For the traditionalist:
Music: Hugo Alfvén's “Midsummer Night's Dream”.
For national romantics with a love for folk music. Hugo Alfvén drew inspiration from both "Jössehäradspolska" and "Skånsk trädskodans" for this beloved rhapsody.
Drama: “A Midsummer Night's Dream” by William Shakespeare.
Follow the mischievous Puck to a magical forest, where young lovers, fairies and theater amateurs meet during a night of confusion.
Film: “A Midsummer Night's Smile” by Ingmar Bergman.
In Bergman's drama, four couples revolve around each other during a Midsummer weekend full of complications.
For the Midsummer Eve:
Music: “Midsommar” by Lovad (Lova Drevstam).
Lova Drevstam, known as Lovad, offers ambivalence. The lyrical self wants someone to "ask how I'm feeling", but it's the music that strikes the bittersweet midsummer tone.
Drama: “Miss Julie” by August Strindberg.
During an intense Midsummer night, Julie and the valet Jean begin a relationship, but the love story is marked by class differences and ends in disaster.
Movie: “Midsummer” by Ari Aster.
An American couple travels to an isolated village in Hälsingland - but get a little too carried away by the pagan traditions.
For Midsummer friends:
Music: Ted and Kenneth Gärdestad's "Sun, Wind and Water".
The Gärdestad Brothers' melody from 1972 is the song that most Swedes had on their Midsummer playlist last year.
Book: Astrid Lindgren's “More About the Children in Bullerbyn”.
Classic depiction of a Midsummer celebration, where children dress the Midsummer pole and place seven types of flowers under the pillow.
Film: “SOS - a sailing trip” by Lasse Åberg.
Hilarious situations characterize this traditional midsummer in the archipelago and the depiction vividly captures the boating life of the upper class.
For the Midsummer dreamer:
Music: Håkan Norlin and Rune Lindström's “Visa vid Midsommartid”
“You wind a midsummer wreath from the olvon.” Rune Lindström and Håkan Norlin's dreamy song from the 1940s has been performed by everyone from Anita Lindblom to Ane Brun.
Book: Tove Jansson's “Dangerous Midsummer”
A volcano awakens and the water rises in Moominvalley. A floating theater helps make the Moomins' Midsummer Night's Eve full of surprises.
Film: Michael Hoffman's “A Midsummer Night's Dream”.
Feather-light film adaptation moved to the 19th century with Kevin Kline and Michelle Pfeiffer as Bottom and Titania.
For the skeptic:
Music: "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by Håkan Hellström.
In the middle of Hellström's upbeat fun, there's Johnny with the amphetamine. Sunshine and dark clouds coexist on Midsummer's Eve.
Book: "The Midsummer Night's Shield is Hard" by Stig Dagerman.
A short story in which Dagerman exposes loneliness and class differences in the celebratory folk-home idyll.
Film: "The Flowering Season is Coming" by Victor Danell.
Swedish disaster film from 2018 where a terrorist attack creates chaos in Sweden on a rainy Midsummer weekend.
