The Core Dump

Here we go then, the longest night of the year is behind us, and the pig has been sacrificed and eaten.

My nephew as Mini Santa. Click for larger version.

Hope all is well wherever you’re reading this.

Soundtrack: “Little Bird” by Lisa Miskovsky

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel, is the opening line from Neuromancer.

Today was one of those days here in Sweden—a leaden sky of static, flat light without shadows and only the greying snow on the ground providing light.

A perfect day and perfect place for the Solstice. Shortest day of the year, with the sun hidden behind the white noise of the clouds, powerless to penetrate.

Took my parents’ dog for several walks today, enjoying the cold and dreariness, watching the huddled people scurrying to wherever they were going.

Tomorrow things turn around; the days get longer and the nights shorter. But today it was dark.

Soundtrack: “Everest” by Ratatat

Today is Midsummer’s Eve in Sweden. This is the one day of the year when I really wish I was there.

To add to the frustration, the country is experiencing superb weather today: sunny and bright, perfect to be outside eating and drinking, taking a dip in the ocean or what have you.

Swedish midsummer table. Click for larger version.

Apart from the social aspects and enjoyment of the massive green lushness of Sweden in the summertime, I miss the food. Fortunately though, now that Ikea is in town, that piece is partly ameliorated—swung by yesterday and picked up three different kinds of pickled herring: Traditional, Mustard, and Garlic. Yummy, yummy, yummy.

The akvavit has been sitting in the freezer since last year, patiently biding its time.

So tonight there will be herring, akvavit, fresh potatoes from Trader Joe’s boiled with dill, and grilled salmon. Will be piping Swedish tunage through the AirPort Express.

Skål!

Soundtrack: “Under Norrskenet” by Nordman

Even though the solstice was technically two days ago, we’re just one day short of Christmas Eve, which in Scandinavia is the day of Santa’s appearance and the attendant gift exchange.

So there’s one thing you can tell children when they ask how Santa can deliver all the gifts in one night: He actually starts out on the 24th in Scandinavia. Plus he doesn’t visit the ungodly heathens in Africa and places like that. Although that little factoid may make the children cry. The one about Africa, not the one about Scandinavia.

Anywho, there’s been a lot of bellyaching here in the States about how we are no longer allowed to use the C-word in polite company, and must instead refer to Christmas as the “Winter Holiday.” And okay, it’s a bit PC to the extreme, but to some people it’s nothing less than another wave of atheists and communists assaulting the beaches of Fortress Jesus, dodging machine gun fire and mortar shells to Spread their Unbelief.

Those people should of course up their meds.

And ponder how the Solstice celebration–a frightened and above all direly serious attempt to appease the Gods and make the Sun come back–has been hijacked and mutilated over the ages until the majority of society is now associating Christmas with shopping, credit card bills, and faux bonhomie.

Things change. Not much you can do about it.

So with that thought, Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, and above all, please make the sun come back, look, I’ll sacrifice a goat for you. Two goats? You want two goats to make the sun come back? Done!

Well, technically, the madness doesn’t really begin until Friday, November 26–the feared-by-retail-staff Black Friday when an understimulated populace seeks to heal the wounds re-opened by liquor-fueled family arguments about who ruined whose life at what age by storming stores at ungodly hours–but today marks One Month Until Christmas.

So warm up your credit cards and disappear into a frenzy of stress and angst as you attempt to recreate your own childhood Christmas memories for the next generation of Prozac eaters.

Beep beep–wait, hold on… Ah, sorry about that. That was the non-denominational police. Strike all mentions of the word “Christmas” above and replace with “Winter Holiday”. Oops.

Shoot, now I have to report to non-denominational training camp on November 26, so I’ll miss the consumer frenzy. Bummer, that.

Listening To: Stream from Groove Salad

Ben Hammersley–whose blog in general is excellent–is apparently married to a Swedish woman, and has written up a great explanation of the ritualized form of drinking that takes place during a Swedish midsummer.

I’d never heard of the last drink of the evening being called Den Bleka Dödens Dryck (The Drink of Pale Death), but it does fit in with the general happy-go-lucky attitude of Swedes.

Still, who even remembers the last drink of Midsummer’s Eve, much less gives it a name? Most late-evening Midsummer’s Eve conversations this particular Swede can hazily recall go something like this:

“Uhhh.”
“Mumble.”
“Mumble. Burp.”
“Uhhh.”
(Stares at empty bottle with great consternation.) “Uhhh.”

Nevertheless, it looks like Midsummer’s Eve is going to be fairly low-key this year, what with the weather gods failing to cooperate: Chilly, overcast and rainy. Brrr.

[Image source: Weather.yahoo.com]

Listening To: “Under The Gun” by Sisters Of Mercy

Friday the 25th of June, 2004 is Midsummer’s Eve, a time when Sweden stops and everybody gathers to eat the traditional foods, sing the traditional silly songs and play the traditional silly games. Most people will also elect to drink themselves silly.

This is one of the hardest times of the year for us Swedes in the colonies, as the country is verdant and the people are at their most sociable and relaxed.

In order to at least be able to enjoy the traditional foods, searched around and found a store in town that sells some of the traditional Swedish food stuffs. I am thus now equipped with mustard herring (senapssill) and onion herring (löksill). As Andrea would say, “Yummy, yummy.”

Tomorrow we’ll hit the store and pick up some facsimile of fresh potatoes (färskpotatis)–the first potatoes to be harvested of the season, exceptionally small and tender–and the game will be afoot. This combined with the aquavit that’s been residing in my freezer for years should provide for a pleasant Midsummer’s Eve in air conditioned comfort. As long as you have the herring and the aquavit, things are going the right way…

If you’re in Phoenix, AZ and looking to pick up some Swedish delicacies, I can highly recommend Cheese ‘N Stuff, located on the north west corner of Central and Camelback. Their phone number is 602.266.3636. Good service and decent prices.

Listening to: Stream from Secret Agent