I bet you thought I was done with the whole red, white and blue theme, eh? Well I couldn't resist posting these beauties. I found both the napkins and the tablecloth at Punzel's in Michigan last year. I already posted the beautiful red, white, and blue linen table runner I bought there last September and I have been itching to put these up ever since.
According to Wikipedia, the horse you see here is called a "Dala" horse. The Swedish started carving wooden horses long ago as toys that then became a popular item for trade. Different locations had differing styles, but the red horse with the detailed harness in white, green, yellow and blue became the most widespread and is now a popular symbol of Sweden.
Originally the horses were just carved from wood and not painted. According to legend a wandering painter came across a plain horse and painted it in the kurbits style. What is kurbits you ask? It is "an invented, fantastical symbol of vegetal fertility based on a gourd or pumpkin of biblical legend, principally used for ornamentation in Swedish folk art and on painted furniture and domestic objects." I had to google it and it is totally awesome! I am totally crazy over kurbits and I didn't even know it! You must google image it! When I bought these I knew none of this...I just thought they were super cute and beautiful. Now I like them even more!
I love those napkin designs.
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