Crayfish Party

Month : August
Place : Sweden
Famous For : Traditional Festival
Attractions : Outdoor Dining, Comical Paper Hats, Paper Tablecloths, Paper Lanterns and Bibs

A Crayfish Party is a traditional festival organized in Sweden. Also popular by the name of "kraftskiva", the Crayfish Partyis a summertime eating and drinking celebration in the Nordic countries. The jubilation of this festivity have also spread to countries like Finland, by the mefium of Swedish-speaking population of that country. It's observed every year during the month of August. The festival actually started because crayfish harvesting in Sweden was, for most of the 20th century, legally limited to late summer.

Major Attractions

Nowadays, the Crayfish Party or the "kr"ftpremi"r" date in early August has no legal significance. Dining is traditionally outdoors, but in practice the party is often driven indoors by bad weather or aggressive mosquitoes. Customary party accessories are comical paper hats, paper tablecloths, paper lanterns and bibs. A rowdy atmosphere prevails amid noisy eating and traditional drinking songs (snapsvisa). It is culturally correct to suck the juice out of the crayfish before shelling it. Akvavit and other kinds of snaps are served, as well as beer. The crayfish are boiled in salt water and seasoned with fresh dill " preferably "crown dill" harvested after the plant has flowered " then served cold and eaten with the fingers. Bread, mushroom pies, strong V"sterbotten cheese, salads, and other dishes are served buffet-style. On the Swedish west coast, the Crayfish Party is common to replace the fresh water crayfish with havskrafta.