free to leave a comment, like, or subscribe for more!

[SigneKristineHermind]

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 🔥

[zaphrax]

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

[marenhovland]

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.

[chrisreinert]

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.

[veronicajensen]

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

[jonasprebenmindejohansen]

Its basically us Norwegian's celebrating midsommer😊

[espekelu]

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.

[espekelu]

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.

[GuinevereKnight]

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.

[mereteaasland]

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.

[jaanakankare]

In Sweden it is midsommer and in Finland it is Juhannus

[liselotte]

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.

[Xirque]

The reason It's such an important celebration in Norway (and probably in the rest of Scandinavia) is because it was one of the most important celebrations in Ore-christian Scandinavia, . The day that Sol, the Old Norse name of the sun Goddess, had her longest day, and it in a way started the season of harvest.

[MonicaMaria]

When I was a kid, we always had a bonfire on the local football field. People threw old chairs and other furniture in the fire. It was really exciting 😊 I don’t think there’s bonfires in Oslo anymore, because of wildfire hazard. We don’t get time off from work on St.hansaften. It’s kinda sad, because today’s the brightest day of the year, from now on it gets gradually darker.

[Stargazerable]

Bonfires have long traditions in scandinavia and also in the british isles.

[belacarole]

Wow ! I didn't know Norway and other nordic countries celebrated St-John-Baptist day. In the province of Québec (Canada), Saint-John-Baptist Day is celebrated on the 24th of june and it is our National Day. The festivities almost equal those of the 4th of July in the USA. Parades, Quebec flags everywhere (so beautiful!), big shows, fireworks and we used to finish the festivities with big bonfires (not as big as yours though) but they had to put a stop to it because some stupid drunks people would try to jump over it and ended up falling into it (I know, wtf!).

[burkmat]

We celebrate it in Sweden too. It's just called midsommar or Midsommarafton here.
It's mostly a remaining pagan holiday for celebrating the summer solstice.

[sondrehagen]

Also, remember this is a social event, so we're all drinking.

[royborg]

it is not the smoke from the fires that is the worst, it is the sparks that can ignite fires in densely populated areas

[TurtleSodadrives]

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.