you know it's midsummer when...

[Guest guest]

....the crowd around the shelf with pickled herrings in the supermarket remind you of bees around a beehive...Midsummer is one of the main holidays in Sweden, originally celebrated on the summer solstice, but nowadays on the friday closest to it, which this year happens to be tomorrow. It's a celebration that dates back to ancient times, as it was the time of year when the Vikings would perform the yearly midsummer sacrifices to ensure that cattle and crops, as well as people, would be blessed with necessary fertility the coming year. Some elements from the Viking celebrations still remain - albeit not the sacrificing... - for instance, there is a midsummer pole (an ancient symbol of fertility) around which there is dancing traditional dances. Aprt from that there is a few essential

elements in todays celebrations (things that may, or may not, date back to ancient times...): * Pickled herring, of a particular kind kalled "Matjes". Above all, pickled herring. And that, since it is pickled..., could of course be bought months in advance, if one were that far-sighted.... Yet, every year, everyone (or so it seems), myself included, start gather around the pickled herring in the store no earlier than the day before midsummer. In fact, if you are in an unfamiliar store on the day before midsummer, pickled herring is probably among the things you could find just by following the (huge) crowd...* Potatoes, the kind you get from the first harvests of the season. Boiled with dill. * Sourcream and chives* Strawberries. Lastly, but certainly not least: Strawberries. I remember spending one summer in England, and when I and my friends learned that the midsummer celebration arranged by the youth organisatiopn we

were there with would not include strawberries (Gasp! The Horror! What were they thinking!! It would be like Christmas with no Santa or tree) we hurried to the local greengrocery and asked (with a bit of desperation in our voices I'm sure...) for strawberries. The man in the store got it for us (the last ones!) with a puzzled face, and asked: "You are like the 10th or 15th group of Swedes to come in here today and ask for strawberries, like your lives depended on it. What on earth is going on?"With this you drink beer and shots of vodka. But I could live wothout that, as long as I get the herring with the right accesoairs followed by strawberries. We are celebrating with some of 's colleages this year, one of them Canadian with no previous midsummer experience. And I am halfway through the shopping - so I'll rejoin the crowds, and yet another year promise myself that next year I'll plan ahead... Looking forward til tomorrow, anyway.

love/RebPS. I'll attatch a photo of a midsummer pole, and I'll put it in the groups photo section too.

Låna pengar utan säkerhet.

Sök och jämför hos Yahoo! Shopping.

[Guest guest]

Very interesting, Reb! I hadn't realized Midsummer was of such importance there. ) heard me laughing over the strawberries and the grocer's question. So I read it to him and he got a good laugh out of it, too. Those Brits just don't know how to do Midsummer right at all, do they? LOL

What is the wish given for Midsummer? Assuming there is one. Like... Merry Christmas, Happy Easter, Happy Yule, Merry Solstice, et al...

Glard Midsommar? (http://naturetravels.wordpress.com/2007/06/20/midsummer-in-sweden-maypoles-and-singing/)

And thanks for the pic of the Maypole! )

Hugs,

Challis

you know it's midsummer when...

....the crowd around the shelf with pickled herrings in the supermarket remind you of bees around a beehive...Midsummer is one of the main holidays in Sweden, originally celebrated on the summer solstice, but nowadays on the friday closest to it, which this year happens to be tomorrow. It's a celebration that dates back to ancient times, as it was the time of year when the Vikings would perform the yearly midsummer sacrifices to ensure that cattle and crops, as well as people, would be blessed with necessary fertility the coming year. Some elements from the Viking celebrations still remain - albeit not the sacrificing. .. - for instance, there is a midsummer pole (an ancient symbol of fertility) around which there is dancing traditional dances. Aprt from that there is a few essential elements in todays celebrations (things that may, or may not, date back to ancient times...): * Pickled herring, of a particular kind kalled "Matjes".

