The sixth of June

It's Swedens national day today, the fourth of July of Sweden. We're still struggling with what to do with it. Until 1983 it was celebrated as "The Day of the Swedish flag", after that it got status as the Swedish national day. Originally, in 1893, it was the finishing spring-festivity at "Skansen", the national outdoor museum in Stockholm and it was decided it should be celebrated in a nationalistic spirit with Swedish flags, because Gustav Wasa, the Swedish king who "formed" Sweden, was crowned King on this date in 1523. In 2005 it became a "red day", a free day, in the calendar but still not many know why it's celebrated at all and we have problems making it a festive day despite many attempts from various directions. On Öland, my island, it a traditional day for celebrating the wind with kite flying, live brass band music and "fika" in the grass. The atmosphere is extremely friendly and you can always find old friends there or create new ones. There are contests, like the first kite in the air, the most troublesome kite, the best built one and so on. My favourite this year was the first extra, a polyester sheet that was made into a kite and flew beautifully. The constructress said next year she is going to make one more and fly it as a double bed. Mine is the boring white, second extra, it flies wonderfully well but will need some colours for next year.