Duck? Duck? Goose!

American holidays never involve lingonberries. And that, according to the Harvard Scandinavian Folk and Culture Society, is a problem. On Tuesday, the friendly blond community did its part to rectify this travesty by bringing their its St. Martins Day celebration to Boylston Hall.

This Scandinavian tradition features good food, high spirits and, most importantly, a roast goose. As the story goes, St. Martina kind, beneficent manwas eyed by the archbishop of France for a promotion. St. Martin, not wanting the profile and responsibilities of an administrator, hid himself amidst a gaggle of geese in hopes of avoiding the archbishop. In the end, the geese, alarmed at St. Martins presence among them, honked and ruined his cover. In remembrance of this, it is customary to mark St. Martins Day by eating a roast goose.

Here at Harvard, people gather for delicious treats like crispbread and gingersnaps while partaking in hearty conversation in Swedish, Norwegian and other Scandinavian tongues. All the while, guests ears are greeted by Scandinavian sounds, made internationally famous by the pop geniuses behind ABBA.

Of course, Scandinavians are a welcoming bunch and everybody is invitedso students of every nationality can enjoy this festive delight. It was my first exposure to Scandinavian culture, Samuel Palmer-Amaning 05 says. It was an excellent experience and I will look forward to it again next year.

Yuni Kim 02, who organized the event with help from the coffers of the Harvard Foundation, says this years celebration was amazingly successful. Theres such a small Scandinavian presence on campusit was great to see such a strong turn-out, Kim adds.

For the handful of Scandinavians who are here, their greatest joy seemed to come from the fact that so many others were present and enjoying the celebration. As a person from Sweden, I was very surprised by how many people were interested in my culture, says Birgit P. I. Larsson 04.

A little lingonberry truly goes a long way.