Celebrating an everlasting twilight: midsummer, Lithuanian style

In the Baltic nations, midsummer celebrations are rooted in pagan traditions around fire and fertility. They are also a good excuse to meet up with family and friends for a party in the forest

Towards dusk a bonfire was lit and, one after another, the friends we were eating and drinking with hurdled the leaping flames, a pagan ritual thought to provide benefits including improved physical and mental strength, prosperity and fertility.

Further heat came from a sauna we made using five sacks of logs – too many, we agreed afterwards. When it got too hot, we escaped into the cool shallows of the pond just a few metres away, repeating this cycle several times.