Community Corner

Celebrating Summer, Scandinavian Style

Area Residents Maintain Traditions of Native Countries

In Scandinavia, the start of summer is a significant holiday - on a par with Christmas in America.

"In Scandinavia, right now, they're celebrating with maypoles everywhere. They make a big deal out of it," Eric Sundman, a Fairfield resident and member of the Scandinavian Club on South Pine Creek Road, said this afternoon at the club.

The start of summer is important to Scandinavians because the sun is up pretty much around the clock, while, in October, the sun may be out from only 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sundman said. "When you're at a certain latitude in Scandinavia, the sun never goes down and that could last a week or two. It's very light out. You can read a newspaper at midnight, 1 o'clock," he said.

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Fairfield County residents celebrated the summer solstice today at the Scandinavian Club with a picnic, raffle and maypole, around which children danced to the accordian playing of Wivan Sundman, Eric's mother and host of "Scandinavian House Party" on WVOF, 88.5 on the FM dial, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays.

Hansen's Flower Shop donates wreaths and flowers for the maypole every year, and families also bring flowers from their gardens for the maypole, Eric Sundman said.

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"Midsummer is more of a holiday than Christmas in Sweden," said Wivan Sundman, who came to America from Sweden in 1958 and who's been playing the accordion since she was 17. "Summer is so short in Sweden, everybody comes out."

Carl Bjorklund, the Scandinavian Club's treasurer whose grandparents came to America from Sweden, said the club's Midsummer Celebration was a way to keep ties with what's happening in Scandinavia. "It's as much a cultural thing as it is anything else," he said.

Scandinavia is a region in northern Europe that includes the countries of Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland. The Scandinavian Club is open to people either from those countries or who have relatives from those countries, but today's festival, like the upcoming Viking Village Enactment in August and Christmas events, are open to everyone.

Ernie Anderson, a club member since 1958 who came from Finland to Bridgeport at the age of 17, said his brother came to the club's Midsummer Celebration about three years ago. "My brother is in Sweden and he called me yesterday and said, 'Are you still going to have a celebration?' " Anderson said.

Eric Sundman said attendance at today's Midsummer Celebration was a little down compared to previous years. He said the celebration drew 100 people from around Fairfield County last year and 120 the year before. "This is kind of a medium turnout for us right now," he said.

The Viking Village Enactment, to be held Aug. 21 and 22 and to feature a saga storyteller, geographer and musician, could draw up to 1,000 people from around New England, Sundman said. "We'll have people dressed as Vikings, showing what Vikings used to do; the swords they used, currency used, who they stole from and why," he said.

The Scandinavian Club has about 250 members from, or with relatives from, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. The club, right now, doesn't have anyone of Icelandic descent. Some members continued their memberships after moving to different parts of the country.

"At one point we had over 500 members. It'd be great to get back to that again," Eric Sundman said. "It's just promoting the Scandinavian culture and encouraging members to keep traditions alive."

The Scandinavian Club also has a school, funded by the Swedish government, that teaches the Swedish language to children whose parents are in America on work assignments on a temporary basis. The school has from 40 to 50 children, Eric Sundman said.

"The Swedish government pays to have the school here so those children learn Swedish while they're here so, when they go back home, they don't miss a beat with the language," he said. "It's for Swedish citizens who will be moving back...They also become members of the club."

Bjorklund said the school has a pretty steady flow of children while Swedish citizens are on work assignments in America. "Due to a number of restrictions, they can only stay over here about five years," he said.

Anderson said the club, when he joined in 1958, was known as the Swedish Athletic Club. "They had soccer games; just about all the young people knew about it," he said.

The club was renamed the Scandinavian Club in 1973 after it merged with the Norden Club of New York and branched out to include members from Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland.

One of the club's most famous members was Eric Hultgren, who passed away in 2004 and who had been featured on national news programs for carving toys out of wood that he gave to children in Bridgeport Hospital. "I'm proud to be his daughter," said club member Lisa Hultgren Beasley. "I think he had strong work ethics and the Scandinavians have strong work ethics."

Beasley said the Scandinavian Club "has been very important to my family."

The club was founded in 1915 by Knute Santeson, who had competed in the World Olympics in long-distance running against Jim Thorpe, Bertil Stengard, Edwin Seaberg and Nils Skog Sr., who got together to form a soccer team. Later that year, those four, plus Ture Mattson, formed the Swedish Football Club (soccer is known as football in Sweden), and, on the club's first anniversary, the name was changed to the Swedish Athletic Club.

The original club members had bought land to play soccer on and that land is where the town's Par 3 Golf Course is now. The town and club swapped land after the club was founded, Eric Sundman said.

The club's first building was closer to South Pine Creek Road. The existing building, built in 1985, is available for rental by calling 203-259-3817.

Joan K. Johnson, a club member, said the club's main source of revenue is from rentals of its building. "It's a beautiful facility...It's a very pleasant situation here," she said.


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