Day 14: Midsummer in Dalarna, Sweden

Today was all full of celebrating. Martin’s sister arrived yesterday. Today was her birthday and at mid-morning coffee there was a delicious cake.
There are an abundance of birch saplings in the area. Several were growing in the backyard and everyone pitched in to cut a bunch down. They were loaded on a cart and then they were placed around the outside of the houses to look festive. We all got to help. The houses did look really nice afterwards!
After lunch we went down to the local Maypole and helped with decorating it. The pole was decorated with twined birch branches and little bouquets of wild flowers that we picked yesterday and this afternoon. The kids tried to teach me and the boys the most popular Maypole song. It is about a frog, then a pig, and finally an elephant. Swedish has three extra vowels and is so tricky to learn. We did tolerably well.
Martin’s mom presented us with awesome Swedish dishcloth souvenirs.  After dinner we all went back down to the Maypole. Musicians played traditional music while several men slowly hoisted the Maypole a little at a time. The kids used the Mavic to document the process from the air. Once the pole was erected Martin and his sister led the singing and dancing while the musicians played. It was our first Maypole without ribbons. The pole will stay up and decorated all year . It will be taken down and undressed just prior to Midsummer next year. Once the singing and dancing ended, we had done about 6 fun and vigorous songs, everyone went to a nearby center for coffee, juice boxes, and sweets. The musicians entertained and there was a kid’s lottery. Edon won, but let Iris select a prize, as he doesn’t look very young. Iris selected a Velcro ball dartboard. The weather all day had been cold and rainy and we were glad to get home. Insects had been biting at the Maypole, which was unusual. We hope they will not be there the next couple of days!
We got home lateish, but still managed to fit in two games of Farkle with Martin, his sister, Iris, Edon, and Ezi.