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The blog

  • 2010-07-30  kl. 14:53 In a couple of days. me and my dog will take a course in how to teach the dog to find chanterelles (mushrooms). The autumn is closing in on us and the forests will soon be full of mushrooms and berries. It would be very useful if the dog could find and then show me where the mushrooms are. Have you got a good knife and a mushroom brush if you are planning to go mushroom picking? We have a combined mushroomknife/brush here in our webshop if you are missing one.
    /Marlene

  • 2010-07-19  kl. 13:40 PLEASE OBSERVE! DUE TO TECHNICAL PROBLEMS, OUR MAIL HAS NOT BEEN WORKING. IF YOU HAVE TRIED TO GET IN CONTACT WITH US, BUT WITHOUT ANY LUCK - PLEASE TRY AGAIN!

  • 2010-06-04  kl. 11:23 I think the people up here in the north appreciate the summer more than people in the central parts of the world. We do have long, cold, dark winters where everyone seemes to walk around as some kind of zombies, so when the light finally returnes to our country we turn a little crazy...

  • 2010-05-04  kl. 13:00 Have you ever had one of those days when everything goes wrong? You oversleep, get late to work, your computer is not cooperating with you, and important papers are missing...

    These days you just want to go back home and pull a blanket over your head. Maybe you can dream away to some desert island where you can lay down on the beach and not get bothered by anyone. My dream would be about a big green garden with myself in a nice, cosy hammock.
    If you need a blanket to pull over your head- why not take a look in our webshop? Maybe you can find something here that can make you dream away somewhere else...

    Marlene

  • 2010-04-28  kl. 09:00 The Valpurgisnight or Valborg as it is called here in Sweden is a night when all supernatural beings seem to be very active. We light big bonfires this night to scare them off...

    If you belive in supernatural beings or if you don´t doesn´t really matter. We also celebrate this night as a welcome to the spring. Here at Skansen we have programs all day, and our big bonfire will be started at 9pm. Welcome!

  • 2010-04-23  kl. 16:02 Springtime is in the air and is it not incredible how much the weather has an influence on how we feel? We have had a few rainy and cold days, and everyone seem a lot more annoyed then. This morning the sun was shining, the birds were singing and everyone looks quite happy...

    We have a lot of new things in our webshop! See and enjoy.

  • 2010-03-11  kl. 13:01 This year Skansen is focused on the royal weddings! If you visit Skansen on March 27 and 28, you can attend the wedding exhibiton at restaurant Solliden. Here you can find information of everything you need to know to make your wedding perfect.

    Here you can find information about wedding clothes, decorations, catering, wedding cakes, gifts and a lot more. You can talk to weddingcoordinators, florists and all other people you need to establish the wedding of your dreams. Did you know that it is possible to get married here at Skansen? Skansen offers many unique environments for this purpose.
    Contact Ebba Hermelin at 0046 8 442 82 39 or ebba.hermelin@skansen.se to find out more about getting married here at Skansen.

  • 2010-03-05  kl. 16:18 Why not buy a package of moose napkins instead of a flower the next time you are invited to someone? Maybe both would be very appreciated?

  • 2010-02-25  kl. 13:16 We have just recieved a big delivery of flower pots! They are usually delivered in time for spring, so maybe this winter is finally going to an end. Seeing the snow falling outside my window makes me doubt though...

    There are only two producers of flowerpots here in Sweden. One of them is Gränsfors Flower Pot Factory. The flower pots have the same shape and color as they did 150 years ago.


  • 2010-02-08  kl. 13:44 Saint Valentines day was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD. The holiday was named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Valentine.

    This is since the middleage traditionally a day for lovers to give each other gifts, flowers, confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as valentines).
    Maybe you want to get something to the persom you love?
    A warming heart or a lovely necklace are availible in our webshop!

  • 2010-01-08  kl. 15:15 Do you need to calm your nerves after the holidays? Why not try to learn some kind of handicraft this year? Maybe you can remember your grandparents doing some kind of woodwork or knitting in the winter evenings. It really calms you down and guess what? It is also fun!

  • 2009-12-31  kl. 23:43 Happy New Year!

  • 2009-12-23  kl. 11:42 As the year is coming to a close, the Skogaholm vegetable garden at Skansen puts on yet another costume. She is now dressed in yuletide white. In generous layers soft powdered snow covers each and every branch and every bit of soil.

