Dala Horse

Group:

My object is a sculpture of a dala horse.  It is a red horse made from wood and has a bunch other colors all over it.  It was made in Sweden (where my grandma lived for 5 years but she was born in Switzerland). My grandma gave it to my family.  It is used as decoration in my family’s house.  It’s very important to me because my great grandma is swedish and this was passed down to us so it’s very special to us.  The horse represents strength and courage.  Around 4000 years ago the dala horse was very valuable in sweden.  A long time ago the horses were made for kids to play with.  But around 1000 years later they were used as payment and used as barter for household items.  Little kids had to learn how to make them to help the family's business because that was their money in a way.  It wasn’t famous until 1939 at the New York exhibition they had a huge Dala Horse sculpture in the front of the exhibition  Then 20,000 Dala Horses were shipped to New York and became a symbol of Sweden.  My grandma gave this to us to remind our family of when she was an immigrant.  She got this right before she got on the boat to go to Ellis Island. That is why this is important to my family and my culture because it reminds me of all the sacrifices my family has made for my brother and I.  
My object is related to Evan Vallos item which is a map of Switzerland because it was passed down to him and my grandma was born in Switzerland so it relates to me.

Year: 1946

– IH

Relationship:  Grandchild of im/migrant Grandchild of im/migrant