A Year of Celebration

June 21, Midsommar, Stockholm, Sweden

They arrived a day early and checked into their favourite hotel in Stockholm. Harry had read about Swedish Midsummer on the flight.

They disguised themselves with wigs and fake beards before they headed to the old town in search of the traditional Swedish folk costume that Harry read about briefly. If they were going to celebrate Midsummer, they had to blend in.

They found a shop specializing in Swedish folk costumes. Harry's mouth fell open. There were so many different types in different colours and patterns. Louis looked sceptical.
"They wear this?"

Harry walked up to the woman behind the counter.
"Excuse me. We would like to buy a folk costume but I'm confused. There are so many different types."

"Oh, yes. There are 840 different versions of the folk costume because many parish and districts, or towns or villages, have their own." The lady explained with a smile.

"Oh! That's really cool, but I guess that leaves us out of buying one then since we're Englishmen. We don't want to offend anyone." Harry said apologetically.

"There's also a general Swedish folk costume. Maybe that's something you're interested in?" The lady said.

"Really? That's great! Yeah!" Harry grinned. Louis didn't look as excited.

The lady walked to a rack with blue and yellow costumes and picked out a male version, and showed them.
"Oh, God." Louis muttered underneath his breath.

Harry was delighted. The costumed contained a white shirt, a blue vest with a flower embroidered on the chest, a blue cravat, yellow knee-high pants with white long socks.
"It's perfect!"

"It's beautiful, isn't it? You need this black hat and black loafers to make it complete." The lady smiled.

"We'll take two of them!" Harry said.

"Size?" The woman asked.

Ten minutes later, they walked out of the store with two outfits. They lady had told them where they could find suitable shoes, so that was next on the list.
"Can you believe she made all of those costumes by hand?" Harry said as they found the shoe store.

"I was mostly concerned about the fucking tassels hanging from the knees. Are you really gonna make me wear this?" Louis muttered.

"You know I wouldn't force you to wear anything, Lou, but we're here to celebrate Midsummer, you know? Experience the Swedish culture. I'm going all in." Harry said.

"Fine, let's go all in. I'll wear it." Louis replied.

"Yes! You won't regret it!" Harry smiled excitedly.

They bought shoes as well and went sightseeing for the rest of the day. They decided to buy some alcohol and spent two hours in line in front of Systembolaget, the only store where hard liquor was legal to sell in Sweden.

In front of them stood a middle aged couple and when they heard that they were from England they started talking to them. Harry told them that they were there to celebrate Midsummer, and before they knew it, the couple had invited them to celebrate Midsummer at their house in the archipelago. Harry looked at Louis and they had a silent debate about it. Harry knew they were thinking the same thing. Would someone recognize them?

They decided to take a chance. After making sure the couple really meant it they accepted the invitation after the man Thomas told them there would be at least thirty people there celebrating so they would blend right in. They recieved an adress and Thomas gave them his number as well. The celebration started at noon.

When they finally reached the liquir store they bought beer for themselves and a bottle of a nice wine for the lovely couple as a housewarming present.