    Strolling through the snow, my father and I are walking into a picture postcard. A Christmas dream. When a horse trots by and his bells jingle, I am lost in memories that in truth are not my own, but those of story books and films. After all, I am a child of the television age, and the cultural heritage belonging to all of us was from the start filtered through moving pictures with sets and actors.

    Here at Skansen the holidays have looked more or less the same since the late 19th century. The horse with his jingling bells is not accompanied by an ultra-energized Santa with a fake beard. Nay, the muffled silence returns when the magnificent animate being has passed by, and I gaze at two green apples still hanging at the top of a snow clad Menigasker apple tree. My father captures this special moment in the photo above of the garden path to the tiny summer house.

    Johanna

  • 2009-10-30  kl. 07:27 In Sweden we have our own special Santa Claus. In fact, he is not called Santa at all. No, our Father Christmas – who looks more or less like Santa - is called the Tomte. He started out as a pagan mythical creature of Scandinavian folklore.

    Present day Tomtes and Christmas Elves have their origin in the homestead gnome –the tomte – who kept an eye on the farm and had to be respected and well fed all year long – but especially on Christmas Eve.

    During the late 19th and early 20th centuries when the German tradition of Saint Nicholas got mixed with the tomte he turned into Father Christmas – or Santa Claus, as it were.

    Today at Christmas time most Swedish families decorate their home with a collection of tomtes, some made by their children in school. There may be a group of tomte-elves in the kitchen window and more tomtes might be seen on top of the television set, the bookshelf, the bathroom window sill – and of course around the Christmas tree. One could argue that there is no place in the house unworthy of its own tomte. Where will you put yours?

    Johanna


  • 2009-10-15  kl. 19:48 At this stage of autumn, the park looks less lush, but not yet bare . The foliage from the trees lies largely on the ground. All the green is gone from those leaves still clinging to the branches that gave them life all summer.

    This is a singular kind of beauty I do not want to miss out on, so I go for long windy walks as often as I can. At Skansen the vegetable garden at Skogaholm displays barren brown soil where previously bright greens and purple cabbage were proudly growing.

    Brown dirt. Brown dirt. Just what the vegetable garden looked like two hundred years ago at Årsta Manor in Stockholm, where, on 14 October 1809, Märta Helena Reenstierna wrote in her diary:

    SATURDAY. FINALLY THE WEATHER CLEARED UP, SO THAT GREEN ONIONS, CABBAGE ET CETERA WERE BROUGHT IN AND THE DAY WORKERS WERE LET GO. I PAEYED 6 RDr:m: FOR THE ROOT VEGETABLE HARVEST , WHICH LASTED 9 DAYS. OLD MRS. ÖHMAN BUTCHERED 2 LAMBS AND THE SHEEP SLAUGHTER WAS OVER, BIG THIS YEAR: 4 EWES AND 6 LAMBS.

    Our web shop sells the most wonderful organic sheep skins. In Sweden they are traditionally used for infants. You can actually wash them in the machine on the delicate cycle. Add one of these sheep skins to your favorite armchair or in front of the fireplace, and you will be all set for the coming cold season.

    The lady at Årsta, well off as she was, lived many years before a stove was installed in the drawing of her big house. I must say, though, that I am very thankful for central heating. In Sweden today it is rarely cold indoors in the winter.

    Johanna

  • 2009-10-06  kl. 08:05 Two hundred years ago, the Tottie Residence – now at Skansen – had a substantial garden with an ORANGERIE. This is where Märta Helena Reenstierna of Årsta Manor kept her orange trees in winter. In October of 1809, the orange trees had been moved to their winter home.

    When I walk by her house, still in its original location in Stockholm, the stately maple trees have already turned yellow and gold. The creek running by the house looks almost black in the faint autumn light.

    Two hundred years ago cold fall weather and rain must have made the estate look sad and lonely. The year of 1809 had been a dramatic one for our country. The king had been deposed, and half our realm had been lost in the war with Russia. In September the lady at Årsta had read in the papers about the peace treaty being signed.

