A shout out to my Swedish friends

This song just came on the radio (Because the Night with Patti Smith) and it brought me back to high school! I went to Swedish middle school and high school and I made the best friends in the world there.  They were so incredibly welcoming of me. I didn't speak Swedish but everyone wanted to try out their 7th grade English on me.  Can you imagine that happening in the US?  ;-)

I was a shy kid and reeling from the divorce of my parents and subsequent move across the ocean but I felt so comforted and at the same time in awe of my Swedish peers.  They did everything I wouldn't have dared to do, but soon enough I was swept up too in the dances, drinking and slow dancing.  

But way more important than the boys were the girls who I came to know over long conversations with tea n' scones. When this song came on I remembered clearly dancing in a ring with my friends - just for the hell of it and no boys in sight - just dancing in a ring and loving the music.  

Kajsa x 2, Gabi, Cecilia, Anna, Ann, Anne, Lisa, Lena, the other Tina, Helena, dear Pernilla and more - you all still live in my heart.  I don't know why you let me into your group, I couldn't add much at first, but you accepted me and to this day I love Sweden in large part due to your largess.  

I also miss my international bunch of friends from Skanör-Falserbo!  When we lived there these amazing women welcomed me into their group and I felt such kinship with them.  I loved hanging out with everyone, going to the beach, doing "girls dinners" which basically entails dressing up, eating, laughing your heads off and dancing your hearts out.  

My Swedish gal pals are awesome, empowered, crazy and kind.  I have friends like that in the USA too  but even here I tend to gravitate to international women who understand, as do I, that friends are gold and time is well spent with them no matter how busy your life might be.  Kramar, Tina

p.s. oddly enough I wrote this post on February 9th not even knowing that it was #friendsday!

Time to cook Mårtens goose

Smultronställen

My family is from the south of Sweden, Skåne, where it's time to cook your goose.  This celebrated medieval holiday, which of tradition takes place on November 11th or Mårtens day, is named after Martin av Tours who, as the legend goes, hid in with the geese when they tried to crown him bishop.  The geese cackled and gave him away.  Ha, ha!  Not everyone wants to get into politics.  See http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/one's+goose+is+cooked

The Swedes of rank and privilege often ate goose before fasting for 40 days (the medieval diet).  This was most likely not the case for the poor people of Skåne whom Linne (the famous Swedish botanist Carl von Linne, 1707 - 1778) during his trip there in 1749 found to be among the poorest and most miserable that he had ever seen.  They were so cut off that the villagers of Skanör and Falsterbo didn't even know one another!  (These villages are only about 2 miles or 3.2 kilometers apart.)  

From Wikipedia

On the positive side the people of Falsterbo were spared the plague because they were so isolated.  Not so today, now it's a cosmopolitan village that's just the prettiest place.  Check out the geese walking around!

Pictures from Malmös tekniska Museum below honoring Carl von Linne, our famous scholar.  Now go cook your goose!  You can also serve it for Christmas as this entrepid soul did, check out the recipe here, http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Scandinavian-Roast-Christmas-Goose-20112

Skånska resa, by Carl von Linne, copyright 1751

Happy Midsummer!

Writing this in beautiful Sweden where the night is still light at 11:00 pm, and the sound of revelry lies faintly on the strong summer breeze.  We went to a traditional Swedish Midsommar celebration with dancing around the may pole, and band of 4 playing accordians and fiddles to picnicers in the grass today. Master L. felt too grown-up to dance, but I was happy to have his 8 year old sister's hand to hold onto and swing to the traditional music.  Here's a link to an article I really enjoyed about one person's memories of a Swedish Midsummer written by Danielle Pergament in the New York Times travel edition on May 10th.  She does a lovely job of explaining how we celebrate this special holiday, A Midsummer's Day Dream in Sweden.

But for those of you who can't make it to Sweden here's a list of some festivals back home in the States.  The featured one is in Gerry NY, and it is in July so you haven't missed it! Swedish festival.

One day later: I'm adding a little note about a Midsummer Day event unique to Skanör-Falsterbo that we went to called Linnestången at 3pm.  The kids thought it was about as interesting as watching paint dry but they were good sports, and Mama bribed them with ice-cream so it went well (I actually thought it was charming).

Carl von Linné came to the southern part of Sweden in 1749 and reported the strange and beautiful Midsummer pole that he had seen.   – På sitt besök hör i Skanör på midsommar såg han en stång som han beskrev som särskilt märkvärdig och vacker, berättar Gert Mårtensson, som ansvarar för Linnéstången inom hembygdsgillet.

The raising of the pole, which is actually a boat mast because they had no trees back then (?), is special in that it is decorated in front of the audience by many people wearing folk costumes while being gently admonished by the man in charge.  It's quite a difficult job made easier by the big cat in the background - some sort of truck that pulls the pole into place - with all its festive wreaths in place.

This takes about an hour all told so as you can imagine the youngest one was squirming but I found it interesting and loved being part of the community of people willing to forgo all electronics for an hour of watching heavily dressed Swedes wrestle with big machinery and giant wreaths, all while dancing, playing and smiling.  Plus there were even Ukrainians taking part this year, not sure why, but they added to the show with their own special dance and some whip snapping that was spectacular and added to my son's interest level going up.