Midsommar, a horror movie directed by Ari Aster, explores the Pagan rituals of a Swedish cult called the Hårga. The film details the celebrations of Midsummer, including dancing, singing, drinking, cleaning the house, lighting bonfires, and collecting flowers. These rituals were believed to bring good fortune and healing, with bonfires lit and loud behavior encouraged to drive away evil spirits.
The movie’s ending reveals that Pelle lured his friends to Hårga for the festival’s rituals of mating and sacrifice. His brother, Ingemar (Hampus Hallberg), also brought two friends from London. Ari Aster worked closely with set decorator Henrik Svensson to achieve the desired authenticity for the cultists.
The movie is partially based on the real Midsommar festival celebrated in Sweden, but the customs don’t involve the same violence and pagan cult. One of the most iconic traditions of Midsommar is dancing around the maypole, also known as the Majstång. Ukrainians have honored the Ivan Kupala, a nightly pagan holiday with a bit of Christian spin, performing ancient midsummer rituals of their ancestors.
One of the earliest rituals visitors witness is a ritual suicide, Ättestupa, between two of the Hårga’s elders. In one specific scene, two elderly people take part in ritual suicide, which horrifies the guests but is a beautiful ceremony to the locals.
In summary, Midsommar is a disturbing horror movie that explores the Pagan rituals of the Swedish cult called the Hårga. The film explores the horrors of Midsummer, including human sacrifice, dancing, and sex, while also highlighting the beauty of the local culture.
📹 The Horror of MIDSOMMAR Explained
Written and Directed by Ari Aster, Midsommar follows a group of friends who travel to Sweden for a festival that occurs once every …
What is the death ritual in Midsommar?
The 2019 horror film Midsommar by Ari Aster uses the term “ättestupa” to describe a ritual suicide practice where elderly cult members, believed to be in a state of desperation, throw themselves off a high cliff at the age of 72. This practice is rooted in the collective memory of the treatment of old people in bygone days, where old people were believed to have fallen to their deaths off a cliff, either voluntarily jumping or being pushed. The Ligurians, who were believed to be the ultimate solution to their old age, would throw their parents off a cliff when their parents were no longer useful due to their old age.
The concept of ättestupa has been a topic of interest in historical studies, with various sources referencing it in various contexts. In the film, the Ligurians are seen as a symbol of hope and hope, as they are believed to be the ones who will eventually die from their own insanity. The film also explores the concept of ättestupa in relation to modern practices of Döstädning, a practice that involves a person committing suicide to avoid a certain death.
Are any of the traditions in Midsommar real?
Midsommar is a film that recreates the traditions of the Midsummer Festival, a traditional celebration of John the Baptist’s birth. The film inverts these traditions, creating a terrifying story about breaking a social contract. The film follows Dani, a young girl who feels neglected by her father, as she finds herself accepted by the community. The crowning of a “May Queen” is essential for the festival, representing the community’s responsibility to ensure a successful harvest.
The film also inverts these traditions, with Swedish girl Maja casting a love spell on Christian, forcing him to fall in love with her. Dani’s heartbreak and rage inspire her to sacrifice Christian in the film’s iconic ending. Midsommar serves as a warning about the dangers of impeding upon tradition, as Mark is tricked and skinned by the community after urinating on a sacred artifact, and Josh is murdered after trying to take photographic evidence of ancient texts. The film explores the consequences of disrespecting traditions held sacred by a community, highlighting the dangers of impeding upon them.
What are the rituals of Midsommar?
Midsummer, a holiday that originated as a pagan celebration to welcome the summer season and ensure a successful harvest, may have been associated with local gods like Ukko, the Finnish god of thunder. The holiday included dancing, singing, drinking, cleaning houses, lighting bonfires, and collecting flowers. These rituals were believed to bring good fortune and healing, with bonfires lit to drive away evil spirits. Love spells were often cast at Midsummer, and bathing in natural springs and decorating houses with flowers and plants were believed to bring good health.