    On 6 October she writes in her diary:

    FRIDAY. RAIN STORM. IN THE MORNING A VISIT BY MY OLDEST LIVING NEPHEW, SECOND LIEUTENANT CARL JOHAN FLEETWOOD, WHO HAS RETURNED FROM THE WAR. THANK GOD! UNHARMED, BUT HE HAS BEEN THROUGH HARDSHIPS AND SEEN TERRIFYING DEVASTATION. HE DID NOT HAVE THE TIME TO STAY FOR DINNER BECAUSE EARLY TOMORROW MORNING THE REGIMENT SHALL MARCH BACK HOME.

    The son of the Årsta lady, Hans Abraham, is taken ill with vomiting and fever soon after the cousin has left. His mother writes of his being sick to his stomach.

    IN SPITE OF HAVING EATEN NOTHING WHATSOEVER TODAY.

    Did she suspect there was a connection with the visit of the young soldier? After all, if Hans Abraham had not been discharged from the army, he could have been one of the young men fighting on the Eastern front. That thought might have unsettled his stomach as it would for many.

    Today in Sweden we live in such harmony, I think, and instantly realize that I am wrong. Many of our immigrated residents are refugees from war zones and live with painful memories of violence and desolation.

    Visiting the houses at Skansen is an oppurtunity to go back in time. Comparing our world with the one that is long lost, makes us contrast it with our own. If we reflect a little more we may find many experiences we share with those who lived here before us.

    Johanna

  • 2009-09-12  kl. 18:58 The autumn fair at Skansen is a festive event in the style of the 1890s. In the old agrarian society the fall harvest usually provided plenty of food. Potatoes were pulled from the fields. Pigs were fattened up a bit. Cheese had ripened. And the sale of butter had brought some hard cash to the household.

    So naturally a farming family wanted to go to a nearby fair when it took place, perhaps only this one time in a whole year. Maybe a new horse could be bought. Or sold.
    The autumn fair was also an important social event. A rare opportunity to meet people from neighboring villages and counties. Young people had the chance to get together – perhaps even meet a suitable future wife or husband.

    In late September when Skansen has its yearly autumn fair, market stalls are bursting with aromatic sausages, ripe cheeses and delicious breads. An abundance of traditional handicraft, flowers and wreaths are on display. On the lawn between the Oktorp and the Skåne farmsteads a crowd of craftspeople, traditional food producers and others - all in authentic 1890s costumes – offer their goods to locals and tourists alike.

    Many buy traditional treats for lunch and sit down to eat while they soak up the atmosphere. Even washing dishes appears to fun at this fair: After lunch plates and utensils are given to the women in the washing-up corner. While scrubbing your plate with a broom root they talk and laugh with their friends. In their long cotton skirts and head scarves they clearly enjoy participating in this re-creation of an old Swedish fair. What a wondeful visit to the past!

    Johanna

  • 2009-08-30  kl. 06:54 A zipper, an apple peeler and an adjustable spanner – what do they have in common? Well, the answer is that they were all invented by Swedes. Today is Ironmonger Day at Skansen and there will be information about Swedish inventions and lots of activities related to industrial history.

    Not only were Swedish inventions tremendously important for our industrial development. Many of them are still used by all of us in our everyday life, including the telephone receiver, the safety match and the adjustable spanner in our tool box at home.

    In a white building in the urban quarter at Skansen you can enter the world of the 1930s – just at the threshold of the modern Swedish welfare state.
    The mechanical tools of modernity are on display in the ironmonger shop on the corner. Behind the old wooden counter an entire wall is covered with small drawers where tools and fittings are stored. Wearing a shirt and tie beneath his long grey coat, Herman the ironmonger knows all about them. From the right kind of screw to a new tractor – anything seems possible in the hardware shop in this modern era when motor cars have replaced most horse deliveries and water closets are standard in all new housing projects.

    Modernity, efficiency and hygiene are the watch words of the times. Away with unsanitary housing. Away with dirt. Away with the old-fashioned ways altogether. Off you go to the ironmonger to purchase new products that will help you keep up with the times. Having taken over the shop, Herman is doing very well indeed.

    His wife, Ingeborg, bought an apple peeler this year. Now it is the season for making apple-sauce. Auntie Lena has come in from the country with lots of apples from the orchard at the farm.

    Unfortunately, the hooks in the waistband of her skirt have come loose. She asks Ingeborg for needle and thread. Ingeborg gets an idea: Why not put in a zipper? But Auntie is old-fashioned and says she does not need such fancy new stuff. Nevertheless her niece takes out her sewing machine - and a zipper from a drawer. Why not? says Auntie Lena with a smile as she sits down to sew in the zipper.

