Midsummer 1999 at Geneva

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	Later in the evening there were some more games. The rope pulling contest was tight, this was the winning team.
	Did you get your head mixed up in this one? Christian and Pierre trying their best here.
	Nice moving, eh? There is a balloon between the two, again another game.
	A nice Swedish couple. I talked with them for a while, but can't remember the name of either one. Oh, well.
	Some people had been using the barbecue facilities for quite a while already, but towards the night they became more and more popular.
	No party without music, this time mostly swedish pop. The majority just continued chatting, but some people wanted to dance, too.
	As a part of the tradition, the witch must be burned.
	...and it certainly burned.
	It didn't take long, though.
	Disappeared in the air.
	People watching the witch burn. The circle in the front starting from the lower right corner: Havar, Emma, Joe, Alan, Dafni, Andy, Albin and Jan.
Note to avoid misunderstandings: Burning the witch is a part of many Danish midsummer festivals and not a way to celebrate the horrible witch hunts conducted by the Christian church during 15th-17th centuries. The roots of having midsummer bonfires reach several thousand years back and the traditions have been influenced by many factors during the years, including the church of course. Nowadays it is above all a happy party but at the same time an interesting mix of new and old customs. If you have a good history link send it to me and I'll add it here. See also Wikipedia for information about witchcraft and Wiccas . (This note was added in August 2002 and some of the image captions were slightly edited on October 22, 2005.)
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Copyright Arto Teräs <ajt@iki.fi> 1999. Redistribution of this document as a whole or any of the pictures individually is permitted in any medium as long as this copyright notice is preserved. Last update 22.10.2005.