So what’s going on in the town square on a very cold Saturday afternoon in November?
It’s the first Advent Weekend. Traditionally in Sweden we have a special Advent candle holder with four candles, lighting one for each of the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. The churches in our town unite in upholding this tradition by also lighting giant candles in the town square on each preceding Saturday afternoon, with a choir singing some of the traditional Advent hymns.
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This year we had an unusually cold start to Advent. They actually had difficulties lighting the candles because it was too cold!
It was also very cold to just stand still and listen, so I took the camera as an excuse to wander around a bit and get pictures from different perspectives.
The lights are up in the giant Christmas tree as well.
SantaLand is also back, with Lapp cot tent and fires and whatnot.
You can also have a peek into Santa’s workshop. Santa himself seems to be either exhausted already, or just taking things easy, with five weeks to go to Christmas… He’s fast asleep in the window!
(I should really have put the camera on video for this because his tummy is actually moving up and down…!)
PS. I bought myself an early Christmas present: An electric blanket to keep me warm in front of the TV in the winter afternoons and evenings…
3 comments:
I love these pictures, I get such a feeling of warmth and community from them! I don't know what SantaLand is, nor the tent. If you posted it last year, I may not have been following you then, or else I forgot.
that tent looks very much like our native american tents. a beautiful look at your town square. our churches do the four candles, one each week, but most people do not do it in there homes.
The fourth photo reminds me of a painting. It's lovely to see community in action like that.
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