Praying For Midsummer Miracles

This weekend, the whole of Sweden celebrates Midsummer. Midsummer is that magical time of year, when the day never ends and we know we are at the peak of light.

The maypole, before being raised.

Swedes celebrate Midsummer by getting together, eating herring, salmon and salads and those unbelivably tasty new potatoes. We find a big field, put flowers and green leaves on a maypole and raise it so that it towers up into the sky. It’s like a token of our gratitude for the so much longed for summer-time.

Believing in life
Summer in Sweden lasts between June and August, and after those long, dark winter months, there is nothing more revered or appreciated than being able to spend long summer evenings together with friends, enjoying the closeness to water, greenery and never seeing the sun set. Perhaps, the abscence of night makes it easier to believe we can live forever.

Getting together
Swedes are not known for letting loose, but if you come here at Midsummer, you will see us in a new light. We play games together with total strangers, dance around the maypole, hugging, laughing and singing. Children, teenagers, adults and old people enjoy spending some wonderful hours together at this high-point of summer in Sweden.

Classig tug-of-war on Midsummer eve in Sweden

Dancing around the maypole. This dance involves touching each others feet…

Midsummer in China?
Of course, I was curious about what my great grandparents did for Midsummer in China. I am not sure they celebrated it at all, as it is not a very Christian occasion. For them, Christmas and Easter where big celebratory times, but Midsummer was probably something they did not feel obligated to celebrate whilst in China. Perhaps they had a pique-nique or read some fitting passages from the Bible.

I tried to find something in the missionary newspaper that related to Midsummer, but there was nothing specific that said how or if they celebrated.

A letter on Midsummer day
Turning to their letters, I found one letter that my great grandfather Robert wrote, on this very day – Midsummer day – exactly 110 years ago.

The letter is addressed to Erik Folke, the founder of the Swedish Mission to China. In 1913 he was also the fosterfather of Morris, Robert’s eldest son. 15-year old Morris lived in Sweden, at the missionary home in Stockholm, and Erik Folke was his stand-in-father at the time. Robert is well aware that it is Midsummer in Sweden, and thus dates the letter accordingly:

Hoyang, Midsummerday 1913

Dear Erik,

Much grace and peace to you.

Thank you very much for the two postcards that I received after one another. And thank you so much for what you and your wife have done and continue to do for my loved ones, especially for poor Morris, who is not well. We have received letters from him stating that he arrived in Tranås happily and content, and also from Lotten Hagelin stating that he embarked on the journey there happily and content. Naturally, we are eagerly awaiting news about the effects of the baths. It is good to know that he is in the hands of God and caring people.

The winter rush that has been overwhelming me since arriving to the field is thankfully over. The last opium patient went home eight days ago. However, our relocation work is not yet finished, and the repairs on our farm will probably last the whole summer. Especially if, as I hope, we succeed in renting a suitable farm for the relocation of the boys’ school from Hancheng. We need to exchange the premises of the girls’ school, and plans are underway. But the finances of Hoyang’s girls’ school are not sufficient. I have wondered if I should write to Fredda Hammar to request funding for it. There should be funds available since nothing has been sent here for a couple of years. But one also does not know what plans are being made. It would be a blessing if August Berg could speak openly so we knew where we stand. It would then be easier to arrange and plan everything in advance.

But now, one proposal for personnel changes comes after another in quick succession. First, he wanted Anna Eriksson to leave Hancheng and asked me not to oppose it. I promised not to do so if Anna felt inclined to move. However, I presented August with reasons why such a change would be highly inappropriate. Then, he requested Anna Rosenius because Hugo suddenly decided to move to Pucheng, the most distant place in the Tongchu district, where it is difficult to exercise any control over the work in the district. Rosenius finds it hard to see that it is the Lord’s way, and so do I. She is now torn between the chairman’s and Linder’s requests and the duty and inclination to stay here and help take care of our 191 Christians scattered over 12 outstations with long distances between them and difficult roads.

Furthermore, Mrs. Olsson is unfamiliar with this dialect and still struggles to understand and be understood by the women. We are poorly supplied with female helpers. However, God has given us more male helpers than we can engage. I can understand, when I press the matter with August, that he thinks Anna E. could very well have the girls’ school in Hancheng. It would be a setback for the work if someone so well suited for advanced women’s work were to leave it and take up teaching, in my opinion. And I believe I understand the needs better than anyone.

I mention this so that, when the opportunity arises, you can let Anna know that we do not expect her to do schoolwork in Hancheng. But we do expect her to conduct Bible school for women, as she did before and at the time of departure from Hancheng. That is precisely what the many women in Hancheng need.

Or perhaps you could speak with Hammar about sending funds for a more suitable location for the girls’ school here. I only rented the old one temporarily because there was no better option when Bölling’s school moved to Hoyang. However, we have now found it to be very inconvenient to have a school there, even for older girls. On the other hand, there is an excellent location of the same type as Olsson’s and Rosenius’ houses, which is situated behind the same house and well enclosed. By simply tearing down a small wall, it could be combined into one, and could now be obtained. But approximately eight hundred SEK would be needed for the mortgage, and about twice that amount for the purchase if we prefer it. We ourselves could easily arrange the matter if given the choice. As soon as we receive a response, we would ensure that the house and school open in September.

Dagny, who is currently resting due to a sprained ankle, joins me in warmest greetings to your wife, yourself, and all your children.

Yours faithfully in the Lord,

Robert Bergling

Why the sprained ancle?
There sure were a lot of other things on Robert’s mind, than Midsummer celebrations. He needed funds for the schools and was not getting along with another prominent missionary. He needed some miracles to happen and tried to persuade Erik Folke, as the founder of the mission, to help him. I do not know if he succeeded.

Perhaps my great grandmother Dagny sprained her ancle dancing around a maypole, though I do not really think so. She was a good sport and had lots of humour, but this might not have been something she would have chosen to do in China. The missionaries were already seen as very strange people by the community, and dancing around a maypole might have scared the Chinese off…

Or, what do you think?

Happy Midsummer to all!