Saturday, June 23, 2012

Midsommar 2012

JenniferYesterday was Midsummer's Eve, in some ways the most important holiday of the whole year. Sweden.se, the official website about all things Sweden, has put up a variety of informative texts about it in English, like this one here. Or, you can watch this slightly snarky video, also made/endorsed by the official website (so you know it's not too off-base...).
Midsummer remains a somewhat perturbing holiday for us poor immigrants, because the cities shut down completely (the street scene of Stockholm on Midsummer's Eve in the video above is not an exaggeration!) and all the natives disappear. Nevertheless, we had a very pleasant day. The sun was shining, and we packed a picnic of spice-rubbed chicken, dill potato salad, grapes, strawberries, and homemade lemonade, and took it to a nearby field. Joe leaves soon for a workshop in Turkey, and it was nice to just hang out and relax for a day.