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Tag archives for Witches

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

Blåkulla, Easter witches, and other true stories of an obviously Christian holiday

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As an English teacher, I’ve been invited to a number of events and special occasions by students, but never a witches’ coven. Until recently.

One of my Business English students is a middle-aged woman with a forceful personality and an offbeat sense of humor. We meet for three-hour sessions, so by the end of our time together we’re both pretty tired, which is one reason why I didn’t pay much attention when she started talking about witches. I chalked it up to being part of a slightly odd joke being lost in translation. But then she followed up on it with the email below:

Dear Kate,

Time flies and next week I’ll see you in Blåkulla?? Thursday is the big “flying day.” I’ll take my cat, my broomstick and my coffeepot. When I arrive in Blåkulla the party starts! Don’t miss this opportunity to meet other witches.

I started getting a little nervous. Was I supposed to understand last week’s “joke” as a real invitation to a witches’ coven? Does she think she can fly? Can she? And what does a coffeepot have to do with anything???

Long story made short: I didn’t have to get on a broom. But witches are a real phenomenon in Sweden… at least around Easter.

I started asking everyone I met about Blåkulla and the current witch situation there, and I met with a wide variety of responses from the disturbingly well-informed to the absolutely clueless. Most of the time, though, I got a vague description of witches flying to a place called Blåkulla, where they all “hang out” and “do witch stuff.” Those Swedes who actually knew the story told a far more interesting tale.

These cute little Easter witches were for sale in a shop in Gamla Stan in Stockholm. The perfect addition to your bedazzled branch collection! (More information on that later...)

According to legend, the Thursday before Easter (skärtorsdagen in Swedish) is the designated day of the year for all evil witches to fly on their broomsticks to a place called Blåkulla, where they have a wild rumpus, share potion recipes, and take part in a giant orgy with the devil. That’s right, an orgy. Plus all the other typical witchy things. Then they fly back.

Stranger still, the annual witches’ convention at Blåkulla has somehow become part of Swedish Easter traditions. The story of Blåkulla played an important role in Sweden during the second half of the 1600’s when the witch hunts were in full force. People claimed to have seen women flying on their way to exchange the latest tips and tricks for hexing unsuspecting villagers and then those women were usually put to death. Somewhere in between then and now, people thought, “Hey, this is a great activity for the kids to get in on.” And thus the tradition of “påskkärringar,” or “Easter hags,” was begun.

In practice, this means that on the Thursday before Easter,  for no logical reason that I can understand, Swedish children dress up as witches and go door-to-door spreading Easter cheer and receiving candies or small coins in return… a little like Halloween, but without the option of choosing your own costume.

It is also important to note that Swedes have quite a different outlook on what a witch should look like.  Observe.

Some adorable Easter witches ready to hit the streets. Photos l-r: konkret idé & kommunikation/Flickr, familjen benesch/Flickr

I’d call it “babuschka chic.” No pointy hat, no black cape, no warts: these kids just have rosy red cheeks, liberally distributed freckles, and shawls wrapped over their heads.

So there you have it! The perfect pre-Easter celebration. Be careful out there… there are witches afoot!

 

Kate Reuterswärd - Expat

April 22, 2011