visiting swedish folk culture: midsummer

here we are, two americans (jay-jay is from alaska) enjoying the swedish folk tradition of dancing around the midsummer pole, wearing luxuriant flower wreaths in our hair, made by jay-jay. and we hadn't even started drinking yet. (the gray smoke in the background is from a fire in the industrial district.)




and here are ingrid and her friend inga, singing and making music for the traditional songs at the midsummer festivities. the sequence of dances around the midsummer pole is much enjoyed by children.



ingrid in her traditional dress from the northern area of westerbotten; julia; emma; mimmi; jay-jay. jm had lovely flowers in her hair too, but she was taking the photos.

afterwards, we went to inga and mats' house for the traditional feast of herring, salmon, new potatoes, and many other treats, with skåls of aquavit and beer and drinking songs to accompany them. and of course swedish strawberries and whipped cream for dessert. then we went outside and played a game of 'kub', an old-fashioned game said to be of viking origin. it involves trying to knock down the opposing team's blocks of wood by throwing sticks.

we were chased inside by rain, so while inga played the violin, with her husband mats (a professional musician) on the piano, ingrid and lars danced. then lars played the violin and mats and ingrid danced.



inga also plays a peculiar old-fashioned instrument called the nyckelharp. and she composes music and writes songs as well. their son arvid plays the trumpet and piano, and daughter ingrid the flute.



needless to say, a good time was had by all. we rode our bikes home about 11 pm, when it was still a bit light out. our friends wouldn't dare drive a car after drinking even one beer (the fines and penalties are severe), but you can ride your bike as drunk as you like.

coming as i do from such an a-musical family, i am in awe of them all. i see our swedish friends thoroughly enjoying their midsummer traditions and happy to share the occasion with us. growing up a WASP in america, i feel i have no tradition of folk culture. which makes me a little jealous and a little sad. but penny says i DO have a folk culture, even if i think i don't, so i will be considering this idea in another entry soon.