Generations Away From the Old Countries and the Lutfisk

This cracked me up:  my  friend, also a 2nd generation real Swede,  who went to the Scandinavian festival in Ephraim this year,  said:  "My boys kept asking 'Where's all the Swedish stuff?' as we walked around the place. My husband kept saying, 'We must be in the wrong area... there must be a Swedish area...' NOPE!"

---and she laughed at the Viking dinner recipe blunders, like cucumbers pickled with parsley instead of dill, and cranberry sauce as a side instead of lingonberries-- but she said she really enjoyed her  "Swedish" carne asade tacos.

Scandinavian food, music, and merchandise represented maybe 1 or 2% of the whole carnival offerings.  I wondered why they still bothered to call the festival Scandinavian.  There were more Himalayan and Peruvian booths than there are Norwegian or Danish ones.  There was a lot more American merchandise, storytelling, and music than any Swedish, Finnish, or Icelandic. 

Yet, I'm not utterly disappointed in Ephraim's Scandinavian Days' authenticity.  We did find some crocheted and plastic viking helmets, some dalahastar, some meatballs, and some reindeer jewelry. And it's always good to have family time, anywhere, anyplace.

I do understand that time changes things, including the connectedness a group of people feel, or don't feel, for their cultural heritage.  Sanpete County had Scandinavian ancestors, but the locals are no longer Scandinavian.  They are Americans.  It's the same in Midway, with Swiss Days.  They have a hard time even being motivated to want to hold on to old-world traditions.  No one visits the old world anymore.  No one speaks the language.

But in our family, we were able to.  We went to Sweden every summer, and spent months, up until  college age.  We always spoke Swedish, even when we lived in Germany or America.  And so do my kids.  I love, love, love my Swedish heritage!

So, all night, I've been dreaming up even more things to add to the list of 50+ ways to improve Scandinavian Days in Ephraim. 

·         Cute red-and-white outhouses for port-o-potties.

·          Puppet shows and puppet or marionette making, with Scandinavian characters, of course.

·          Fil-mjolk taster's table.

·          Artists-and-writers-event, celebrating Carl Larsson, Anders Zorn, Selma Lagerlof, Ilon Wikland, Astrid Lindgren, Ingmar Bergman, and live Scandinavian-American artists, too.

·          Ceramic and glass blowing demonstrations. 

·         Wild strawberries.

·          Wild mushrooms.

·          Look-alike contests that not only include ABBA, but also Scandinavian royalty, Astrid Lindgren characters, or Moomintrolls.  He-man viking games --that also include the women.

My mom said that I also forgot to mention holiday traditions:

·         Lucia.

·          Dressing up Kids as Nice Easter Witches.

·          Advent candles.

·          Fetisdagsbullar. 

·         Midsummer wreaths in the hair

Fetisdagsbulle

Advent Ljus

Pask Karringar

She emailed me: "Jag tror problemet var att folk helt enkelt inte vet mycket om Sverige och vet inte hur det ska vara. Nasta ar kan jag skicka min svenska klanning om du vill lana den. Man kan ju latt gora midsommarkransar att satta i haret av silkeblommor. Nu ska jag gora en silltallrik med potatis och hart brod till lunch. Jag var till IKEA igar pa vagen hem "

--which translates:  "I think the problem is that people simply don't know much about Sweden [Scandinavia] and don't know how it should be.  Next year I can send you my Swedish traditional dress to borrow.  You can also easily make midsummer wreaths to put on your hair, of flowers.  Now I am making a pickled herring plate with potatoes and hard bread for lunch.  I was at Ikea yesterday on the way home..."

Another friend told me that I should start my own Scandinavian days.  "You SHOULD start your own! The neat thing is you know your heritage & it has been strongly passed down.  A lot of people don't get that. (Most of us are "mutts" so to speak!) I bet in the beginning those festivals were more authentic, yet each generation loses a bit and gets more "Americanized" if it isn't continued to be passed down. "

Generations from now, my grandchildren probably will not understand or be charmed by "Petter och Hans Fyra Getter," "Emil," or "Ronja Rovardotter," nor get the point of dancing around the midsummer pole/ Christmas tree while holding hands, or like the smell of cardamom bread, the melody of the troll lullabye, the sturdiness of a dalahast in the windowsill, the tastes of lingonberry jam, or pickled herring, or liverwurst (for breakfast with pickles, on hard bread, with hot chocolate.) 

But I really hope they will.

Anyway, I have decided with my sister that we'll have our own little Midsummer Fest again this year, here in the back yard, with dancing, singing, Swedish games and lots of good Swedish food.  I will post pictures when we do. 

Anybody want to come?  It will be potluck, and I promise not to complain if you bring Italian Ices or Carne Asada instead of Lutfisk. 

(I have never gotten past the smell to eat any Lutfisk, so my grandchildren probably never will learn to love it, either. ) That's how these things go.