This Saturday we celebrated Swedish midsummer here in Kenya. We also visited the local church, ruwe holy ghost church, for the weekly mass. We were very welcomed by all the church members. It was a different experience as the priests and some of the church members preached about love and the love they had towards us and how they appreciated us being there. Occasionally the whole church burst out into dance and song, dragging us into the African rhythms. The mass lasted for several hours but we only stayed for two and a half. We all enjoyed the mass and for the most of us it was an experience we will not forget.
When we arrived at Paul’s house it was time for the midsummer preparations. The local people had helped us built a may pole (midsommar stång), our task was to dress it with flowers and leaves we had taken from the maize fields. Together we had organized a short presentation about midsummer to explain what it is and why we celebrate it in Sweden. When the pole was dressed and the presentation was done we all carried the may pole to the front yard where we placed it in a hole in the ground. It was now time for dance and song. We sang famous Swedish songs such as “räven raskar över risen”, “små grodorna” and “Karusellen”, as we sang we danced hand in hand in circles. Everyone, children and adults, seemed to enjoy the midsummer celebration. As the sun was shining bright and blazing at us we were hot and sweaty, so we decided to take a break to eat biscuits, mandasis (a traditional Kenyan bun made of flour and water), popcorn and drink juice. After we rested a bit from the hot weather we still had planned games for us to play. We made four teams where each team had to get through an obstacle course while they had to perform different tasks such as Norsk fylla, balancing a bowl on your head and lastly tying two people’s legs to each other (tre bens spring).
We ended the midsummer celebrations with giving all the children balloons to play with and we went in to eat a lovely kenyan dinner. We surprised ourselves by making a chocolate cake (kladdkaka) without a oven. We used a pot which we put sand in and the cake was placed in another pot which was placed in the big pot with sand in.This Saturday we celebrated Swedish midsummer here in Kenya. We also visited the local church, ruwe holy ghost church, for the weekly mass. We were very welcomed by all the church members. It was a different experience as the priests and some of the church members preached about love and the love they had towards us and how they appreciated us being there. Occasionally the whole church burst out into dance and song, dragging us into the African rhythms. The mass lasted for several hours but we only stayed for two and a half. We all enjoyed the mass and for the most of us it was an experience we will not forget.
When we arrived at Paul’s house it was time for the midsummer preparations. The local people had helped us built a may pole (midsommar stång), our task was to dress it with flowers and leaves we had taken from the maize fields. Together we had organized a short presentation about midsummer to explain what it is and why we celebrate it in Sweden. When the pole was dressed and the presentation was done we all carried the may pole to the front yard where we placed it in a hole in the ground. It was now time for dance and song. We sang famous Swedish songs such as “räven raskar över risen”, “små grodorna” and “Karusellen”, as we sang we danced hand in hand in circles. Everyone, children and adults, seemed to enjoy the midsummer celebration. As the sun was shining bright and blazing at us we were hot and sweaty, so we decided to take a break to eat biscuits, mandasis (a traditional Kenyan bun made of flour and water), popcorn and drink juice. After we rested a bit from the hot weather we still had planned games for us to play. We made four teams where each team had to get through an obstacle course while they had to perform different tasks such as Norsk fylla, balancing a bowl on your head and lastly tying two people’s legs to each other (tre bens spring).
We ended the midsummer celebrations with giving all the children balloons to play with and we went in to eat a lovely kenyan dinner. We surprised ourselves by making a chocolate cake (kladdkaka) without a oven. We used a pot which we put sand in and the cake was placed in another pot which was placed in the big pot with sand in.