SWEDEN SOJOURN, Day 3, June 22, 2012

Thanks, dear Alexandra, for the one and only comment I have received concerning my recent blog entries. Wish you were here as well. Today we celebrated Midsummer's Eve with the Swedes, and it was a lovely day for the fete. More about that as I unfold the day for you and the rest of the possible reading public who might be interested in events across the pond. We arose and had a particularly copious breakfast buffet, of which I indulged in cereal and raisins, mixed fruits, strong Gevalia coffee, and a wonderful poppy seed roll with Swedish lingonberry jam. Then we boarded the bus and drove from Falun to Nusnaes to visit Nils Olsson's Hemsloejd gift shop and Dala Horse factory. We watched as different expert craftsmen and women hand carved and painted Dala horses in a matter of minutes. Today, Nusnaes is the center of Dala horse production, with the most famous being the Nils Olsson's and Grannas Olsson's workshops. The Olsson's workshop, founded in 1922, is the oldest company which still makes Dala horses. The wood from which the figures are carved comes from the slow-growing pine forest around Lake Siljan. The wood is ideal for carpentry and carving. The trees made into horses are marked out while still standing in the forest, Only the best timber will be selected for carving into horses. The trees are felled and sawed into pieces of a suitable size for the blanks which will eventually be made into horses. The blanks are sawed and carved by hand. Because of this, no two horses are exactly alike. The horses are dipped in primer immediately after carving to reveal any defects in the wood that may need to be fixed. After priming, any cavities in the wood are filled in to insure smoothness. The horses are polished to give them a smooth, attractive finish. After sanding, the horses are dipped into paint of the appropriate color. The traditional pattern is painted freehand by practiced "ripple painters." The art of rippling requires great skill and takes years to learn. Finally, the horses are varnished and sent out from Nusnaes to serve as a symbol of Sweden in the outside world. I was able to find a wonderful table runner, a small Dala horse with dark blue background, a beautifully-carved butter spreader, and a gift for Alexandra's birthday in the gift shop. By this time it was about 11:00, and we left for the town of Mora, on Lake Siljan, the most northerly trip of our entire Swedish sojourn. It is at the NW corner of the lake. The main draw here are two excellent museums, one regarding the painter Anders Zorn and the other dedicated to the Vasaloppet cross country ski race. As we were going to tour the Anders house next door, I paid about an hour-long visit to the Anders Museum, which showcased the work of Sweden's best known painter, who happened to have painted three American presidents: T. Roosevelt, Grover Cleveland, and Taft. He lived from 1860-1920, and moved to Mora in 1896. He was most successful as a portrait painter, and worked in both oil and watercolor. He spent periods living in both France and Great Britain, and I saw works from both sojourns as well as work he had painted while in Sweden. Afterwards, all of us toured his house next door--a truly iconoclastic site replete with niches of interest as eclectic and fascinating as Carl Larsson's--both men were friends, by the way. For example, a cavernous 10-meter high hall with a steeply V-shaped roof, entirely constructed from wood and decked out in traditional Dalarna designs and patterns, reminded me very much of the eclecticism of the Olana house in upstate New York. After the house, we were off to the centuries-old Raettvik Church, on the shores of Lake Siljan, with it's hundreds of tiny wooden "houses" used centuries ago to stable horses in winter during the long church services. Our next stop was an inn on Lake Siljan which served a wonderful buffet which I photographed extensively. As we had skipped lunch, we had a combination of lunch and dinner here. There were two different variety of salmon; herring prepared about four different ways; several different types of salads, deviled eggs with tiny shrimp in the mixture on top; a table with different kinds of Swedish cheeses, one of which, a cheese containing caraway seeds, became my new favorite. Finally, there was a rhubarb crumble with cream which took my breath away--it was that good--not too sweet, and, with a good strong cup of Gevalia coffee, was ambrosia from the gods! What a way to honor Midsummer Eve! Eventually, we returned to Raettvik for folk music, folk dancing, and the raising of the Midsummer Pole for Midsummer's Eve. Midsummer's Eve is a special festive celebration for locals, for those returning to their roots, and for tourists. For thousands of years, forefathers celebrated the summer solstice with various rites. With folk musicians playing and many people wearing traditional costumes, the Midsummer Maypole, symbol of fruitfulness and fertility, is placed at the village's biggest crossroads. The symbols of the Maypole include the cock at the very top, then the Swedish flag, and further down wreaths and garlands symbolizing togetherness and solidarity. The Maypole stays up throughout the year and is taken down, decorated, dressed, and raised anew--a symbol of tradition, renewal, and hope. Finally, all of us returned to the hotel at about 8:15 p.m., after a full and wonderful day of sightseeing! What a treat to have been privy to such a national celebration! More tomorrow! A tired but happy Sylvia