User:Cecilia Oaks/sandbox

Swedish American Holidays ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————— There are several holidays that are celebrated in Sweden that have been brought over to the United States by Swedish Americans. Some of these include "Trettondedag" and "Tjugondedag jul," "Fettisdagen," "Valborg," Midsummer, Lucia and many more. Some holidays they celebrate are already celebrated in the United States but are a little bit different than what we do, here, like, Easter (Påsk), Labour day, Christmas Eve and Day (Jul), and New Year's Eve.

Påsk Swedish Easter is celebrated around the first week of April, close to when Easter is celebrated in the United States. Traditionally, Swedes would celebrate by dressing up their kids as little påskhäxor (Easter witches) and they go door to door asking for candy, similar to how we celebrate Halloween in the US. More recently, however, it is quite common to see a stereotypical "American" Easter with egg hunts and candy for the little ones to find. For Swedish Americans in the US, they commonly have a more typical "American" Easter while keeping a few more Swedish traditions in their homes. One of these includes an "Easter tree" where you cut branches from a tree, place them in a vase of some sort, and hang decorative eggs on the branches. Another more Swedish tradition that can be found in Swedish American homes is a traditional Påskbord. This entails a large meal that is eaten together as a family with foods such as deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, meatballs, sill (pickled herring), and other fresh fish like salmon.

Midsommar Midsummer is celebrated at the summer solstice, recognizing the longest day of the year. In celebrating, many Swedes will dress in traditional attire (including flower head garlands for the girls) and gather together to eat good food, sing traditional songs as the band plays, and dance around the maypole. The festivities start by decorating the maypole, which is a large cross with two wreaths hanging from both of the short sides, typically made of wood. Everyone gathers together to decorate the maypole with greenery first, then after the greenery covers the majority of the pole, they proceed to add in various types of flowers until the whole pole is covered. After the pole is decorated, the men lift it up while the women follow in a line behind, and they sing a song, walking around with the maypole. At the end of the song, the men place the maypole in a hole in the ground and raise it to a standing position. After that, the evening is spent singing and dancing around the maypole, and eating good food with family and friends. Swedish Americans can celebrate with various Swedish Heritage societies across the country who try to keep the Swedish traditions alive.