LostInTheWoods

I've been in Sweden for coming up to two years now, but this exact time of year I have never been here for a few boring reasons, so there was a window of opportunity for a cultural curve ball. Last night Sweden celebrated “Walpurgis Night” or “Valborgsmässoafton” in Swedish (I know exactly what you are thinking, WTF is “Walpurgis Night”?).

OK, so a quick scoot over to Mr Wiki, and he says:
“Historically the Walpurgisnacht is derived from Pagan spring customs, where the arrival of spring was celebrated with bonfires at night. Viking fertility celebrations took place around February 25 and due to Walburga being declared a saint at that time of year, her name became associated with the celebrations. Walburga was honored in the same way that Vikings had celebrated spring and as they spread throughout Europe, the two dates became mixed together and created the Walpurgis Night celebration. The main mascot of Walpurgis Day is the witch.”

Now, I love a pagan festival as much as the next man, so I thought I would observe this, before participation. We certainly don't celebrate the coming of Spring in the UK, we drift from cold rain to warm rain, with a few hot sunny days mixed in.

In practical terms, the celebration in our local town consisted of (rather impressive I must say) marching bands marching through the town, followed by random members of the populace. In one case, directly behind the band was a troupe (guessing the collective noun) of majorettes, and in another, a group of Scouts. Swedish flags were paraded at the front of each procession, and today, even the buses had little Swedish flags flapping from their roofs.

The bigger of the two parades I encountered yesterday, marched to the edge of the big lake, where already lit, was the biggest chuffing bonfire I have ever seen. It was mainly surrounded by water, so this is probably why it was allowed to be so huge. If you were in the witch burning business, this fire could have incinerated several covens in one go.

There was a podium for speakers and a choir, whose whole repertoire revolved around the coming of Spring. More band music, another couple of songs about Spring, a great long speech that apparently I did not/could not fully appreciate, and I then started to get pins and needles in my legs. But then the fireworks kicked off, and they turned out to be fairly impressive. Afterwards it was all back to the church for tea and ciabattas(?!).

I am still a little confused about what actually we were celebrating. With things like Christmas, Easter, St Patrick's Day and National Potato Day (29^th January; a date for your diary), you kind of know why you are doing what you are doing. I am still not convinced by the whole thing. I guess if I grew up here, I would get it, and not try to over analyse it.

But big whizzing pop bang fireworks are always good, so I'll be back next year for them anyway. Oohhh.... aahhhh....

That is all.

LostInTheWoods