Its that time of year again when all the Swedes gather outdoors around the Maypoles, dressed in their traditional costumes and ready to feast on pickled herring and new potatoes! We've been invited to celebrate with some friends who live about an hour south of us. The husband is American and the wife is Swedish. I've never danced around a Maypole but it sure sounds like fun!
Once we've properly celebrated Midsummer, all the Swedes will enjoy their month long holiday, which means everyone heads off to their summer cottage and their boat for the whole month of July. Everyone keeps asking us where we're going for "holiday", and we really don't know. We want to go camping, maybe in Norway. But we're certainly not going to be gone for a month! Things are so different here, compared to the U.S.
Tonight, at Gröna Lund (Stockholm's amusement park), the Huntsville High School Symphonic Band will perform. We're planning to go if the rain lets up. Nearly every day it alternately rains and then the sun comes out (or vice versa). The temperature rises and falls to such a wide degree that you don't know if you should leave the house wearing a turtleneck, pants and armed with an umbrella, or if you should be clothed in order to work on your tan (if you're lucky enough to have skin that tolerates the sun.)
The sun is interesting here. I have never been burned so bad as when we lived in Texas. Stepping outdoors in the summer in Texas is like curling up next to the burners in your oven. Within minutes you'll be scorched, piping hot, and declared "Done." But here, in Sweden, where the sun must try extra hard to get its rays this far, I can spend hours outdoors and never get sunburned. Might get a little pink or be blessed to have some freckles enlarge, but never be sunburned like I experienced in Texas.
And another thing regarding the sun. I don't like the dark winters when, if we're lucky, we get about 5 hours of daylight. But I do like the sun filled days of summer. Every night, we awake at about 3:30 to glaring rays of sunshine streaming through our window. Then we go back to sleep! We still have dusky light at 11:30 pm, which fools us into thinking its still early in the evening.... (grin!)
SO, as they say in Sweden, Glad Midsommar!
Rejoice Evermore,
Marla
No comments:
Post a Comment