From ancient times, the longest day of the year — the summer solstice — was observed throughout Scandinavia with bonfires to protect humans from evil spirits thought to roam when the sun began its southward journey. The date fit conveniently close to the Christian feast of St. John the Baptist, so the two events later became one festival. Almost entirely secularized today, Midsummer’s Eve is an excuse throughout Norway for a cook-out, town party and bonfire on the beach.

Midsummer bonfires are common to all four Scandinavian countries, but in Norway they reach epic proportions, especially in Bergen and Ålesund, both on the country’s west coast.

A century ago, Bergen’s fire traditionally burned old barrels and kegs from the warehouses that lined its harbor, and barrels still form the tower that is set afire in Laksevåg Park on Midsummer’s Eve. While Bergen’s 60-foot pyramid fuels one of the world’s largest bonfires, the record goes to the port town of Ålesund.

In 2013, Ålesund set the world’s record with a tower built of recycled shipping pallets, manually stacked without a crane to a height of 132.71 feet. Its construction is as amazing a sight as watching it burn: About 40 people stand on narrow shelves at ever more dizzying heights, handing up the heavy wooden pallets as the tower grows above them. Then someone has to light it from the top and scamper down in a hurry.

Ålesund’s notoriety for bonfires is not without irony, for on an icy winter night in 1904 the entire town was destroyed in a wind-driven blaze that swept through its wooden homes and businesses in only a few hours. It was completely rebuilt in the popular Art Nouveau style of the day and has been named Norway’s most beautiful city.

Anywhere you go in Norway, there’s a good chance of finding a party on the evening of June 23, where there will be music, revelry and a bonfire. Inland towns light theirs on the shore of a lake or a riverbank, or maybe on a hilltop. If there’s water, there will most likely be boats, often decorated with fresh flowers and foliage. Some towns, like Grimstad, have a boat parade, with prizes for the most elaborate; Sandefjord’s parade consists of several hundred boats, with bands playing from the decks of old Hardanger cutters.

Visitors arriving without grills and picnic baskets will find vendors selling food and drink. Sausages are a favorite, but don’t miss the midsummer treat of strawberries ripened in the long sunlight hours and served over sweet, warm pancakes.