Swedish Unit

Swedish Unit: Sankta Lucia Celebration (Swedish Heritage Society)

We started off our Swedish Unit tonight by attending the St. Lucia celebration that is put on annually by the Swedish Heritage Society in Salt Lake. It was such a beautiful program. “Saint Lucia’s Day, also called the Feast of Saint Lucia, is a Christian feast day celebrated on 13 December in Advent, commemorating Saint...
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Swedish Unit: Jul Julgran (Dance around the Christmas Tree)

The reason why I wanted to start our Swedish Unit at this time of year is because there are so many Swedish Christmas traditions that I wanted to try out and enjoy.  One of these is holding hands and dancing around the Christmas tree, while singing/listening to the song Nu Ar Det Jul Igen. When...
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Swedish Unit: Sankta Lucia Day

Yesterday was the Swedish holiday, Sankta Lucia Day. During the day, the kids and I made Lussekatter (Swedish Saffron Buns). The boys were at school for the dough making part, but they helped to shape the buns after school. Lussekatter sure are pretty. 🙂 I was pleasantly surprised that they turned out so well since...
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Swedish Unit: Connecting to our Ancestors

Even though we did some Swedish Christmas traditions throughout December, this morning we had our first official lesson for our Swedish Unit. I gave a brief overview of some of the activities that we are going to do and a few of the ancestors that we are going to learn more about, throughout this unit....
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Swedish Unit: Bothilda Pehrsdotter and Wool

Bothilda (Thilda) is my great-great grandmother. She was born March 11, 1848 in Kristianstad, Skåne, Sweden. When Thilda was 8 years old, her father passed away. This left her mother alone to provide for Thilda and her younger sister. Life was hard and they were poor. Thilda had to begin earning a living when she...
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Swedish Unit: Julgransplundring (Throwing out the tree.)

From Wikipedia: “A Knut’s party or Knut’s dance (Swedish: Julgransplundring, literally: “Christmas tree plundering”) is a tradition in Sweden on St. Knut’s Day (13 January), which marks the end of the Christmas and holiday season, which includes Advent Sunday, Saint Lucy’s Day, Christmas, New Year and Epiphany. It is also known as “Dancing out Christmas”...
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Swedish Unit: Knitting Hats

We finished making Roxanne’s hat today! It is definitely a lot more work when you make your own yarn, but we enjoyed making this from scratch! Let’s be honest, I did most the work on this one since we were just figuring everything out, but the boys are going to make their own hats next....
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Swedish Unit: Swen Swenson the School Teacher

Swen Swenson is my great-great-grandfather. He was born on January 4, 1850 in Grödby, Kristianstad, Sweden. Swen was the youngest of 7 children and was only 9 years old when his mother, Kjerstin died. He felt this loss deeply. Even though he didn’t get much of an education while growing up, he had a strong...
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Swedish Unit: Marriage and Baptisms

Continuing on with Swen and Bothilda’s story… I told the kids the story of how Swen and Thilda met. While Swen was attending the university, he came to the home of Thilda’s mother to find a boarding place. When Thilda would come home to visit her mother, she met Swen. It didn’t take long for...
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