My experience in Stockholm and my experience in Gothenburg could not have been any different. Both of them were good, but Gothenburg stands out in my opinion.
Midsummer
The reason I travelled from Edinburgh to Gothenburg was to visit my Swedish friends and to celebrate Midsummer with them. The fact that I saw some of Gothenburgh during this trip was a nice-to-have – I will describe the city of Gothenburg in a separate post.
Midsummer is a huge happening in Sweden and it’s when family and friends gather together to celebrate the solstice (longest day of the year). The event takes place on the weekend any day between the 19th and 25th of June. My friends had arranged everything in precise detail. They arranged for bungalows by a lake, near a town called Lerum. They arranged for all the delicious food, music, and snaps songs.
When all the friends arrived (we were a group of around thirty, including four “foreigners”), they started to build up the maypole. This is common practice during Swedish Midsummer. First the maypole is erected, then you dance around the pole and sing songs. I thought I would be too shy to partake, but it was hilarious! The songs were like children songs so they didn’t only dance, they also hopped like frog and waddled around like ducks. How could I miss out on that?
After all the dancing, singing and laughing, it was time for the real-deal. The meal! Everyone chipped in and made delicious Swedish dishes but most of it was made by my host. There were two huge tables full of food. The Swedish meatballs were obviously the main draw, but also the new potatoes, gravlax and herring were deliciously Swedish.
After dinner, it was time for another tradition. This time the snaps bottles came out and everyone was presented with a small shot glass. Then the premise is simple. You fill up a glass, sing along with the Swedish songs (the lyrics were printed in a little booklet) and after the song everyone shouts “Skål!” and downs the snaps shot.
Even though I don’t understand the lyrics, the melody of some of the songs stayed with me. We repeated this one a couple of times and I think it’s the main drinking song:
“Helan går
Sjung hopp faderallan lallan lej
Helan går
Sjung hopp faderallan lej
Och den som inte helan tar
Han heller inte halvan får
Helan går
[Drink]
Sjung hopp faderallan lej”
For the ones who were still standing after all the snaps, it was time to just enjoy some more food.
And then it was time for the nighttime shenanigans. I didn’t know this group of people, apart from my friends who I came to visit, but they made me feel so welcome and at home! I really enjoyed the dancing, singing, skinny-dipping, drinking, laughing and friendships I built up over the of that weekend and I was sad to leave again. I would go back and celebrate Midsummer in Sweden again in a heartbeat.
