Summer for Midsummer

Last weekend was Midsummer, a long weekend and the big summer holiday in Sweden. We spent all day Friday with some friends. In the morning we went down to the fishing village of Kåseberga. The weather was absolutely perfect: mostly sunny with highs in the 70s and a slight breeze. Wildflowers bloomed on the hillside. A group of accordion players performed traditional music, and we ate fresh fish for lunch.

After lunch, we had ice cream then we walked up to Ales Stenar. I've always enjoyed that place--the view and the history. I like to imagine how the place has been used over the centuries, and undoubtedly the summer solstice was an important occasion. This time I particularly enjoyed the variety of activities going on there. There were para-sailers, a group preparing for a wedding, tourists from a variety of countries, and cows. Yup, they use cows to keep the grass low, but cows always seem to introduce a bit of whimsy to the situation, especially since some of the tourists were scared of them.

From here, we drove to a traditional Midsummer celebration. We were running a bit late, so we stopped instead in Skillinge. Here there was live music and some of the traditional dancing, but it was just audience participation (no folk dancers). Most people chose to just watch, and the participants were mostly children (and sometimes their mothers).

This didn't last long, then we went across the street to the Baltic Sea. It was a rocky beach, and the water was cold, but my daughter and the two other girls went in. The older kids (all boys) and men engrossed themselves with skipping stones.

We went back to our friends' house where we ate the traditional dinner: beer, snaps, several varieties of pickled herring, boiled new potatoes with sour cream and chives, meatballs, small sausages, bread, strawberries, and whipped cream. Considering that I don't eat strawberries or herring, it's a good thing that I really liked the potatoes.

The girls played in the hot tub, and the boys went in and played computer games. Later we had the peanut butter brownies I made with coffee and tea. For me, this was the highlight of the menu, and I think most of the others really enjoyed them too. When it was well past the girls' bedtimes, we sent them in to watch TV, and the adults got a turn in the hot tub. I think this was the first time in ages that I got truly warm all the way through. At first my feet tingled painfully. Eventually even I got so warm that I had to stand up. We had a lovely end to a lovely day and got home around 1 AM.