    Between 11 am and 5 pm there will be activities this Sunday – including apple-sauce and a zipper! The ironmonger keeps his shop open every day excepts Christmas Eve all year round.

    Johanna

  • 2009-08-29  kl. 19:22 This weekend at Skansen we wash our dirty laundry in public. Into a wooden tub go the soiled linen sheets. A bagful of fine, white ash turns the hot water into lye, an alkaline solution that in the 19th century was used for washing.

    On a line strung between two trees hang striped aprons, colorful head scarves and other items of clothing and household linen. Over a zinc wash tub bends a woman with red knuckles from scrubbing and pounding her laundry.

    The village women help each other come spring, come autumn – the bi-yearly laundry is a big job that takes a whole week. Of course, there is always time for a coffee break and some chat. Will the men folk come by this evening for some dancing, do you think? Laundry week has to be made fun too. What a fine washing batlet the fiancé of Ulla gave her, have you seen it? Has the daughter-in-law given Berit a grandson yet? Lena looks so happy, what is her secret?

    This Sunday between 11 am and 5 pm the wash continues outside the Mora Farmstead. Come and see for yourself the brightest clean linen that the oldest woman in the village can remember!

    Johanna

  • 2009-08-22  kl. 07:49 185 years ago today, a well-dressed lady from Årsta travelled by horse and carriage to Skansen. Not to our museum, of course, which was not founded until 1891. But next to the Skans (fortress) where the young princes played war games…

    …a Mr. Burgman had created a fanciful garden on the grounds of his summer house. His estate went by the name of Skansen. The name of the lady who visited Skansen that day was Märta Helena Reenstierna (known as the Årsta lady due to her famous diary). She was most impressed by what Mr. Burgman had done with the place. On the evening of 22 August, 1826, she writes:

    TUESDAY. LESS HOT. IN THE AFTERNOON I WAS TOGETHER WITH HEAD CLERK BROGREN AT THE BURGMAN SKANS AT DJURGÅRDEN AND LOOKED AT THE PRECIOUS AND COSTLY GROUNDS WITH GRAND AVENUES AND ARCHWAYS, EXPENSIVE FOREIGN PLANTS IN MULTITUDE – PINEAPPLE, GRAPES ON A NUMBER OF VINES ….

    I WISH I COULD HAVE ... TASTED ONE OF THE GRAPES WHICH THE GARDENER JUST LET US LOOK AT. TWENTY YEARS AGO THERE WERE ALL ROCKS AND CLIFFS WHERE NOW THE SO CALLED SKANSEN STANDS … -MONEY AND EXPERTISE CAN ACCOMPLISH A GREAT DEAL …. THANKS TO THAT, MANY WORKING ARE SUPPORTED, AND MANY, LIKE MYSELF, ARE DELIGHTED SIMPLY BY BEHOLDING ALL OF THIS.

    Thank you, Märta Helena, for your fascinating diary which has given our time so much detailed knowledge of your time!

    (The painting of the lady by the Årsta bay now hangs in the Tottie Residence at Skansen.)

    Johanna

  • 2009-08-16  kl. 14:55 Skansen. The Skogaholm 18th century kitchen garden. Here grows an abundance of ravishing arugola, magnificent mangold and imposing cabbage. Herbs have been hung to dry from the ceiling in the kitchen wing at the manor. In previous times not only herbs had to be stored for the winter. Fruits and berries needed to be preserved in the form of jellies, jams and juices.

    To be head gardener on an estate like Skogaholm was an important position. He (it was always a he) was responsible not only for growing fruits and vegetables, but also for storing them for the winter. Buried in the ground, stored in a cool basement, dried, marinated, juiced and canned.

    Depending on the size and wealth of the estate, the lady of the manor could be involved with these earthy matters herself. On the 8th of August, 1827, Märta Helena Reenstierna at Årsta Manor writes:

    WEDNESDAY. PARTIALLY CLOUDY BUT NO RAIN. IN THE MORNING I PREPARED CHERRY PRESERVES AND CURRANT SYRUP …. AND THAT IS ALL THE WORK I DID TODAY, BECAUSE IN THE AFTERNOON MADEMOISELLE AND I WENT TO DJURGÅRDEN TO SEE MY COUSIN SVEN KAFLE WHO HAS HAD A STROKE.

