If your clients plan to be in Sweden around New Year's, they may want to visit Skansen, a historic park in Stockholm. Every New Year's Eve since 1895, Tennyson's poem Ring Out Wild Bells has been recited at Skansen by a well-known Swede on the stroke of midnight. The program starts at about an hour before midnight with music and entertainment and ends with a big fireworks display.
This year's New Year's program features Sarah Dawn Finder and Tommy Körberg, famous for his work with Benny Andersson and Björn Ulveaus from ABBA. Jan Malmsjö is the actor who executes the traditional reciting of Tennyson before the bells starts ringing.
New Year's celebrations in Sweden frequently include elegant dinners of lobster and champagne, and some traditions include fortune-telling games like pouring molten lead in water and deducing from the shapes that forms what the new year will bring.
In January the Christmas celebration of Skansen continues to the Twelfth Night, at which point there is a grand finale with dancing around the Christmas tree and games for the children.
For more information, visit www.skansen.se.
