Happy Summer Solstice! If you’re Swedish, you probably got up at dawn and rolled around naked in the dewy grass, then hightailed it to your summer house to weave a wreath for your hair and erect a maypole. Those tasks completed, you set out a midday feast for your friends of chilled pickled herring, smoked salmon, new potatoes seasoned with dill, cheese quiches, meatballs, strawberry shortcake with whipped cream and bottles and bottles of chilled aquavit. Once everyone was sated…and inebriated…the dances and games began. Single women joined hands and circled the maypole dreaming of future husbands and everyone jumped around doing The Little Frogs dance.
Or, if you’re not Swedish—like me—maybe you went to the library to pick up books on hold and saw your dermatologist for your annual exam. Later you made stuffed peppers for dinner, watched the evening news and tried to fall asleep at 8:30 on the longest day of the year.
I always find it interesting to observe culture with an outsider’s eye. Imagine that you’re an alien making your first trip to earth and landing, by chance, on the 4th of July in a small town. You see the streets lined with people as a long column of people dressed alike march down the middle of the street making noise with metal objects. The marchers are followed by boxes pulled by machines. Women sit on the boxes dressed in long frocks wearing sparkly crowns and waving their hands in greeting. From atop other boxes people throw objects into the crowd that children run to grab off the ground, unwrap and eat. There are also large machines moving slowly in the line and men wearing tall hats, riding tiny machines in tight circles. What if the aliens wandered into a church, a fast food restaurant or attended a wedding or funeral? What might they see? Can you imagine if the aliens landed on Halloween?
Our dress, food, dance, music, decorations and rituals are culture-specific and often seem odd when we first encounter them. Celebrations often require special accoutrements adding to the novelty. All the traditions signal that this is a special event meant to evoke emotion and create memory. The first day of summer 2024–doesn’t it deserve some hoopla even if it’s as simple as having a glass of wine with your stuffed peppers? I think so. Cheers!
Crows Feet Chronicles 