    Whether this lady actually stirred the pots herself or left that to her staff is not easy to determine from reading her accounts of these household chores. (I hope the cook Katarina was not tipsy as she sometimes was!)
    What is clear is that the produce from her garden is a source of pride for her. Given how boastful I feel of my herbs in the modest planter on my terrace at home, I can well understand her.

    In the vegetable garden at Skansen it is such a pleasure to see that it is harvest-time again - just like every year since that August when the Årsta lady was making cherry preserves out of berries from her garden.
    Johanna

  • 2009-08-05  kl. 23:10 The Ironmonger Building at Skansen. (A step into the 1930s.) This week Ingeborg pickled cucumbers in big brown earthenware jars. Just like the ones we sell here in the web shop...

    She makes home-made marmalade too. And raspberry syrup. In her well-appointed kitchen Ingeborg has an electric stove for her cooking. After all, her husband owns the hardware shop. And the 1930s is all about modernity and progress.

    She knows me and can probably guess that I did not pickle anything this summer. Or made any marmalade. When I come to visit she still asks. Did I make any red currant jelly? Or some blueberry jam perhaps?

    I suppose I could easily have made some elderflower juice. At least. But I did not. So I look down and say nothing. (I notice that the fringe on the living room rug is just as neatly combed and well coiffed as her own golden curls.)

    “But my Mother-in-law is making lots of syrup and jam this week”, I offer.
    She invites me for coffee in the kitchen. Mmm... Homemade strawberry jam on crisp rusks. Delicious!

    At night I once again sit down to read in the diary that the Årsta lady kept two centuries ago - in the manor in the neigborhood where I live. I will have a look at what she wrote in August of 1809. Harvest-time. Most likely she has written of her home-made apricot jam or one of the other fruits from her beloved garden. It is all very charming to read about!

    Tomorrow I will have to remember to buy some more jam, Luckily that is possible these days!
    Johanna

  • 2009-07-12  kl. 14:10 Gift giving can be a shore or a great pleasure. To my nephew Oscar I have recently sent a toy seal which I bought here at Skansenbutiken.

    My sister and her family live in Mexico City, and I have not had the opportunity to visit them since Oscar was born. So he does not know me. I do not know him. Or his taste in toys. But at three he is a big boy now and will start nursery school this fall. A perfect occasion to send a gift!

    Four years ago, as I was getting to know the two boys who are now my step-sons, I bought them each a stuffed animal to add to their collection. For Vincent I chose a very soft grey bunny with a fluffy white tail. Vincent did not name it Bunny. No. To my surprise he named it Darth Vader, after a science fiction character (an evil one, I understand, who turns good in the end). Happily Vincent brought this cuddly gift with him to bed at night.

    And for Nicolas I selected a white seal similar to the one I have sent Oscar. Nicolas named his Sälis, and took it with him all the way to France one summer. (See my blog of March 17th below, to read about the real Skansen seal who took a surprising vacation indeed.)

    In return I received a most precious gift: a family with a pair of affectionate step-sons to tuck in at night, with their beloved stuffed animals.

    I hope his new seal pleases Oscar. That would please his auntie .

    Johanna

  • 2009-06-24  kl. 19:26 Having begun in a greenhouse behind the Skånegården at Skansen, these babies have all been put to bed now. But not to sleep. No, in the flower-beds they are growing by the day and…

    …are being looked after in the kitchen-garden by the gardener, Johan Anderson. When I come to see him – and the growing plants - Johan is busy sprinkling rose bushes with a spray bottle.
    - Why are you spraying the roses, Johan?
    - To prevent certain bugs we spray them with a mix of water, baking soda and old-fashioned yellow soap.
    - I see. Is that an old remedy?
    - It is, and these days it is used in organic gardening.
    - So you practice organic gardening here, then?

    - Yes, not only is that the healthy way to go about it. But since this is meant to be an 18th century garden, it is also correct from an historical point of view. After all, that is how things were done back then.
    - But how do you know what plants they grew at Skogaholm Manor such a long time ago?
    - One source is the file with correspondence the estate had saved from that time. When Skogaholm Manor was moved to Skansen in the 1930s, the archives that came with it provided lots of information. About the farm and the running of the place. One letter was found that had been written in 1814 by a company which sold seeds to the estate. It listed twenty different plants which at the time were grown in the kitchen-garden at Skogaholm.
    - So what plants were they?
    - Well, there were herbs like marjoram, thyme, basil, parsley, spearmint and lavender. You can see that we grow them here close to the house along the border. Johan gestures to the row of herbs underneath the apple trees.

