We learned that in Sweden summer means you can wear a light jacket. There were even a couple of days when we got by with no jacket at all (but only a few). But on the plus side, you don't get hot very often either. And the things we heard about really long summer days were true. In June, the sun was rising around 4 am and it didn't get dark until about 11 pm. That meant the crazy little birds started singing at about 3:30 am every morning.
We celebrated Swedish National Day on June 6. Happy to have a day off work and school, we headed down to town to check out the festivities. There was a very short parade that went from the town square over to Tivoli Park. Then there was a program--some talks, music and dance numbers-- and car show at the park. Not too different from a small-town 4th of July or Memorial Day celebration in the US.
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| Band marching in the parade |
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| Soldiers-- first we've seen of that in Sweden. |
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| A folk dancing group in traditional Swedish costumes |
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| Watching the program at the band stand. My daughter gets credit for this one (and a lot of others) |
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| More at the program |
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| Swedes aren't typically big flag wavers and find Americans weird in their boisterous patriotism. This was definitely the most flags we've ever seen here. |
June 15th we got to experience Studenten-- the Swedith equivalent to high school graduation. We think it looks a whole lot more fun then the boring US ceremonies with caps, gowns and boring speeches. No watching while each name is called. The kids have a week or so of dances, parties and other activities. Then on the last day, they have a luncheon at their school and then they "Run Out!" It is very literally just that. All their family and friends gather outside their school and they call out each class and that class runs out of the school while the crowd cheers.
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| Running Out at Soderport Gymnasium. The signs people are waving usually have a picture of their kid as a baby or kindergartener. |
They run into trailers decorated by their class and pulled by trucks and tractors. These "floats" then circle the town a number of times with the students yelling, chanting and blowing whistles. The various schools in the area stagger their run out so the "parade" goes on throughout the afternoon, with new classes joining and others getting tired and dropping out. The roads were still open for driving during all this. My husband got sandwiched among them taking a colleague to the train station. We enjoyed standing on the street corner and watching the mayhem. We hear that when they get tired of circling the streets, most people go home and host a party for family and friends to come congratulate them.
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| Typical dress for Studenten is a suit for the boys, white dress for the girls. Then everyone wears their Studenten hat. |
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| A lot of the wagons were decorated with tree branches. |
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| The graduates had lots of little gifts around their necks. |
We took a little video. It does much better than the pictures at capturing the spirit of the event.
The last big holiday in June is Midsummer's Eve. The day before Midsummer's Eve is also a work holiday and it was actually a beautiful summer day. We explored Råbelövsjön--one of the closest lakes to our house. We tried to drive all the way around it-- stopping to see various spots along the shore, but dead ended when we hit a nature reserve and had to return the way we'd come.
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| Looking across the lake |
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| Sorry but we can't help but find this sign funny. |
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| It was actually warm enough that the kids took off their shoes to wade. |
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| Farms buildings tend to be built in little complexes-- the house and barns all grouped together around a courtyard. We've found several places where a road goes THROUGH one of these old farms-- like here. Doesn't look much like a road, does it? |
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| This is called Helmershus-- I don't know who Helmer was, but he had a beautiful, lake-side estate. |
After the drive, we couldn't resist a trip down to Åhus for ice cream cones. They had their town square ready for Midsummer.
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| A Maypole is traditionally decorated with greenery and flowers for Midsummer's Eve. |
Midsummer's Eve dawned cold and rainy. We hear that happens a lot. We were invited to a church barbecue at a beach house in Åhus. People in Sweden are not wimpy when it comes to weather. Things do not rain out. So we had our picnic under umbrellas with warm jackets on, enjoying good company if not good weather. We had a traditional Midsummer meal-- pickled herring, boiled new potatoes with fresh dill and soured cream, meatballs. Being clueless Americans who didn't know what to bring, we brought potato salad and brownies. We had a flight to catch, so we left after just a few hours. So we didn't get to see if they decorated a maypole and if so, if anyone danced and sung around it.
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| Our daughter made a wreath to wear in her hair. The popcorn was just temporary fun. She added real flowers on Midummer's Eve. |
