nordstjernan The Swedish Newspaper of America
Published by Swedish News. Volume 144 No. 13, July 15, 2016. Price per copy $2.50
This Week, Page 3
The U.S. Navy dropped anchor in Stockholm.
Sweden, Page 2, 3
With the Maypole, ferries and the Statue of Liberty in the harbor, Battery Park in New York is one of the greatest places to celebrate Midsummer. “More Swedes than at similar celebrations in Sweden” often attend this annual event at the very tip of Manhattan.
Photo: Dag Bennstrom
Sweden celebrates a victory in the UN Security Council / Record numbers of British citizens want to move to Sweden / There’s hope for Don’t Grope campaign / Stockholm welcomes US Navy and USS Mount Whitney / Film Festival finally gets the godfather of filmmaking to visit Sweden
Feature, Page 7
Massive furniture recall: IKEA’s problems with furniture tip-overs won’t go away.
Pacific States, Page 10
Three young women make up the Queen’s Court at the Sveadal Midsummer celebration.
Our cultural luggage
Continued on page 3
Page 10
Dashboard, Page 10, 11
Suitcase restrictions may prevent us from buying too many souvenirs when we travel, but some important things don’t fit in luggage anyway.
Photo: Shutterstock
Cultural heritage is luckily a portable possession. Although the early emigrants couldn’t take many of their physical belongings with them, they could carry remembered tunes and rituals inside their heads across the oceans and rugged terrain. They could break out in song anywhere, a cappella or with a fiddle, on board a ship, riding a wagon train or rail car, and in lodge halls. As Swedish Americans dispersed into settlements across the country, annual performances of rituals like Sankta Lucia bound them together and with their homeland. The prevalence of singing societies and church choirs that sprang up in urban centers, and the naming of various lodges for Jenny Lind, attest to the continuing importance of music to these Swedish immigrants. Today,
A Scandinavian-American run for Congress / Swedes raced to spend some banknotes before they went out of circulation / Zlatan announces retirement from Swedish soccer / Standing ovations (and dancing) as the King awarded the 2016 Polar Music Prizes / First highway for electric trucks.
Midsummer at the ‘Old Farm’
There are more than 100 open-air museums in the United States, many of which are historic. But only one is devoted entirely to Swedish immigration in America: Gammelgården (“Old Farm”). At the Scandia, Minnesota museum, five historic buildings on 11 acres have been carefully restored and preserved to tell the story and show the culture and daily lives of our immigrant forefathers. Throughout the year, Gammelgården hosts language classes, farmers markets, exhibition and handiwork weekends, concerts, cooking classes and special events, including a lutfisk dinner, a meatball run and Lucia Dagen. One of the most highly / Page 5 anticipated days of the year, however is Midsommar.
Page 4
Photo: Kathleen Erickson
by Kitty Hughes guest@nordstjernan.com