Kalsarikännit

June 21st - Saint John’s Day

The weather was very bad today. It gives me a very good reason to light my fireplace. It reminds me a certain bonfire during my teen years. Jean-Michel Jarre’s music was the sound of the celebration.

June 21st - Music day

I put my bluetooth speakers in the living-room so that the Doors surround me in stereo. I place my armchair in the center, next to the chimney. I take the bottle of old rum out of its packaging; a black tube with an elegant label “Don Papa”. I put the bottle and a glass on the sideboard, within easy reach of the armchair.

June 21st - The longest day of the year

I lower the roller shutters on the wide windows overlooking the street. I burn the matches one by one to illuminate each candle in the living room, like they do in Danemark. Family tradition, we cultivate the maternal “Hygge: creating a warm atmosphere & enjoying beautiful things of the life with whom we love”.

June 21st - The great migration

Like each year the 21st of June, my wife and children move from home to my wife’s parents place in Finland, during three weeks. Each year, I call my father-in-low, just after the family departure.

_What’s up Albert? Kalsarikännit?

_Yep! Kalsarikännit. Cheers!

The call is short but everything is said. I know he’s smiling like I do. Tonight, he will get drunk at home in his underwear for the last time before 3 weeks.

On my side, I take off my own shirt, my trousers and socks. I sit cross-legged in my underwear, on my armchair. I pour myself a glass, inhale the scent of old rum and take my first good swig of alcohol.

Alone at last!