Midsommar (II). The Rituals of Ari Aster
We continue the analysis of the film Midsommar (v. Midsommar (I). An analysis of postmodern terror)
Although the dances around the Midsommarstang and the flower crowns are consistent with the real holiday, the film presents an amalgam of pagan rituals, being a cult rather than a religion.
The community itself not only exists in fiction but also in real life and has been associated with evil forces. A legend transmitted in the form of a song (Hårgalåten) tells that in a region also called Harga the same devil disguised as a violinist began to play, making its inhabitants dance until they die. In the film, the protagonist herself is selected as May Queen until the last girl is left standing, drugging her against her will and making other girls fall on purpose to let her win.
In the universe of the film there were different May Queens who were immortalized in photographs, we can infer that by looking at the pictures on the wall we can calculate the age with which that community settled, being proof that the group was formed ad hoc without a historical basis.
The election of the May Queen is done in Celtic cultures during the day of Beltane (May 1) as a conquest of spring, defeating the Winter Queen present in folklore.
The arrangement of the tables takes the form of runes, repeating that of Othala which represents heritage, community life. There are 9 days, 9 celebrations and 9 victims, with the number 9 being relevant to Nordic numerology:
The three and its multiples have a magical and religious symbolism since Odin hung himself for 9 days from the tree to obtain runic wisdom, just like the image of the hanged man in the Tarot, associated with the XII arcane, also a multiple of three. Similarly, there are nine worlds in the Yggdrassil tree, known as Helheim, Niflheim, Svartalfheim, Muspelheim, Jötunheim, Midgard, Alfheim, Vanaheim and Asgard. In this regard, the late medieval German scholastic Adam of Bremen comments in one of his works that in the Temple of Uppsala nine human ritual sacrifices were carried out for 9 days every nine years, with one human and two animals per day.
These rituals were carried out at the Spring Equinox, and not at Midsummer, although it seems reasonable to think that Ari Aster knew part of these traditions having confirmed that he had read the book "The Golden Bough" by Frazer, which is reference material for scholars in the field.
To begin with, Ättestupa is a gerontocide that occurred in primitive Nordic cultures where the elderly threw themselves from a cliff when they could not support themselves. Anthropologists and archaeologists maintain that perhaps not all of them were suicides, given that there are Latin testimonies, such as that of Solino, which "embellish" these deaths "because they did not die naturally and were thrown into the sea from cliffs for this purpose."
There is evidence of Viking human sacrifices in Gamla Uppsala although there is no evidence of the motives for the Ättestupa, despite the fact that biologically some cetaceans or Australian lemmings commit suicide when their population needs it.
As for the runes, although they may seem to take on an arbitrary meaning as they are repeated for no apparent reason, those used during the sacrifice, such as Raidho, represent a rune of travel, of path, of transformation. It probably refers to transformation and integration into Dani's community, or it may even work as a spell in the drawing that Pelle gives her.
However, the runes of the Maypole or Midsommarstang are again Raidho and Fehu, the initial rune of the alphabet and a symbol of wealth and fertility, being the rune that the matriarch wears on her dress.
Furthermore, the robes offered to the protagonists include the Tyr rune, linked to virility for Christian as a male figure, making sense when he is only included in the community to inseminate one of the members.
On the other hand, on the sole of Josh's buried foot, the Mannaz rune appears drawn, indicating his ego since this symbol represents the "Humility" that he lacked.
The Othala rune also indicates the community: The protagonist's tunic contains the Othala rune again, associated with integration into the community. What's more, the runes of the final temple where the sacrifices are burned are actually linked Othalaz runes, implying an idea of a loop and that what happens between the Harga, stays with the Harga.
As for love rituals, we see how they try to bewitch the romantic interest by placing a rune under the pillows, suggesting their will in the world of dreams.
In royal tradition, girls put seven flowers on their pillow to dream of their future husband. It is common on the Summer Solstice throughout Europe to pick seven flowers to wash their face or to perform spells of love and beauty with which to attract the loved one.
As part of love rituals, pubic hair is also introduced into food. It is said that in ancient Sweden bodily fluids (such as sweat, urine or menstruation) were put into the drink of the loved one to facilitate falling in love. It is a common magic practice in love spells in the Indo-European world, and even in the Semitic world, uniting a person by ingesting "part" of the other.
The young harga intentionally becomes pregnant in summer, just like the Goddess in Wicca neopaganism. In addition, from that moment on she is seen dressing in red, in relation to blood and love, associating sex with fertility, as a ritual with which to lead us to adulthood.
Anthropologists are amazed by the existence of a book that they identify with their sacred scriptures. The book in question is nothing more than unconnected colored pages that are always in constant writing, made by a mentally handicapped person. This veneration of the deformed as The Oracle is in line with their eugenics, since they are not idolized for their innocence due to a pre-mental state, they are sanctified for being the "purest" member.
From a theological point of view, it seems contradictory that a pagan cult is a book religion, giving us another argument in favor of their sect created with Odinist syncretic bases without a real historical basis.
The deaths of this group try to justify themselves through rituals:
Josh pisses on a tree and they stuff his body with straw, associated with the Earth element.
The Nordic practice of the Blood Eagle, removing the flayed lungs from the back, is associated with Air.
The death of the racialized girl who tries to escape with her partner, ends with a soaked corpse in a wheelbarrow, being drowned.
Fire is featured in a scene in the Director's Cut, where a bonfire of burning flesh burns without going out, repeating the importance of this element in the final ritual:
The bear is a symbol that denotes power, which is why it can be seen on flags such as those of the state of California, Berlin or Madrid. The association of the animal with the protagonist could have its antecedents in the Canadian novel "Bear" by Marian Engel, where a recontextualization of Beauty and the Beast is presented through the toxic relationship between a librarian and a real bear, with this same metaphor appearing in a painting in her room at the beginning of the film.
In the end, all the rituals that do not belong to Midsommar as a Swedish holiday revolve around the survival of the community, integrating the two main characters with them by being blondes. Not in vain the protagonist is called Christian, perhaps in contrast to the pagan cult they are developing.
Ari Aster has merged Beltane and Midsummer to his liking to, through a (neo)pagan community, tell a story backed by solid research.
Nuria Acquaviva - nacquavivaps@gmail.com
Related articles:
> "Viking" runes, modern meanings (I)