Above all, pickled herring. And that, since it is pickled..., could of course be bought months in advance, if one were that far-sighted. ... Yet, every year, everyone (or so it seems), myself included, start gather around the pickled herring in the store no earlier than the day before midsummer. In fact, if you are in an unfamiliar store on the day before midsummer, pickled herring is probably among the things you could find just by following the (huge) crowd...* Potatoes, the kind you get from the first harvests of the season. Boiled with dill. * Sourcream and chives* Strawberries. Lastly, but certainly not least: Strawberries. I remember spending one summer in England, and when I and my friends learned that the midsummer celebration arranged by the youth organisatiopn we were there with would not include strawberries (Gasp! The Horror! What were they thinking!! It would be like Christmas with no Santa or tree) we hurried to the

local greengrocery and asked (with a bit of desperation in our voices I'm sure...) for strawberries. The man in the store got it for us (the last ones!) with a puzzled face, and asked: "You are like the 10th or 15th group of Swedes to come in here today and ask for strawberries, like your lives depended on it. What on earth is going on?"With this you drink beer and shots of vodka. But I could live wothout that, as long as I get the herring with the right accesoairs followed by strawberries. We are celebrating with some of 's colleages this year, one of them Canadian with no previous midsummer experience. And I am halfway through the shopping - so I'll rejoin the crowds, and yet another year promise myself that next year I'll plan ahead... Looking forward til tomorrow, anyway. love/RebPS. I'll attatch a photo of a midsummer pole, and I'll put it in the groups photo section too.

Låna pengar utan säkerhet.Sök och jämför hos Yahoo! Shopping.

[Guest guest]

LOL I enjoyed both stories... of seeing and of your hostess with the bowl of strawberries.

Challis

you know it's midsummer when...> > > ...the crowd around the shelf with pickled herrings in the supermarket remind you of bees around a beehive...> > Midsummer is one of the main holidays in Sweden, originally celebrated on the summer solstice, but nowadays on the friday closest to it, which this year happens to be tomorrow. It's a celebration that dates back to ancient times, as it was the time of year when the Vikings would perform the yearly midsummer sacrifices to ensure that cattle and

crops, as well as people, would be blessed with necessary fertility the coming year. Some elements from the Viking celebrations still remain - albeit not the sacrificing. .. - for instance, there is a midsummer pole (an ancient symbol of fertility) around which there is dancing traditional dances. Aprt from that there is a few essential elements in todays celebrations (things that may, or may not, date back to ancient times...): > > * Pickled herring, of a particular kind kalled "Matjes". Above all, pickled herring. And that, since it is pickled..., could of course be bought months in advance, if one were that far-sighted. ... Yet, every year, everyone (or so it seems), myself included, start gather around the pickled herring in the store no earlier than the day before midsummer. In fact, if you are in an unfamiliar store on the day before midsummer, pickled herring is probably among the things you

could find just by following the (huge) crowd...> > * Potatoes, the kind you get from the first harvests of the season. Boiled with dill. > > * Sourcream and chives> > * Strawberries. Lastly, but certainly not least: Strawberries. I remember spending one summer in England, and when I and my friends learned that the midsummer celebration arranged by the youth organisatiopn we were there with would not include strawberries (Gasp! The Horror! What were they thinking!! It would be like Christmas with no Santa or tree) we hurried to the local greengrocery and asked (with a bit of desperation in our voices I'm sure...) for strawberries. The man in the store got it for us (the last ones!) with a puzzled face, and asked: "You are like the 10th or 15th group of Swedes to come in here today and ask for strawberries, like your lives depended on it. What on earth is going on?"> >

With this you drink beer and shots of vodka. But I could live wothout that, as long as I get the herring with the right accesoairs followed by strawberries. > > We are celebrating with some of 's colleages this year, one of them Canadian with no previous midsummer experience. And I am halfway through the shopping - so I'll rejoin the crowds, and yet another year promise myself that next year I'll plan ahead... Looking forward til tomorrow, anyway. > > love> /Reb> > PS. I'll attatch a photo of a midsummer pole, and I'll put it in the groups photo section too. > > > > > > ____________ _________ _________ __> Låna pengar utan säkerhet.> Sök och jämför hos Yahoo! Shopping.>