Midsummer Solstice and take 2

Today is the longest day of the year - the midsummer solstice. :) Do you plan to celebrate it? Here most people are celebrating it on friday, due to work and other responsibilities. Modern time's business have pushed it toward the weekend for practical reasons.
Seeing the cloudy skies today, I hope there is sunshine on friday! :) A lot of people have worried that there won't be enough flowers to dress the midsummer pole, but if nothing else, it will be dressed in green as tradition haves it. <3

I found an interesting piece of fact about the midsummer traditions here. We call the midsummer pole 'Majstång' sometimes (though 'midsummer pole is more common now), which is directly translated 'May pole'. HOWEVER, it turns out that the Swedish traditions were different from the fertility symbol with the same name... Here in Sweden 'Maj', means to 'dress in green', and it was never a fertility symbol at all!
It is a very common misconception, but in this case - the meaning was indeed lost in translation.
The truth is that people dressed the pole in leaves and flowers, and danced around it hoping for the flowers and leaves to give them good crops and grow.
Isn't it interesting how we can forget the reason behind a celebration over time?

(A pretty good American adaption of the Swedish midsummer pole, taken from Flickr.com, however, we usually dress the rings with green too - and some poles have more than 2 rings, and the ribbons are never hanging loose but wrapped around the rings.)

I've started up a second doll, a male one this time. :) Sort of. It's a bishounen so I suppose it's an 'in between' rather than a boy doll. So far only head and body done, will do the limbs when I have the time.