Celebrating a Swedish midsummer in Belgium

After living abroad a few years, leading a married life with an American in Belgium, I found myself slowly abandoning some of the less outstanding Swedish traditions; the traditions that you celebrate only in Sweden among Swedes: Våffeldagen (Waffle day- Annunciation Day), Semlaldagen (Swedish version of Mardi Gras), Valborg (30 April) and Midsummer just to mention a few. Since the birth of our children, however, I’ve started thinking about these traditions again, and now that I have a new career in which I actually relate to Swedes and Sweden, I find myself trying to recreate these partially neglected traditions.

Friday was Midsummer Eve. In Sweden everybody decorated a May pole and themselves with flowers, danced and got married, and a lot of people had dinner consisting of haring, new potatoes, and alcohol. The Swedes sat down around the dinner table, surrounded by family & friends and ate, sang drinking songs and drank “schnapps” (shots). As did we: my Swedish colleagues came over to celebrate midsummer with me. Since the tradition is lesser known outside of Sweden, to spare our neighbours, we refrained from dressing a cross with flowers as well as dancing around the latter. There was however flowers on the table, herring, potatoes, loud singing and plenty of drinking. The next day I was painfully reminded of what this combination inevitably leads up to: hangover. As a parent I don’t have the privilege to enjoy an extended traditional hangover anymore; the boys will rise with the sun no matter what I consumed the previous day; however I did feel “out of it” and when it was time for the boys to go to bed in the evening, I happily joined them.

The Husband, strategically, kept himself away from all this, having to work. Good move.

The drinking culture in Sweden is very different from anywhere I’ve lived. One does not drink very often - once a week at most - but when the Swedes drink, they DRINK. Of the four traditional days I mentioned above, two are associated with heavy drinking: Valborg & Midsummer. How they do it, I have no idea. I enjoyed the singing and the “skål!”, but really, once every few years is probably about what I can handle. For the next upcoming tradition “kräftpremiären” (the craw fish premiere) I will be in Sweden. Deus Misereatur.

By Lovain