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Article from "Ejdern Telegrafen" 2000,
our yearbook.
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For parties and celebration!
Many people in Södertälje, and others too, consider Ejdern perfect in the summer for the parties and celebration they plan. To be able to transport their wedding guests by a steamer, many couples who are to be married think will shed an extra splendour over that important occasion in their lives. Some have even been maried on board, very solemn ceremonies.
The most odd trip with a bridal couple we had took place after an ordinary trip, when a young couple wanted to go by Ejdern (when they were married) just across the very narrow Baltic bay in the center of Södertälje, from Ejdern´s jetty to a reataurant on the other side, just a couple of hundred meters - but they wanted to arrive in style as the groom said when he orderd the trip. They arrived to Ejdern in a limousine and were transported by a ship dressed in flags and hooting her steam wistle, and were met by cheering wedding guests on the other side if the water.
A Swedish-American wedding. Another charter trip worth remembering with bride and groom and guests took place a reasonably warm and nice Friday in August, the bride being Swedish and the groom American, and they were to be married in the Ansgar chapel at Birka. Such an arrangement requires good planning and Ejdern was booked a long time in advance. And some telephone calls between the people who rent Ejdern and the society about the trip usually make it successful. In due time before the departure Ejdern was polished, decorated with flags and the bride's parents brought leafy branches, for more decoration, and boxes and baskets with refreshments. The wedding dress and the bridal bouquet were carefully carried on board down under deck where the bride was to change during the way to Birka. There was a pretty ship leaving for the wedding with it's load of the happy couple, dressed up and merry wedding quests, good food and music. A necessary stop was made at the Lindby jetty, to bring on board the priest and the cantor. A blushing, I believe, and enchanting bride emerged on deck just before the arrival to Birka and the whole suite walked the half mile path to the chapel. The crew didn't attend the wedding but the bride told us later that the ceremony was very solemn. When all arrived on board again there were toasts in champagne, cheering and photographs taken. The priest and cantor were brought back to Lindby. At Mälarhamnen everybody debarked for transport to the wedding dinner. And Ejdern´s crew went back home to tidy the ship after a very successful event. The other day we had a thank you card from the happy couple Cecilia and Robert Sciba with a photo of the bride and groom and all wedding guests.
Picture: The Scibas and wedding guests.
Christening/Naming. A more unusual event on board is a christening, in this case there was a civil act actually. A bright Sunday afternoon, May 21, Ejdern made a two hour trip up lake Mälaren with some forty passengers to name the six months old twin girls Malva and Morgaine. Mum and Dad, Granny and everybody else were busy with the little ones who in spite of the unfamiliar surroundings and all fuss were rather unaffected. But just in case they both had a bottle before the ceremony. Not even when they were carefully dressed in their lovely white dresses, white thighs and silk shoes and had flower garlands on their heads did they whimper. At the rare end of the quarter deck the ceremony was carried out by two women from the local government, known by the family, which they did for the very first time, while the girls god parents were holding the two little "stars" of the event. The flower garlands and the certificates the girls will have framed as tokens from the occasion their mother told us.
Picture: Malva and Morgaine (or is it the other way around?) held by their god parents flanked by the masters of ceremonies, in the front the proud parents.
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