Sharing the Scandinavian Festival

A couple of months ago, I was thinking back to when I went to Scandinavian festivals and parades with my grandparents. This was many years ago, but I wondered if such things were still happening anywhere near us.

When I checked online, I found there was a Midsummer Scandinavian Festival happening this weekend, just 40 minutes away. Since it was right in between Father's Day and my dad's birthday, I thought maybe I could persuade my dad to come with my family.

I wanted my kids to know a little more about their culture, and I thought they would love this type of festival.

When we got there, we found tents representing Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and--of course--Finland.

My girls got to make flower wreaths for their hair at the Sweden tent.

Alaina and I loved the gnomes, which were well-represented in the Swedish area.

At the Viking Village they saw real armor, including helmets, chain mail and various weapons.

Janae even learned how to use a sword.

When one of the vikings announced that it was time for the kids to join a raid, Eric was all for that. 

You can see his intensity here as he yells, "CANDY!"

The little Vikings went from tent to tent, getting candy--which they were to share equally. Eric had full pockets by the end :)

Janae and Alaina really loved the tent for Norway, as well. They even found some Barbies, dressed in traditional costumes.

And some runes of their initials. 

Eric got to step into this famous painting, which I had never even realized was painted by a Norwegian artist.

The big event of the festival was the raising of the Midsummer Pole, which took quite a while.

We waited patiently, though!

Once it was finally up, everyone danced around it. There were trolls running around playing tricks on people, too. Eric was right in the middle of everything, having a great time.

And, what would a festival be without food?

We tried the European hot dogs

and Norwegian waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. 

We got some Finnish chocolate-filled mints to take home.

Overall, it was a lot of fun. My kids all said they'd like to go back, so we'll probably do that . . . maybe even next summer!