A feast for three reasons

Matariki, a birthday and the solstice

Jun 21, 2025

This year the Māori new year, Matariki, fell on 20 June. The stars that most of you will know as the Pleiades, appear in the mid-winter morning sky marking the new year. It is a time to remember those who have passed, celebrate the present and plan for the future, and to spend time with whānau (family) and friends. 20 June is also Karl’s birthday, and this particular weekend is also midsummer, a great celebration in Sweden, Latvia and other countries. So, for us there were three things to celebrate - new year, a birthday and…well, though for us it is the winter solstice, for our family and friends in Sweden, it is midsummer.

We invited friends round for a feast, dug out the snaps glasses and found some Swedish napkins with illustrations by Elsa Beskow.

On the table there was three types of herring (mustard, dill and ‘traditional’), three types of smoked salmon, devilled eggs because I like them, smoked sardines, a tub of smoked eel paté, sausages, meatballs (beef and pork mince mix - so easy to make and no need to buy), a green salad and a large bowl of coleslaw (red cabbage, apple, carrots, raisins).

There was bread from Shelly Bay Baker (a crusty French baguette and miche, a French rustic sour dough, and limpa, a soft rye bread with lingonberries I managed to source, frozen, from Safka in Auckland. I made pressgurka or ‘pressed cucumber’, a quick pickled cucumber, which really needs to be made the day before.

Of course there was a large dish of Janssons frestelse, that classic dish of potatoes, cream and pickled sprats that I make twice a year for Christmas Eve and for either Easter or this year, our midwinter feast. There was beer, snaps and of course some non-alcoholic drinks too.

There was cheese (a sheep blue and camembert and a sheep milk gouda), crackers, a dish of Daim and Dumle, and a gorgeous chocolate birthday cake, complete with candles, made by our friend.