With the spread of Christianity, many Midsummer traditions were incorporated into celebrations honoring St. John the Baptist’s feast day. St. John’s Eve was marked with bonfires, fireworks, dancing, and visiting “holy wells” and springs. The maypole, a tall wooden pole garlanded with flowers, became part of Midsummer celebrations by the 1500s.
In the 1950s, the official date of Midsummer was switched from June 23rd to its current flexible date in Sweden and Finland. In the 21st century, Midsummer is a popular time for weddings and christenings in Nordic countries, with large, open-air festivals taking place in Sweden’s central region of Dalarna. Modern festivalgoers indulge in beer and schnapps, eat pickled herring and boiled new potatoes with chives or fresh dill and sour cream, and wear flower wreaths in their hair.
What were they celebrating in Midsommar?
Midsummer, a pagan celebration of the summer solstice, is a time of love, food, and celebration of life. Preparations begin early with cooking and picking wild flowers. Sweden’s National Day is 6 June, but Midsummer Eve falls on 20 June in 2025. The Christian tradition of celebrating St. John the Baptist coincides with the summer solstice, and in Northern Europe, bonfires and festivities are still celebrated. From the late Middle Ages, Swedes began raising and dancing around a Midsummer pole, called’maja’, or a maypole, decorated with flowers and greenery.
What are the rituals of Midsummer?
Midsummer, also known as John’s Day in Lithuania, is celebrated from 23 June to 24 June, with traditions including singing songs, dancing, and float flower wreaths. These customs are rooted in pagan culture and beliefs, with the Christian tradition being based on the reverence of Saint John. Lithuanians with the names Jonas, Jonė, and Janina receive many greetings from family, relatives, and friends.
In Norway, Sankthansaften, also called Jonsok, is celebrated on 23 June. This day was important in Roman Catholic times with pilgrimages to churches and holy springs, such as the Røldal Stave Church in Røldal. Today, Sankthansaften is largely regarded as a secular or pre-Christian event.
Midsummer Day, Sankthansdagen, was a public holiday in Norway until 1770. It was reintroduced in Vestfold county in the early 20th century and in the city of Sandefjord until the 1990s. In Tønsberg, the holiday was turned into a flexible day off for municipal workers in 2011 and abolished completely in 2014. Labor unions sued to get the holiday re-introduced, but lost the case in 2016.
Who were the 9 human sacrifices in Midsommar?
In Midsommar, a horror film, a naked Christian escapes a commune and encounters Josh’s severed leg and Simon’s blood eagle. A cultist paralyzes Christian before the final ceremony, which requires nine human sacrifices to purge the commune of evil elements. Dani, the May Queen, chooses Christian, who is paralyzed and placed in a hollowed-out bear carcass and left inside a triangular wooden temple. The sacrifices are given a drug to alleviate the pain of death, but Christian is left to feel everything. The temple is set on fire, and the sacrifices inside are burned alive. The commune members collectively mimic their shrieks, and Dani’s horror turns into a beaming smile.
The sadistic fiery sacrifice at the end of Midsommar purges the Hårga of its evil, which is ironic from the outsiders’ perspective. The anti-evil ceremony is more meaningful for Dani than anyone else in the Hårga, as it purges her emotional pain. Dani, like many people with anxiety, craves control over her life but hasn’t had any control for a long time. The film explores themes of guilt, control, and the power of rituals to control one’s emotions.
Was Simon still breathing in Midsommar?
Simon is found in a barn with his lungs pulled through his back, but still alive and breathing. His lungs are inflated and deflated by the diaphragm and trunk muscles, and he would immediately suffocate once they are removed. After the cremation of the two elders, nothing remains but ash, with many large chunks of bone. In the fields, saplings with pink blossoms, presumably young fruit trees, are scattered. The movie is supposed to take place in the middle of summer, but the trees should be fully leafed out, as fruit trees only bloom in early spring.
