The midsummer celebrations have traditionally been intertwined with the hay-making season, and many of the traditions and superstitions are connected.

Good weather is needed for a good hay harvest, which starts after midsummer. If the farmers and workers could make their own luck, then the rest of society benefited too.

"To do this, people would take a sauna whisk on Midsummer's Eve and go to the sauna with it, stand with their back to the sauna, and try to throw the whisk over the sauna roof. If they succeeded, it meant a good haymaking season," Lang told "Vikerhommik". 

"People today think, what's the point of a good hay season? Hay is made when the sun is shining and it's dry. For city dwellers, that means great beach weather. All the farmers' omens are actually quite useful for city folks too,"

In general, however, farmers are practical and base their actions primarily on nature.

"Our folk calendar is mostly tied to the old calendar, where everything is 14 days later. There are also differences between northern and southern Estonia. When it's already warm in South Estonia, people in Tallinn are still freezing. Because of that alone, someone might start haymaking even before Midsummer," said Lang.

Usually, workers and servants were given a day off on Midsummer. If a person didn't visit the bonfire, it was believed they would be plagued by bad luck.

"You had to go to the bonfire, because otherwise you'd be grumpy, sick, and hairy throughout the year. If you didn't go, the house might burn down and all kinds of misfortunes could happen. At the same time, you also had to make sure that the evil eye didn't bewitch your animals. For that, the master would walk around his field and place rowan branches in the corners. To prevent anything bad from happening to the house, pretty flowers were placed at the corners of the building. All kinds of such holidays were the prime time for witches," Lang said.

The tradition of making a fire is connected to worshiping the sun.

"Fire as a cleansing element definitely dates back to pre-Christian times. /.../ We don't know exactly when it began, but fire was important, it had to be visible from afar, the smoke from the fire was purifying, which is why people had to jump through it. Animals were also driven through the smoke, and wreaths were placed on the animals' heads," Lang told "Vikerhommik".

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