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Tag archives for Uppsala

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Dogs in Sweden But Were Afraid to Ask…

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cute dog

Rabbit’s first few days in Sweden. Looking a bit jet-lagged…Photo by K.Lund.

 

My dog, Rabbit joined me in Sweden around eight months after I moved here. She had numerous veterinary visits right before she left the US and then when she entered Sweden so she did not need to see a doctor for the first four months. She needed a Rabies booster shot recently so I found a good vet not far from where we live.

In addition to the necessary booster, Rabbit also got her FIRST EVER passport. Yup, you read right, Rabbit is now free to move around Europe.

But first, let me tell you about the Swedish Dog Registry. Read more » >>

Kristin Lund

December 1, 2012

Let There Be Light (in Uppsala)

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"River Sirens" at the Festival of Lights in Uppsala

“River Sirens” at the Festival of Lights in Uppsala. Photo by K. Lund.

 

Most people I know here in Sweden think November is the darkest month of the year. Daylight Savings is over, the days are noticeably shorter every week, and it seems extra dark, cold, and rainy. There is no snow on the ground (at least in Uppsala or Sweden yet–snow makes everything brighter) and the lights of Advent are a month away.

So Uppsala’s “Festival of Lights” is a welcome sight in November. The festival has been held in Uppsala in November biennially since 2008. This year is its third time. The art installations in the festival are designed to encourage outdoor exercise (walking) and to show off new energy efficient technologies and innovative ways of working with light. This year the city of Uppsala worked with a bunch of companies and institutions to create the 15 light installations scattered on a four-kilometer loop around central Uppsala. The loop starts at the Market Square. Then passes by the Concert Hall, the travel center, and over the “Iceland Falls” to the Gustavianum dome.

My favorites installations on the loop included:

  • above the “Iceland Falls” where ghost-like river sirens dance across the river the five opal glass sculptures where the water flows by Rosen park next to the Uppland Museum
  • the blue lighting of Gustavianum roof dome
Festival of Lights

Gustavianum at the Festival of Lights in Uppsala. Photo by K. Lund.

 

  • the large pillars standing around the middle of the main square that slowly change color
  • Town Hall is where a synthesizer is projected onto the building and visitors can play with both sound and light
  • the projection of the keys on the water at St. Olaf Bridge

Many of the light sculptures have added audio and in several places the public can take part themselves. Other installations only activate if someone is there.

It’s a neat idea and a great way to ‘light a candle rather than curse the darkness.’

Outside Upplands Museum at the Festival of Lights in Uppsala

Outside Upplands Museum at the Festival of Lights in Uppsala. Photo by K. Lund.

 

Kristin Lund

November 4, 2012

Spring in Sweden is a nonstop parade of holidays; this is not a joke.

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As if I needed any more reasons to love spring in Sweden, we appear to be in the middle of a period of non-stop holidays. Last weekend was Easter, and this weekend is the two-for-one combination of Valborg (April 30th) and May Day (May 1st).

For those of you who went to college or university after the point at which students were supposed to Behave With Decorum and Pay Due Attention To Your Studies, remember Spring Frolics? The weekend of partying and ridiculousness right before exams? The final BOOYAH before cracking down in the library? Well, I’m about to relive that weekend with several thousand Swedes… and without the looming specter of a week’s drudgery in the library to follow.

For those of you who actually did Behave With Decorum and Pay Due Attention To Your Studies without Indulging in Irresponsible Behavior, I’m sure there are a few movies you could watch to get an idea of what I’m talking about.

All I’ve heard about for the last couple of weeks is Valborg, and from what I can tell, Valborg is the real-deal Spring Frolics for all Swedes. Bonfires! Choirs! Day drinking in the park! And lest you start to think that I’m hanging out with the wrong kind of people, it’s not just other 20-somethings who are looking forward to the day of revelry. My middle-aged students—the successful professionals looking to hone their English for a competitive edge—are just as excited.

As with many Swedish holidays, it’s hard to sort out what the original reason for the holiday was: Christian tradition? Pagan customs? Something related to the current amount of sunshine? It’s still unclear, and even the Swedes that I’ve been asking seem to have a pretty fuzzy understanding of the story behind Valborg.

Is this a holiday for witches or saints? Or sunshine-loving Swedes? Photos courtesy (l-r) of www.rhine-river-lights.com and catholicheritage.blogspot.com

Here are the few facts I have gleaned from the internet and bugging the people around me:

Valborg’s technical name is “Valborgsmässoafton,” which is known in English as Walpurgis Night. More on the “afton” part of the name later. The holiday started out as a pagan grain festival and was later appropriated by the Catholic Church as a religious holiday.

Just in case you didn’t know what a Walpurgis is, she was an 8th century Catholic saint from England who traveled to Germany to be a missionary. Depending on what website you read (and I checked the Vatican’s website for credible information, but no luck), she is the patron saint of rabies, seamen, invalids, farmers and/or the common cold… and/or a protectress against magic arts and/or failed harvests. What can I say? The poor woman’s got a lot on her plate.

Walpurgis Night is also supposed to be a night of witches or a “Witches’ Sabbath.” This might be connected to the legend of Blåkulla, but it’s definitely important to modern-day Satanists. (Scary thought.)

So what is a modern day Valborgsmässoafton all about? If you live in a student city like Lund or Uppsala, champagne breakfasts, hanging out in the park, and fancy student balls can all be part of a typical celebration. If you’re a little bit farther out in the countryside, bonfires are the most important part of the celebration. Very large bonfires. In Lund, a there’s a famous student choir (Studentsångarna) that performs the next day, singing out the winter and singing in the spring.

Maybe at its heart Valborg is just about FIRE! Unbelievable displays of FIRE! Photos by (clockwise) dark botxy/Flickr, t_buchtele/Flickr, WixPix/Flickr

This whole April 30th/May 1st two-for-one holiday brings me to my final and biggest question about Valborg. We celebrated Easter on Saturday, on “Påskafton,” or Easter Eve, just like Christmas is celebrated on the 24th, on “Julafton,” or Christmas Eve. If Saturday is “Valborgsmässoafton,” why is Sunday just May Day? Shouldn’t Sunday be Valborg and Saturday be Valborgsmässoafton? How can you have an “afton,” or eve, without an official holiday following? When I posed this question to a group of Swedes, I got nothing but blank stares and exasperated sighs in return. Why, my friends? Why?!


Kate Reuterswärd - Expat

April 27, 2011