    - Those are more or less the same herbs I grow in my tiny herb garden at home, I say.
    - Right. Those are still the most commonly used herbs, I think. In the letter they also listed vegetables like cauliflower, red cabbage, carrots, swiss chard, green onions and a couple of other kinds of onion.
    - But all those vegetables are common today too. Were there no unusual plants that are not generally used today?
    - Yes, the Gigante di Romagna is the plant over there, next to the roses. Johan takes me over to the other side of the long gravel path, next to the lovely 18th century summerhouse. He points to a small green plant.
    – This vegetable is unusual today. It is similar to artichoke. The best part is the cooked bottom which is served on individual plates and eaten the way you eat artichoke, one leaf at a time.

    As a goose family waddles by on the gravel path, I say good-bye to Johan and leave the garden thinking of my modest herb garden at home. Perhaps I should roast some potatoes tonight, and use leaves from my very own rosemary plant?

    In the skansenbutiken.se you can buy great tools for your own garden. A beautiful watering can makes it so much more fun to water the plants at night!
    Johanna

  • 2009-06-22  kl. 09:29 As usual thousands came to Skansen, at Djurgården in Stockholm, to celebrate Midsummer. Even before Skansen existed, the royal park at Djurgården was a pleasure ground for locals. In her diary 209 years ago, the lady at Årsta writes:

    24TH OF JUNE. TUESDAY AND MIDSUMMER DAY. IN THE MORNING THE WEATHER WAS MOST DELIGHTFUL WITH A CLEAR BLUE SKY AND SUNSHINE. MY DEAREST AND I, TOGHETHER WITH HANS ABRAHAM, WENT IN THE AFTERNOON TO DJURGÅRDEN FOR A WALK. BUT THE SKY TURNED DARK AND IT RAINED MOST DREADFULLY AND WE WERE GLAD TO TAKE SHELTER IN THE CARRIAGE. MANY OTHERS GOT ALL WET.

    Yes, the weather was fickle then as now, and we will have to make do with what we get. Lately the weather has been so miserable in Stockholm. I think we all feared that bad weather would ruin Midsummer Eve. I was actually surprised that the sun was shining when the Maypole at Tingsvallen was raised on Friday. The Skansen fiddlers were playing and the majestic Maypole, tall and pretty with green foliage and flowers, was pointing towards a beautiful sky!
    Johanna

  • 2009-06-15  kl. 19:27 From TV you recognize the scene: the corpse on the ground inside the roped-off area marked with bright tape. Imagine this, but instead of a crime victim, there is a huge Maypole on the ground…

    ….At Skansen a few days before the big day, that is what I see when I walk by. Following the Dalecarlia tradition, the gigantic Maypole next to the Mora Farmstead at Skansen stands upright all year long. But right now it lies flat on the ground waiting to be decorated with birch leaves and bright field flowers and raised to an upright position the day before Midsummer Eve. I am sure it is looking forward to being the center of attention for the annual three day celebration, as people dance joyously around it.

    In the old agricultural society, villages took annual Maypole celebrations very seriously indeed. On occasion someone took the tradition of decorating a large Maypole to an extreme: They went so far as to chop off a part of the pole in a neighboring village the night before Midsummer.

    The church has not always been very happy with people gathering around a Maypole at Midsummer. It was not uncommon for Maypole dancing to involve too much alcohol and wild partying.
    On 24th of June in 1798 Märta Helena Reenstierna writes in her diary:

    SUNDAY. MIDSUMMER DAY. HOT AND SUNNY. ALL NIGHT I HEARD BELLOWING AND ROARING FROM PEOPLE ON THE GROUNDS AND IN THE FIELDS. ALL OUR MENFOLK HAD BEEN DRINKING AND HAD GONE OFF OR WERE DRUNK AT HOME. ALL THE OXEN HAD GOT LOOSE AND GONE INTO THE GARDENS AND RUINED BEANS AND TURNIPS. (…..) I HAVE NEVER AS LONG AS I HAVE LIVED HAD SUCH A HARSH MIDSUMMER AS YESTERDAY AND TODAY.

