Holidays: Midsummer and Skt Hans Aften

Midsummer's Eve in Sweden and Skt Hans Aften in Denmark are major holidays around the longest day of the year. Ron and I decided we wanted to celebrate them both while here. Unfortunately, the Swedish holiday is always the Friday before the longest day of the year and Ron had to work and Raegan had school.  A Swedish coworker of Ron's talked me into taking Raegan out of school and taking the kids with her on the train to Malmo for a celebrations she had planned with her friends. So I decided I would go for it - we may as well experience all the culture we can in this region while we are here and I was being invited to a traditional Swedish celebration in Malmo!

If you would like to read more about what this celebration is, here's a good link: http://www.graphicgarden.com/files17/eng/sweden/midsum1e.php

We went to Folkets Park in Malmo - it was huge - it had a huge playground, amusement park type rides, water fountain play areas, and a petting zoo.

 

 

Here is the festival and the May pole. 

 

 

 Everyone got into big circles to dance to the traditional Swedish folk music.

The folk band

 

 Here is our traditional Swedish picnic - boiled new potatoes, pickled herring, smoked salmon. ...my first time eating pickled herring and I really enjoyed it!

 Here are the kids playing at the park and petting zoo.

 

And here they are in the fountain having a blast...all the other kids were naked or in their undies and we didn't think to bring swimsuits...so I thought When in Rome (I mean Sweden...)?? Ron amazingly was a bit embarrassed I let them do this.

 

 

 

The Danish holiday Skt Hans Aften was on Sunday. Their tradition is interesting -  people gather at parks near lakes or at beaches and sit around bonfires and sing traditional songs. The strange part is that they all burn witches in these bonfires...

 

Here is a link for more info on this Danish tradition: http://www.daac.info/facts_skt_hans.asp

 

We biked to a celebration at the Waterfront at Tuborg that started in the afternoon. They had a bouncy castle and a few little rides the kids enjoyed and they were going to have a concert later. Since it doesn't get dark until almost 11pm we were not able to stay up for the bonfire with the kids, but we did see the bonfire all prepped.

 

The bonfire and witch are all ready to go for later...