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from Madi Gray in Cape Town
Den Svenska Föreningen
The Swedish Society
Hi to everyone from the south-western corner of Africa!
Here we're moving out of a long and wet winter into the glory of spring. Simple daisies and fygies form the famous carpets of flowers &endash; you should see the colours! Even in the city, patches line many roads. Daisies in yellow, red, white, orange, pink and violet, fygies in vibrant purple, electric red and gleaming golden.
A month ago the young oak leaves reminded me of May on an archipelago road in Sweden, the almost translucent green maturing at an even faster rate here.
Other, more tangible events, keep memories of Sweden alive. We have an active Svenska Föreningen that is over seventy years old.
Started in 1925, the first AGM was held a year later in the Parliament Café. Yearly membership fees were fixed to £1.00 for gentlemen and 10/- (shillings) for ladies. Raffles, lotteries and bridge drives helped to raise funds. On Swedish Flag Day, June 6th, a cable was traditionally sent to the King of Sweden, a party was held to celebrate, and members of the Norwegian Society were invited.
Today the Swedish Society, as it is also known, is still flourishing and keeping Swedish traditions alive. On mid-summer eve, members and especially their children clothe a small maypole with garlands of flowers (in winter very different blooms are around than in the summer meadows of Sweden), a guitar is brought out and Små grodorna echoes through a quiet suburb of Cape Town.
We had a kräftskiva at the end of September and look forward to the julbazar and combined jul och lucia fest in December. These events are often held in venues with a Swedish connection. The freshwater crayfish party was in the SAS Radisson Hotel, the Christmas bazaar usually in the Josephine Mill and the end of year party in the SA Breweries opposite. Both venues date back to the 1800s, and the Swedish brewers Jacob Letterstedt and Anders Ohlsson.
It's great fun to sing snapsvisor and talk Swedish two or three times a year. Just as it is wonderful, in the frozen north, to hear Vusi Mahlasela or eat samoosas.
Madi Gray, Cape Town
madigray@glolink.co.za
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