Blog (Page 2)

Q: Why are you doing this? A: Well it started out as an experimental site… A place for me to pracitce my skills. Now most of the “fancy stuff” is gone… I started to enjoy having the site for what it is or maybe I should say have become. It’s a place where I can reflect on myself… I think if there is one person I really should try and get to know it’s myself. This way i look at myself and you get to peek in through the window and take a look at that process. I hope you enjoy it. Q: Will youRead More →

On Sweden’s Valborg-Walpurgis Eve on April 30th Swedes are lighting bonfires to mark the end of winter and the beginning of spring. People gather by the light and heat of the fire to listen to choirs performing a number of traditional spring songs. “Valborgsmässoafton” is an ancient custom: it was done to scare off predators before the cattle and sheep were let out to graze but also to protect people against evil spirits believed to be gathering on this very night. Once the fire dies there’s time for a few hours sleep before it’s time to get ready for the May Day processions and speeches.Read More →

Halloween rapidly became established here in Sweden Probably a result of smart commercial marketing Swedes only recently began celebrating Halloween; it’s a welcome break and a good reason to party. As darkness falls across the land by the beginning of November, Sweden is enveloped in darkness and the long dark weeks stretch away endlessly so we take any opportunity to engage in some festivities. With our skeleton from the closet we bring out the friendly ghost instead to help bring this young tradition in the gathering dark out into the light. The celebration of a particular custom often has lengthy roots. Some customs are traditional,Read More →

Midsummer, the time when Swedes, regardless of the weather, want to be outdoors, meet others and greet the arrival of summer. The changing of the season is closely associated with Swedish customs. We celebrate summer with an intensity that can only be found in people who have just endured a long, dark winter. But then, Midsummer is an occasion with pagan roots. The celebration of midsummer is an ancient custom, The longest day of the year was, in pagan time, a very important feast. The old belief is that if you pick 9 different flowers, during silence, at a crossroad and placed the flowers underRead More →