It's Midsummer Eve; and after varying weather forecasts earlier in the week, it actually turned out quite a nice day for traditional Swedish Midsummer celebrations - even if windy, and a bit on the chilly side towards evening.
For my own part, however, I did not feel tempted this year to go for a long afternoon walk to watch people dancing around a maypole. So if you're curious to see some of that, I'll just refer you to what is probably my best blog post from another such an occasion in the past -way back in 2014. It even has a video with folk dancers in traditional costumes (recorded by me).
There's been a lot of grass pollen in the air this week, and sometimes when I've been out for a while, I find that I've lost my voice when I get back in (like when a neighbour started talking to me in the lift, and I could not produce much of an answer), and I've also had various violent attacks of sneezing. (In spite of taking my allergy meds.) And I guess feeling generally rather tired (for no other obvious reason) can probably be ascribed to the same cause as well. (I've been allergic to grass pollen ever since my teens.)
So tonight I felt content to just let Barbie and Skipper dress up for Midsummer Eve, while I'm just going to stay home and have a cup of tea and some strawberries, and watch TV or some film... (Not quite decided yet.)
Happy Midsummer!
(The mug has motives from Midsummer in the Moomin Valley)
Your dolls look like they are in very good condition considering their age. I rarely go out at night either, it's nice to hibernate at home.
ReplyDeleteAmy, the midsummer events I've occasionally attended in later years have all been in the daytime. No longer really tempted by the thought of late night events of any kind... :)
DeleteBarbie and Skipper are looking Fine and ready to go out in the grass and dance. Good choice to stay away from the pollen...
ReplyDeleteSandra, even apart from the grass allergy, midsummer was never really my favourite holiday. I was never much of a dancer, and staying up all night not really "my thing" either. These days, a few memories from my youth are quiye enough think back on - with no wish to repeat at 70! ;)
DeleteYou had a nice quiet at home celebration with Barbie and Skipper. Do you have a Hepa room air purifier? It keeps pollen and dust out of the air and is not expensive. I have one in my bedroom and one in the living room.
ReplyDeleteTerra, I do have an extra air purifier in my bedroom. The building also has a filtered ventilation system so the best thing is not to keep one's own windows and balcony door open too much.
DeleteSounds like a peaceful and cozy way to spend Midsummer Eve. Sometimes it’s just as special to celebrate quietly with strawberries, tea, and a bit of nostalgia, especially when allergies are being less than festive
ReplyDeleteRo, I find my need of noisy celebrations with lots of people involved shrinking with every year. (And it was never that big to start with!)
DeleteI enjoyed your video and found myself wanting to dance along with it. The costumes are lovely. I particularly like the men's hats!
ReplyDeleteHayfever is bad this year.
Glad you enjoyed the video, Janice. It was a rare occasion that I managed to get so close to the dancers that time!
DeleteBarbie and Skipper look very smart in their summer dresses - and ready to celebrate.
ReplyDeleteMany years ago we were up in Värmland at Midsummer and I remember watching the the dancing. There were some beautiful embroideries on some of the costumes, which I understood were done by the ladies.
Carol, yes, I know that some "folk costume enthusiasts" also like to sew their own. There are lots of local varieties of such traditional costumes.
DeleteBarbie and Skipper take me back to my youth - though mine was a Tressy doll. The pollen count is so high here due to our current heatwave that I've had to start taking antihistamines, mainly to keep my eyes bearable and not too scratchy.
ReplyDeleteJenny, I had to look that one up (Tressy), not sure I've ever seen one of those. I had in total 8 of Barbie & co though. I donated most of them to a charity shop a couple of years ago but decided to keep these two + some of all the clothes my mum made for them back in the 1960s. Back then, kind of taken for granted by me (she was always sewing) but now I appreciate the delicacy of the details...
DeleteI am thinking of Barbie and Midge. My memory could be wrong!
ReplyDeleteKay, I never had a Midge, but I had three Barbies of different hair colours, one Ken, one Allan, two Skipper and one Skooter (same size as Skipper but different face). They all spent ~50 years in hibernation in a storage box, until two years ago - when I revived them, washed all their clothes, packed a "suitcase" for each of them, and finally sent most of them off to a charity shop for new adventures. I decided to keep these two, though - and am glad I did. They are now on display instead of packed down in a box, and I change their outfits from time to time. No regrets about giving away the rest - two are enough for me to play with at this time of life... ;)
DeleteJust looked at your post from 2014. Excellent post! Loved the costumes.
ReplyDeleteBarbie and Skipper look like mother and daughter. Actually, I am surprised that they are wearing clothes as throughout the rest of Europe it is well known that all Swedes are naturists who love to frolic naked at midsummer.
ReplyDeleteYP, those are just rumours to attract gullible tourists. Once they get here, they'll meet people dressed in heavy woollen folk costumes dancing round maypoles to the tunes of a military march from the French Revolution, and pretending to be little funny frogs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sm%C3%A5_grodorna
DeleteYou know I am always happy to see Barbie and Skipper, and they are perfectly dressed for their very own Midsummer celebration with you as their guest of honour. And they left all the strawberries for you to eat, too :-D
ReplyDeleteMeike, they did do that. Or at least sharing just one strawberry between them was enough for them! ;-)
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