Seasoned with pepper and salt, and eaten with potatoes and melted butter, it is delicious. The next course is always pig in some form or other, either head or ham. Then is produced a large fat goose. Last of all comes the all-important rice-porridge, in which is hidden an almond, and whoever gets it will be lucky for the next year. From the King’s palace to the peasant’s hut you will find the very same kind of supper. However poor people may be, they always find means for a small Christmas-tree. On Christmas morning, before daybreak, crowds flock to church for early service. In the country it is the custom for people to join together and form a procession, each carrying a torch. This makes a pretty sight, especially in hilly districts, when you are able to see at the same time several processions wending their way to church. On arriving there, all the torches are flung in a heap, which lights up the churchyard. The church is brilliantly illuminated by hundreds of candles, even the pews having their own candles. After the service is over the people make a rush for home. You ask why? It is an old superstition that he who arrives home first will reap his grain first. The rest of the day is spent quietly in the home circle. CHAPTER XV MIDSUMMER The festival of Midsummer, like that of Jul, has come down from old heathen times, and next to Christmas is the greatest festival of the year in Scandinavia. On this day the sun is at the height of its grandeur, conquering darkness. The night is the shortest in the year, just a glorious twilight, which, in a few hours, is merged into dawn. Summer and winter have each their special enjoyments for those who know where to look for them. In Sweden, Midsummer Day is looked forward to especially by the young people. Great preparations are made in town and country. In the country the houses have to undergo a special cleaning, and the rooms are decorated with branches of trees and flowers. In Stockholm there is what is called a “Leaf-market,” where not only boughs and flowers are exposed, but also May-poles. In the harbour can be seen a large number of boats laden with branches. It is a wonderful sight you see on this day. The houses, both inside and out, are decorated with green branches. Every train, steamer, and vehicle is dressed in the same fashion, and even every horse has its head ornamented with branches of leaves. Little children all have bunches of flowers in their hands, and very often a small May-pole, while older ones go out early in the morning to picnic, and return for the dancing in the evening. [Illustration: DANCE ON MIDSUMMER’S EVE. _Anders Zorn._] The centre of attraction is the May-pole, similar to what is found in many English villages in the month of May, to celebrate the return of spring; but the Swedish word _Maj_ does not in this instance refer to the month May, it means green leaf.