Of course Midsummer’s Eve is the big summer holiday in Sweden, and I love being there.  We enjoyed music in the church that morning.

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Everything is decorated with small birch trees and birch branches, even the entrance to the church.

In the afternoon we went to the folk park for the community celebration, which starts when the musicians arrive.

Many of my Swedish relatives were already there.

And the maypole was decorated and waiting to be raised.

I love seeing everyone in their folk dress, especially the children.

Everyone from the parish has the same dress.  This is my relative, Inga-Britt, whom I hadn’t seen in many years!

Here’s Emmy in her Nås dress, and don’t you love the man’s clothes?  I especially love Torsten’s frock coat.

With lots of help, the maypole gets hoisted into place.

It’s hard to take a picture with people and a maypole!

The park is right on the river, part of the same park where Ingmarsspelen is performed.  I told Torsten that during the intermission of the play, we were walking along the bank and we heard violin music coming from across the river.  It was hauntingly beautiful.  We looked and looked and Bob thought he could make out someone standing in the reeds on the other side.  Torsten said, “Oh, that was Näcke!”  At first I thought he was naming someone he knew, then I remembered that Näcke is the water sprite who makes beautiful music!  It must have been him!  Sometimes Näcke lures humans to a watery death, but other times he shares his talent for making beautiful music with them.  How lucky were we?

The wild lupine is in full bloom at midsummer and it has been a tradition to have my picture taken standing in a field of lupine.

Bob got creative with the camera!

We were invited to Sven-Eric’s for a midsummer meal.  It’s also traditional to mow around the daisies that bloom in your lawn!

The food was delicious, and there was plenty of it!

The weather was getting cloudy but it was nice enough that we could eat outside.

Two very happy guests.

And we even had room for dessert later as we sat up and talked into the wee hours of the morning.

Fabulous memories!