Here the “folk festivals,” for which the Swedish poets have composed their most beautiful songs, are held every spring; here the national holidays are celebrated as in olden times, both in summer and winter, and national customs are preserved with great care and amid surroundings that give them a realistic tone, like the true thing.  Dr. Hazelius secured original types of peasant houses from every part of the country where they have individual or unique character.  From the huts of the fishermen on the south coast of the Scandinavian peninsula to the camps of the Lapps in the frozen zone, every feature of Swedish country life is represented.  The Lapps brought their dogs and reindeer, and live exactly as they do upon the snowy plains of the polar regions.

With the forty acres that compose the park are about one hundred and twenty-five people, living exactly as their forefathers lived and practicing the primitive customs that prevailed two centuries ago in the agricultural districts of the kingdom.  They wear the same costumes, eat the same kind of food, use the same kind of dishes, and preserve so far as possible every feature of their daily life.  Every one of the provinces of Sweden which has a distinctive dress or unique custom is represented by the actual people who have always lived that way.  Every man and woman continues their former occupations.  There is no theatrical business about it, no imitations on the grounds; everything is genuine.

Three or four times a week at sunset, after their daily work is done, the peasants gather for a dance at a central place, which is always surrounded by a large crowd of spectators, and is the greatest attraction of Skansen.  On alternate nights the dancing is by the children, of whom there are thirty-seven under fifteen years of age living in the cabins with their parents, dressed just like their great-great-grandfathers and grand mothers when they were of the same age.  The music for the dancing is furnished by old-fashioned instruments, and none but old-fashioned tunes are allowed.  There is a society in Sweden known as Svenska Folkdansens Vaenner for preserving the Swedish national peasant dances and for encouraging their use in the higher circles of society in preference to the French dances.

There are several fine museums and picture galleries in Sweden.  The national gallery in Stockholm, which is across the bay from the royal palace, and the Northern Museum founded in 1872 by Dr. Hazelius.  Then there is the Royal Opera and the National Theater, so that the people of Stockholm do not want for places of amusement in winter as well as summer.