Folk Festivals in Sweden [Part II]

Sweden is a country that still retains many farming and religious traditions, and has many folk festivals. Below, we would like to introduce some more Swedish folk festivals.

Crayfish feasts are an annual tradition in Sweden, where people get together to eat crayfish and spend time together. Crayfish feasts usually take place in August and mark the end of summer. (Source: sweden.se)

April Fools' Day (April 1): This is a day when all sorts of pranks are allowed. Children trick adults, put them in a trap, and sing:

April, April, silly herring

So I fooled my uncle...

At work, someone was told to answer the phone number X..; of course, it was a stranger's phone number. The press "fabricated" a very solemn advertisement. Once, the television introduced a method of converting black and white images into color by stretching a piece of nylon stocking in front of the small screen, and the audience struggled all night in vain.

+ On April 30, Spring has been around for several weeks in the South, but not yet in the cold North. According to custom, April 30 is the day of the Spring (Valpurgis), especially the student festival. In some university cities, especially in Uppsala, thousands of students wearing white caps used only for festivals gather in the afternoon to listen to songs and speeches about Spring; then, they attend the entertainment organized in the city. People also often gather around a bonfire called the Valborg Bonfire to sing in chorus.

+ May 1: If April 30 is considered the spring festival in the city, in the countryside, this festival is held on May 1 (meetings, outdoor entertainment). Today, May 1 is also International Labor Day.

+ Ascension Day (Kristi Himmels fards dag): is a celebration commemorating Jesus ascending to heaven 40 days after Easter; the celebration is held on Thursday, the sixth week after Easter. In the past, young people went to church, had picnics, and then danced in the barn or outdoors. Nowadays, people also go outdoors; they wake up at 3-4 am and gather in the forest to listen to the doves singing, perhaps for the first time in the year. If the birds' voices come from the east or west, it is a good thing; if they come from the south or north, it is a bad thing. People bring coffee and bread, they can play music or sing, or they open the fishing season. Since 1938, this celebration has also been called the festival of the anti-alcoholism movement.

+ April 30, the seventh Sunday after Easter, commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus' apostles. Today, people often go out and decorate their homes with branches and flowers. Many couples choose that day to get married.

+ Mothers' Association: The last Sunday of May (originated from an American custom imported into Sweden in 1919). On that day, the house is decorated, the children bring breakfast to their mother's bed, not letting her do anything, and give her poems and songs. The children apologize to their mother for not being very good, and promise to be better. From afar, the children send letters and telegrams to congratulate their mother. Since gifts are almost mandatory, the industrial and commercial world has created many gifts to sell.

+ National Day or Flag Festival (June 6): Sweden does not have a National Day, a grand festival for the whole people like in other countries. At the end of the last century, Arthur Hazelius, founder of the Open Air Museum in Stockholm named Skansen, proposed June 6 as a day with many historical events: King Gustav Vasa ascended the throne (1523); the day of the Constitution (1809); the day of recognition of the national flag (1919). Since 1983, the Flag Festival has been marked by many new customs: all schools participate, flags are hung everywhere, the king gives flags to associations. In towns, there are parades, speeches, music... The military nature has gradually disappeared.

+ Saint Jean's Day - Summer Festival: this is a very important festival for a country with a cold climate that craves the sun. The festival is also called Midsommar, although not exactly because in Northern Europe, the North is just entering Summer at that time. In the South, the sun only sets for a few hours; in the North, the sun does not set, it stays bright all night.

June 24 is the feast day of John the Baptist. In the 1950s, the Swedish calendar was reformed; the feast day of St. John the Baptist was set on the Saturday closest to June 24.

The morning before the holiday, people decorate their houses, churches, cars, meeting rooms, and dance halls with flowers, leaves, and branches. Each village and town erects a St. John's column, a large cross decorated with flowers and leaves; people dance around the column, and in the evening they continue dancing in granaries or on riverbanks. City people go to the countryside. People from the capital often go to the islands or visit Skansen, an open-air museum with many old houses.

The feast day dish is herring with new potatoes, cooked with dill; for dessert, strawberries. There are many folk superstitions on St. John's Eve. If anyone can get a full jar of dew, it can be used as a medicine to cure all diseases; some leaves can be used as very effective medicine. Young men and women go and pick seven or nine kinds of flowers from seven fields or seven lakes, make a bouquet and put it under their pillows, and at night they will dream of the face of their future wife or husband. They can eat "herring in dreams" or "a bowl of soup in dreams".

+ Shrimp Festival: This custom originated in the late 19th century, when the government banned shrimp fishing for a period of time each year. The day when it was allowed to start (the second Wednesday of August) became a festival. The next day, shrimp could be bought at the market and eaten at restaurants. People decided on a certain evening after the festival to gather on the terrace or balcony, under the folding lanterns. Everyone wore silly paper hats and bibs when they sat down to eat shrimp cooked with dill, eaten only with bread and cheese, and drank beer or a glass of white wine. There were many drinking songs at this very Swedish festival.

[To be continued]

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