What did they eat in Midsommar?
Skål to Midsommar is a folk horror-slash-ultimate break-up film directed by Ari Aster. The film follows a group of Americans, including couple Dani and Christian, who travel to participate in their Swedish friend’s fictional commune’s annual midsummer festival in Hälsingland, Sweden. The real festival celebrates the summer solstice through centuries-old rites and ceremonies. The film’s version includes gruesome traditions leading up to the crowning of the May Queen in the name of the community, farming, fertility, and future abundance of the lands through sacrifices and sex rituals.
Food is a staple during Scandinavian holidays, with shared mealtimes and feasts where the Hårga people unite and partake in the riches of their bountiful harvest. Visitors witness their customs while consuming the edible products of the commune’s labor, becoming unknowing participants and subjects in the time-honored rituals themselves.
Why did Dani smile at the end of Midsommar?
In Midsommar, the film explores the ambiguity of the protagonist’s past, allowing viewers to empathize with her struggles. The film uses the ambiguity of the story to create a cathartic moment, as the commune emotionally validates her without any support. The film effectively generates empathy, as it forces viewers to support Dani, who is isolated from her partner and has few friends. The end brings relief for Dani as she finds people who validate her in a way we cannot. However, the film also highlights the emotional manipulation by the Härga, which manipulates Dani and the viewers.
How did pagans celebrate midsummer?
Midsummer, a time of abundance and fertility, has been celebrated for thousands of years through pagan and religious traditions. In ancient Europe, people would light bonfires and dance all night, with rituals led by druids. Bonfire-jumping was believed to predict crop height. In ancient China, workers were given the day off to celebrate, honoring the earth and the feminine force known as yin. In ancient Rome, celebrations focused on Vesta, goddess of hearth, home, and family.
Today, Midsummer remains an important festival in many countries, with people staying up to welcome the sun as it rises. Modern druids still gather at Stonehenge, while others light bonfires and celebrate with outdoor feasts, singing, and dancing.
Is Hårga real?
Ari Aster’s Midsommar is a dark fairy tale set in Hårga, Sweden, a village with a unique blend of psychedelics and a sinister community. The Hårga people, as depicted in the film, are not directly analogous to the Hårga people, who are known for their discomforting rituals around death and bearskins. The film is inspired by various traditions, some of which Aster is reluctant to mention due to the film’s portrayal of them poorly.
A group of American grad students travel to Sweden on the recommendation of their friend Pelle, who sells them a summer solstice vacation with his family. The trip is initially a buddy trip, but Dani (Florence Pugh) joins to maintain her relationship with Christian (Jack Reynor). The Hårga people’s cultural customs include love spells, ritual deaths at the age of 72, and pre-approved sexual encounters based on astrological charts. Every 90 years, they gather for a special ceremony, with the newcomers present.
📹 Swedish Midsummer for Dummies
Swedish Midsummer – a holiday devoted to eating, drinking, dancing and assorted pagan rituals. This is a guide to making the …
One incredible thing about this movie is that everyone that is part of the cult sees this as a joyous celebration, and only find it disgusting and horrible when a person has to live in pain (the man jumping off and not dying, the man screaming as he burned to death, etc), which to me makes it both more manipulative but also more humane because it really displays how they actually believe that what they are doing is beneficial for everyone and they don’t want to see people suffer. I also found the mimicking really interesting, because it almost seems like they’re not mimicking Dani (or whoever is freaking out) but actually empathizing with whoever is experiencing the situation they’re reacting to. It’s a really interesting in between of mocking human emotions and genuinely feeling those emotions to the extreme.
