Midsommar

One of the biggest holidays of the year in Sweden is Midsommar. Midsommar is celebrated on June 24th in Sweden which was the longest day of the year in Roman times. Midsommar is a pre-Christian celebration (although it has come to be the celebration of the nativity of John the Baptist in Christianity) and it is a pagan holiday celebrating the longest day of the year and the fertility of earth in the summer. In Sweden it is celebrated by decorating a maypole with greenery and then raising the pole. Next you dance around the pole and sing songs.

Young girls pick flowers to make into crowns to wear during the celebration and I thought those were pretty cute. Legend has it if you pick seven different kinds of flowers and put them under your pillow you will dream of your future husband. I didn't try this so I don't know if it works. :)

We all attempted to dance along but the singers didn't do such a good job of explaining what you were supposed to do, so after a couple attempts we ended up standing by the side watching the festivities.

After the traditional songs were sung it was time to eat and we headed off to a picnic spot with our Swedish friends. Our friends are really great and go above and beyond to make sure we experience all things Swedish. Like, for instance, aquavit and 3 different types of herring for midsommer. Ok, they probably would've had all that even if we weren't there because that's what you do on midsommar but our friends are still great! 

The aquavit was better then the kind I had tried before and so was the herring so it was a pleasant surprise. While I was photographing the picnic spread Little Miss Jane got right in front of the camera lens. That cute girl is a ham!

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the park before we came home and crashed. It was a great day in Sweden! Unfortunately, Dale's parent's left early the next morning and we were sad to see them go! Good thing so many people love us enough to visit!

Love Always,

Matilda