Font ResizeThe American Swedish Institute gets more visitors in the weeks before Christmas than at any other time of the year.
That doesn't surprise me. My maternal grandfather and a couple of paternal great-grandparents emigrated from Sweden. We don't decorate with Dala Horses or drink from mugs that say "What Part of Uff Da Don't You Understand?" But like many people, at Christmas we pay homage to our ethnic roots.
My family dances around the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve to a scratchy recording of Swedish holiday songs. I used to think it was just our own quirky ritual. Then, as a teenager, I saw Ingmar Bergman's movie "Fanny and Alexander," with its opening scene set at a lavish Christmas feast. I suddenly realized our holiday traditions, from the jultomte to the almond hidden in the rice pudding, are part of a larger cultural tradition.
My kids are less than half Swedish, but I want them to have a sense of their heritage. So, on a recent Saturday, we made a pilgrimage to the American Swedish Institute on Park Avenue in Minneapolis.
Even if you don't have a drop of Scandinavian blood, it's worth the trip. Part of the appeal is the mansion itself, a 33-room stone castle built around the turn of the last century by Swan Turnblad, a Swedish immigrant who made his fortune in Minnesota. As we walked from the parking lot, my son gawked at the gargoyles.
"This is awesome," he said. "I want to live here. It rocks!"
During late November and December, volunteers decorate
We started on the third floor, which houses an exhibit about the Swedish immigrant experience. The panels of text and artifacts didn't grab my kids' attention, but they perked up when I told them Turnblad left Sweden in 1868 when he was 8, the same age as my eldest son.
His family was among the 1.2 million immigrants who came to America between 1845 to the late 1920s, pushed out by a growing population in Sweden that was forcing younger sons off the family farms and into poverty. Many Swedes ended up in Minnesota, as well as Illinois, New York and Massachusetts, lured by the free farmland promised by the Homestead Act of 1862.
Turnblad's family settled on a farm south of the Twin Cities in Vasa. About 10 years later, he headed to Minneapolis, where he worked as a typesetter at several Swedish-language newspapers. He eventually became publisher of the Svenska Amerikanska Posten and made his fortune delivering news to Swedish immigrant communities.
In 1903, architects started planning his French chateau mansion on Park Avenue, where he lived with his wife and daughter. He is said to have been the first person in Minneapolis to own a car, and he had a turntable in the garage that would turn his vehicle so he would never have to back it out.
In 1929, he donated the mansion to what became the American Swedish Institute to "foster and preserve Swedish culture in America." Nearly 80 years later, the museum continues that mission.
My children and I wandered through displays of Swedish glass, textiles, ceramics, carved wood figures and artifacts, such as a pair of woven birch bark shoes. We saw the mansion's 11 tile stoves and ogled the massive stained-glass window at the top of the staircase. We saw a display of Danish paper-cutting art by St. Paul artist Cynthia McKeen.
Our favorite room was the formal dining room, decorated as if for a Swedish Christmas Eve feast. The table was set with the Turnblad family's blue china and Orrefors crystal. The chandelier was draped in lingonberry leaves and red ribbons.
By the fireplace sat a traditional Christmas symbol, a straw goat called a julbock. At one time, the goat was said to bring the gifts at Christmas, until evolving folklore replaced him with the jultomte, the little red-hatted gnome that functions as a Scandinavian Santa Claus.
A tree was hung with decorations traditional in Sweden, including a string of blue and yellow Swedish flags, folded paper-heart baskets, red apples and tubes wrapped in tissue paper and filled with candy. Christmas in Sweden starts Dec. 13 with a celebration of Sankta Lucia, who chases away evil and darkness with her crown of candles. The season ends Jan. 13, when the tree is taken down and children eat all the edible ornaments.
By this time, we were hungry, so we descended to the basement to the coffee shop, the Kaffestugan. I ate cardamom-scented coffee cake and my two boys and the toddler happily slurped Pippi Longstocking Floats made with ice cream and carbonated lingonberry juice. We stopped at a play area filled with Viking costumes and picture books, and the children took turns riding a 4-foot tall mechanical Dala Horse.
Before we left, we swung by the gift shops, which were packed with people buying imported crystal and Scandinavian table runners, little tomte figurines, woven straw ornaments, Carl Larsson calendars and Scandinavian holiday foods. I bought a tin of pepperkaker, a thin spice cookie that my grandmother used to make, and a mix of spices and dried fruit. I'll simmer the spices in cider and cranberry juice later this month to make Glögg, a traditional Christmas drink. You can also do a version with wine. My family has actually never served the stuff, but I figure it would be a nice refreshment after we dance around the Christmas tree.
Maja Beckstrom can be reached at mbeckstrom@pioneerpress.
com or 651-228-5295.
FAMILY OUTINGS: THE SCOOP
What: American Swedish Institute
Where: 2600 Park Ave., Mpls.
Information: 612-871-4907 or americanswedishinst.org
Hours: Noon-4 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; noon-8 p.m. Wednesdays; 1-5 p.m. Sundays; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays through December (returning to noon-4 p.m. Saturdays in January)
Cost: $6 adults; $5 seniors 62 and older; $4 children 6-12; younger than 6 free. (Free with Museum Adventure Pass available at metro libraries)
Target audience: Families with Scandinavian ancestry or an interest in cultural traditions and Minnesota history
Crowd pleaser: Riding the mechanical Dala Horse
Avoid: Hungry kids. Visit the Kaffestugan in the building's basement for pastries and coffee.
Tip: Pick up the 16-page "Tomte Tour" guide for $2. This family guide includes facts, kids' activities and clues for spotting objects in the museum.
Special Events:
-- Holiday Sagostund (Storytime) 2-3 p.m. every Saturday in December
-- A Nordic Christmas Celebration, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. next Saturday. Music, dance and talks about Nordic Christmas traditions.
-- Julglädje, 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. Dec. 26 and Dec. 27. Music and storytelling with Ross Sutter.
