Klassiska Snapsvisor Till Kräftskivan
Copied from Wikipedia :-
A crayfish party is a traditional summertime eating and drinking celebration
in the Nordic countries. The tradition originated in
Crayfish parties are generally held during August, a tradition that started
because crayfish harvesting in Sweden was, for most of the 20th century,
legally limited to late summer. Today, the kräftpremiär 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 (often
depicting the Man in the Moon), and bibs. A rowdy atmosphere prevails amid
noisy eating and traditional drinking songs (snapsvisa). The alcohol consumption is often high,
especially when compared to the amount of food actually eaten. It is considered
customary 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 one’s fingers. Bread, mushroom pies, surströmming (sour herring), strong Västerbotten cheese, salads and
other dishes are served buffet-style.
For obvious reasons, the drinking songs have very simple words and tunes, many copied from songs sung at Christmas or at Luciafest. A CD of 28 such songs (in Swedish) is available from the secretary. Here is a typical example (click on the lyrics to hear it!) :-
Härligt
smakar akvaviten (melodi:- Räven raskar
över isen)
Värmer
opp, vår själ och kropp
Ja här
finns värme och här finns glöd
Ja här
finns värme och här finns glöd