    Today Midsummer at Skansen is a safe friendly family affair. People bring picnics and spend the day here with friends. And of course we will all dance cheerfully around the Maypole!

    Johanna
    Our web shop has traditional Midsummer decorations for your own party at home. And perhaps we will have the pleasure of seeing you here at Skansen?

  • 2009-06-09  kl. 09:37 -Do you want to come along to visit the Garden of Possibilities? a colleague asks me. -What kind of garden? What kind of possibilities? I wonder.
    My curiosity is tickled and off we go to see the...

    …spot opposite the old post office at Skansen. This is where a very special garden has been created to offer the public new ways to experience gardening. It is a garden designed for all the senses. And it is wheel chair accessible as well.

    All of the flower beds have been elevated so that weeding can easily be done while sitting in a wheelchair. And not only that. With the help of a string suspended from one end of the flower bed to the other with a knot just above each carrot seed, someone with impaired vision can do the weeding without the aid of anyone else. No risk of removing the vegetable seeds along with the weeds.

    A bird bath in the garden is lovely and naturally attracts birds, which is especially nice for someone who cannot hear birds singing high in the trees. In this way we all can enjoy the beauty of our little winged friends, and this is another example of how small adjustments or additions can create a more accessible garden for all.

    And it is such a nice name, I think: The Garden of Possibilities. And then, that is really what I think all of the Skansen park can be said to be – a garden full of possibilities for lifelong learning.

    When I see all the school children coming here before the start of the summer holidays, I think of how Skansen inspired me as a child. When I came here with my father, going for a ride on one of the little ponies was my favorite thing to do.

    And I remember a school outing when we had our lunch sandwiches by the building Högloftet. I thought that the exterior walls of that building looked like the skin of a fish. And henceforth all my drawings of houses would sport such decorative wooden facades.

    Sure enough, horses and historical houses were destined to become passions of mine. Who knows if that would have been the case had I not encountered them as a child at Skansen? A Garden of Possibilities indeed!

    Johanna

    We have a number of garden tools and books here at the web shop. I hope your garden will flourish this summer!

  • 2009-05-31  kl. 20:17 In the spring of 1893 it rained a lot. Arthur Hazelius, who had founded Skansen less than two years prior, had expected big crowds for his spring festivities at Skansen...

    But people stayed in because of the weather. So why not prolong this festival, he thought. The weather should clear up. June 6th would be a suitable day for a grand finale of the spring festival. in his newspaper advertisement he called it Gustav Day, referring to the day when king Gustav Vasa was elected to his office, which marked the foundation of modern Sweden as a nation state.

    It has to be said though, that June 6th had not previously been a day of celebration. King Gustav Vasa was no more than a name everybody had to learn at school along with the other names of past kings. But Hazelius wanted to commemorate the forefathers of Sweden. A tradition was born and Skansen has continued to celebrate June 6th ever since. In1983 it was finally named National Day of Sweden. The royal family is present along with thousands of people who participate in this annual holiday.

    All year round our cultural heritage is available in skansenbutiken,se in the form of books and as craft and design. The shop sells many traditional craft items made of iron, which immigrant Belgians long ago helped us learn to refine in an effective way. The books we sell are printed, of course. That is a technique that was introduced to Sweden by Germans in the 16th century. We also have many cotton table cloths that are printed with a technique with roots in India. In the 18th century Swedes copied their way of printing on cotton. This style became part of some traditional Swedish parish costumes – the very epitome of Swedish tradition.

    Contemporary Swedish culture today is like any other national culture – it is a mix. We have mixed with Germans, Finns, Belgians and others from early on, and these other peoples have taught us many crafts and techniques and we have been inspired by their art and their perspective. Of course, we continue to change and to mix. When you visit the Skansen web shop, you contribute to the mix.

    I am sure that Arthur Hazelius would be delighted to learn that Swedish handicraft is now being sold all over the world with the help of computers and mother boards and chips and such things. Let us continue to mix with our brothers and sisters on other parts of the globe. And let us proudly celebrate our own culture here and now!
    By the way, I rather like those little blue and yellow flags attached to the city bus windshields on National Day, fluttering happily in the wind.
    Johanna

  • 2009-05-20  kl. 11:56 All of my class mates bring a bouquet of lilacs from their backyard to school. Our teacher most likely has lilacs in her own garden, but she beams happily all the same…

    When the lilacs start blooming, as they are right now outside the gates of Skansen, their fragrance brings back this memory I have from the last day of school every summer during my childhood. Boys and girls wore their new white summer clothes, and we sang the usual hymns and songs about summer. Same songs every year. We loved it.