This movie is incredible. I watched it yesterday and I keep coming with little details. The way Danni hallucinates grass growing on her hand or her feet and how by the end she wears a mantle of flowers means she was assimilated into their culture through land as a symbol. Pelle mentioning how both his parents died in a fire meaning tyat they were sacrifices of a previous festival. The amazing and twisted contrast between the village’s barbaric nature but filled with empathy, and the city guys who were civilized but lacking in empathy. All but Danni, who became part of the comune. The fact that the elders aided Christian and the other guy who were studying for their thesis’ meant that, while they were elligible for sacrifices, they weren’t doomed yet, as it wasn’t certain that Danni would become the queen of May, nor that she would choose Christian for the ninth sacrifice, meaning that there could be up to two foreigners that would be saved. But in the end those other friends of the group were killed because their actions tilted the commune’s apparent impartiality against them. Hereditary was filled with much more occult symbology and was scarier, but imo, Midsommar is a masterpiece of a movie.
Watched this on a couple hits of lsd with some friends. I thought it was one of the most amazing movies I have ever seen in my life. One of my buddies had a mental nreakdown afterwards though and was crying and freaking out for hours. He ended up being alright though. None the less, one of my favorite movies of all time..
I only recently saw this film and it is one of the most unsettling films I have seen in a long time.I kept thinking why would you stay there, after witnessing the elderly couple throwing themselves off the cliff top? I also thought when the other friends started to suddenly disappear no alarm bells ringing! It was an excellent well acted film, the theme very similar to “The Wicker Man” and just as scary, and the ending with Dani smiling had she finally gone mad?
Correction: In Northern Sweden, Midsommar Festivals would instead take place during the June Solstice as the sun crosses the northern tropic of Cancer where midnight sun occurs during the longest day of the year (20 hour long days and/or only 4 hours of night depending on latitude, which will be reversed 6 months later during the Winter Solstice in December when the sun resides in the southern tropic of Capricorn). During the Vernal and Autumnal equinoxes, the sun is equidistant to every observer on the celestial sphere as it crosses the celestial equator, and so therefore every place and latitude on earth except the poles experience identical, equal 12 hour days and 12 hour nights. At both poles, the sun would just skim 360° around the horizon- a perpetual 24 hour sunset.
Idk if I’m desensitised to it something but I didn’t find it as scary. But I was more confused by it and here i am. Nice article btw. What really got me at the edge of my seat and made me extremely anxious and nauseous was this Korean drama Save Me. You guys need to check it out I mean it’s not as graphic as midsommar or as bright 👀 but I will guarantee the horror.
You can definitely tell that Midsommar became iconic that represents cults as a type of horror. Like it could be referenced to many real life organizations or groups that acts the same as in the movie. It was really amazing how they portrayed a different type of horror with lack of darkness or jumpscares, just pure disturbance.
When dani asked what happens when they turn 72 the man says they die. Pelle and his “sister” were born on the same day. The two old ppl both sacrificed themselves together so they were probably 72. What if the cult makes it so that two people will be born on the same day so that they could could be sacrificed together during the next festival?
Im a little confused as to the people that are at the open field before they arrive at the cult. Were all of them like pele ? Like they experienced the outside world and then came back for the festival? It surprises me because in the actual cult village the people said they had jobs more childhood or whatever. Are they like the Amish maybe?
Glad midsommar alla! The midsummerpole is really a celebration of life, ancestors and death at the longest day of the year… It´s a tree upsidedown. The beaker/battle-axe culture believed that the realm of death was at the world tree´s roots, like in norse mythology… They in fact found a 4000 year cultic old tree deep in the sand in Norfolk, aka known as Treehenge…
The melody can be traced to a French military march from the days of the French Revolution, the so-called Onion Song “Löksången,” or in French “La Chanson de l’Oignon,” where in the chorus you sing “Au pas, camarade, au pas camarade / au pas, au pas, au pas!” (In pace, companion!) It was France’s sworn enemies who changed the text with classic British irony to “Au pas, grenouilles!” (In pace, little frogs!) Somewhere along the way it acquired a Swedish text about frogs and became an important part of our Swedish cultural heritage .
