Did you know July 18-24 is Fruntimmersveckan (Week of Women) in Sweden? Fruntimmer is an old Swedish word for woman so they are celebrating wonderful Scandinavian women like me!
Six women have name days during the week and that is why the week is called fruntimmersveckan. The name days for the week begin with Fredrik on July 18th followed by Sara, Margareta, Johanna, Magdalena, Emma and Kristina.
I think if my mother, a full-blooded Swede, knew about Fruntimmersveckan she would have chosen those names instead of our R names: Rayna, Romey, Renell, RoAnn, Rachel, Robyn and Raylene. So instead of Margareta day today it would be Renell day (then do we say TGIR?).
I do like the name Johanna. I have learned through my family tree work over the years that that is the name of my great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother on my mother's side.
The other days of Fruntimmersveckan are pretty names, too. I noticed they didn't use the names of some of my other great-grandmothers -- Augusta and Gunhild. Those sound more like names for sturdy, hard-working farm women -- and they were.
I'm proud to say there were no delicate flowers blooming from my family tree. Until me that is. I don't work a farm. I don't work a garden. Beyond knowing how to operate a push mower, there's nothing sturdy about me. At least I can live up to my "flighty" name!
Happy Fruntimmersveckan, everyone!
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2 comments:
So do all the wild "R" women get to celebrate for a few days?? You won't find Augusta and Gunhild on the Swedish name list as they were both Norwegian!! We don't dare confuse a Swede with A norwegian, unless they are part of a "mixed" marriage like what we come from. It was fun reading your blog about this, ya sure, you betcha, --Romey
Augusta is Swedish and Gunhild is Norwegian. Sorry I screwed that up!! I'm still stunned that I'm the product of a "mixed marriage." Who'd have thunk it?
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