    Perhaps kids these days do not bring flowers to their FRÖKEN (Swedish for Miss), as the female teacher is still called in Sweden. How odd that she should be called by that name. Titles in general are long gone in this country where everyone is on a first name basis with their boss or neighbor. And today the teachers are just as often married as not.

    But a hundred years ago a female school teacher was usually unmarried. In the Väla School at Skansen you can experience an early twentieth century school in a little red house divided into the living quarters for the teacher and the class room.

    There are wooden benches for the pupils, a blackboard and organ as well as a desk for the teacher. On the wall there are posters with animals and maps. Our Skansen teacher has a long black skirt and wears her hair in a bun. She holds some twigs in her hand. Corporal punishment for misbehavior or to encourage better academic results was considered effective. In Sweden today, however, all parental and school corporal punishment is illegal, and 89% of the population disapproves of such methods being used on children.

    As the school year comes to a close, this summer yet another generation of Swedish children will now be able to read ice cream signs. And books! For a century and a half all Swedish children have gone to school and had the opportunity of learning how to read and write. When you visit Skansen and see how people lived in the old days, think about the fact that in many of those houses people were illiterate. Just as people still are in some parts of the world today. Literacy is our privilege.

    It is my lunch hour and I walk outside to visit the lovely garden. Relaxing on the white bench in the quiet fragrant garden is also a precious privilege. And next time on my lunch break, I will remember to bring a good book to read. Perhaps this summer I should reread Pippi Longstocking!
    Johanna

  • 2009-05-10  kl. 19:29 When the air is perfumed with bird-cherry blossoms and Skansen is all newborn lambs and piglets and green, the world appears full of love. And there will be many weddings at Skansen this season…

    I cannot think of a more beautiful place for getting married. This Edenic spot contains an 18th century church, historic buildings and garden settings for civil ceremonies, as well as idyllic locations and professional catering for the party. Furthermore, there is a 19th century printer for your invitations, an organist for the wedding march and horses and carriage for the bridal couple. And - the choice of every virtuous Swedish bride two centuries ago - a traditional bridal crown.

    Last summer when my husband and I got married, we chose one of the 18th century summerhouses in the Skansen park. I had made my own dress out of natural cream colored linen, and I wore the rustic wedding crown of 1826 which you can rent from the costume department if you choose to get married here. It was a lovely green wedding with family and close friends. Just what we both wanted.

    At the end of the 18th century a young noble woman, Märta Helena Reenstierna, fell in love with and married the aristocratic Christian von Schnell of Årsta manor in Stockholm. For 46 years she kept a diary of daily events at Årsta manor.
    On the 6th of October 1839, the 86 year old Årsta lady describes a double wedding where both brides have wedding crowns, which delights her. Being a crown bride meant being a virgin. Märta Helena writes about the festivities after the marriage ceremony:

    After proper congratulations there was Coffee, Arrack punch, Wine, a little food – and after all this some beautiful violin music when everybody danced the waltz, and I saw how people play and carry on these days.

    Not so different from a wedding today, would you say? Well, 2009 is a very special year in Sweden in terms of love and law. Since May 1st it is possible for you to marry the one you love regardless of gender. THE LOVE THAT DARE NOT SPEAK ITS NAME is now recognized - by law. This is something to celebrate.

    I wish Sappho, Plato, Michelangelo, Walt Whitman, and everyone else could have had the opportunity to come to Skansen and marry their special someone – perhaps in the beautiful Seglora Church.
    But you do. You have that opportunity. The Skansen homepage has information on how to book the church or other location, and we have a wedding coordinator on staff. Just as Skansen is a garden of plenty, there is an abundance of choices for your wedding in this magical place.

    Oh, one more thing: These days you do not have to be a virgin to use the wedding crown!

    Johanna

    Our webshop has gifts which can be shipped directly to the bride and groom - if that would be most convenient. E-mail this link http://www.skansenbutiken.se/artikellista.asp?AvdID=101 to those friends of yours who wish to send you a present.