No, it’s not a Swedish fertility symbol, it’s just tales. Midsummer was originally a church service dedicated to John the Baptist and the calendar day falls on June 24. The Midsummer pole came to Sweden during the Middle Ages! The earliest images can be found in Erik Dahlberg’s Suecia Antiqua published in the late 16th century. So the midsummer bar and celebration is originally from Germany and has nothing to do with Vikings. A form of midsummer pole already existed in Viking times, but did not look at all like it does today. The corncob as we recognize it now, is a custom that came to Sweden from Germany sometime in the late Middle Ages. And that the way the Vikings celebrated is nothing like celebrating Midsummer in Sweden. It’s high time to break the Viking myth because it’s 2021 now!
I am from Sweden and oooomg, you explained it so well! You included alll details. However today (25th June) is midsummer, hurray! But unfortunately I don’t live in Sweden and we can’t go home because we still have school. So idk what to doooee and it’s so annoying because I love midsummer and now we won’t really do anything to celebrate it, except for eating strawberries. So that’s sad. 🙁
The maypole is NOT a sexsymbol. It is a symbol of death and rebirth. The pole itself are allmost The same as the christmastree. You decorate it with the “fruits” of the season. The arms are the divide between heaven and the underworld. The rings are the sun and the moon. The scandinavians were sunworshippers afterall. On the top of the pole you would find the roster that live in Valhalla, the same roster you find on top of churches btw… In the underworld there was a great wheel that grinded the dead and rotten into new life. It allways moves clockwise. If it moves the other way the dead might rise from their graves. That’s why you help the wheel with dancing but allways make sure that you dance more times clockwise or the end might come….
We Swedes doesn’t put people in bears. Instead, we eat the bears. If you’re Swedish like me, you know what i’m talking about. I live in southern Sweden, so if it’s still too cold in the rest of Sweden, visit Skåne county, the southern most part of Sweden, cause it gets hit down here during the summer. I do recommend it cause it’s beautiful here too. Just go over to my instagram. There you can see it on pictures. All of Sweden is beautiful during the summer
In Ukraine Midsummer Soltice is called KUPALA and it is main folk summer a celebration of Nature’s power. The witches and creatures from another world (mavkas, werewolves, mermaids etc.) are very dangerous at that night, so people do not go to forests, they celebrate in circles near fires at the river valleys. Some article from Ukraine (I hope it doesn’t violate this website rules): youtu.be/yFfNzEbDdgU
I think i’ve got to enroll in a swedish masters programm just to atleast once join a midsummer celebration… When i went to norway i went there too late for midsummer and left too early for white winter. So basically justsaw the darkside of scandinavia… I’ll let it at you to judge what part of what i described is the dark side of scandinavia 😛
I’m a native Swede and I have experienced this many times. That little bit about a downpour was pretty funny! Midsummer, like they said, is second in importance right behind Christmas. I’ve never had the vodka and I think I’ll pass on that one. However, the food is delicious!! The dancing is real traditional Swedish and a lot of fun. The biggest and most exciting moment is when they raise the Maypole. BTW, I was raised in the United States but we travel back to Sweden every summer. Unfortunately, we can’t do that this year due to COVID19.
Hi its not true we swedish dont make human sacrifices but it was beleived to be a regular custom at the past not anymore .Midsummer its jus a celebration of life and happiness by sharing food with friends and family and lot of dancing and music .we always welcome orphaned backpackers,and travellers seeking adventure and fun .so u can get a full concept of how swedish midsummer is celebrated.🤗✌🐻💐🌄🔥🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪
My whole life Sweden has played a massive role in my life because when my mom was in high school they had a Swedish exchange student come and stay for a year and, since my mothers an only sibling, the two are basically sisters. So we’ve kept a pretty close relation to our Swedish “family”. I’ve always wanted to go to Midsommer since my mom went to one when she was in Sweden for a whole summer and I’ve always wanted to go.