Dreaming of a White Christmas?

Advent Calendar / 18 December

Are you dreaming of a white Christmas?

In Sweden, the early winter this year has already provided so much snow that the thought of even more of it is likely to cause nightmares rather than classic Bing Crosby sentimentality.

On Wednesday this week, we had had cold, clear day here in the south-west, around -13°C (8.5 F). In the night, the temperature rose to 0°C (32 F) in a few hours, and it started snowing (or raining, esp. closer to the coast). On top of that, a strong wind blowing. And it kept on snowing most of the day.

The top photo in this post was taken the day after the snowstorm; turned into black-and-white - not that that made much difference! –  and the snowfall effect was added in Picnik.

The photos below were taken through my windows in the snowfall.

  

The media warned people in this area from going out if they didn’t have to. I did not have to, so I took the advice and stayed in. As the day proceeded, I was more than glad that I did! 

 

The sudden temperature changes glazed some roads with ice, while others were blocked by heavy snowfall. Not for the first time this winter, trains stopped running and airports were closed. Accidents were multiple, especially along the west coast. Trucks went off the road and blocked the rest of the traffic. A bus turned over. In Gothenburg, pedestrians were unable to stay on their feet in the streets because the rain froze to ice as soon as it hit the ground. The Emergency Rooms at the hospitals were crowded. All ambulances were out picking up people in a never-ending queue, and they had to call in every orthopedic surgeon they could get hold of to take care of all the fractures.

Friday morning, I again woke up to -13°C, and a bleak sun sometimes peeking out from behind the clouds.

I managed to get into town by bus in the morning to get some groceries; and later a short walk to the small local shop as well. So if necessary, I’m all set to get snowed in again over the weekend! More snow is predicted, after which it will get colder again.

Most likely, Christmas will be white and cold all over the country. That is far from always the case here in the south.

My local newspaper had some statistics: In our town, looking back over the past 20 years, 13 Christmases out of 20 were NOT white. Last year was actually the first white Christmas we’d had since 2001. But December this year will probably turn out the coldest December in Sweden in 100 years - or even 150, someone just said on the news!

A Thousand Candles

Advent Calendar / 7 December

Listen at YouTube to one of the most common Swedish Christmas hymns, “Nu tändas tusen juleljus” – “We light a thousand candles bright”. (Sung in Swedish by ABBA singer Agnetha Fältskog and daughter back in 1980.)

Here is an English translation of the lyrics which I found at www.hymnlyrics.org:

We light a thousand candles bright, around the earth today,
And all the beams will shine across the heaven's grand display.
Yes, over land and sea tonight the joyful message brings
The birth of Him, our Lord and Christ, our Savior and our King.
Dear brightest star o'er Bethlehem, O let your precious light
Shine in with hope and peace toward men in ev'ry home tonight.
In all our house so cold and dark, please send your warmth sublime,
The warmth that comes from Jesus' love this blessed Christmas time.

The Song In Your Heart

"A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words."
~ Unknown ~

Does the picture above seem familiar to you? I used the “raw image” in another post just recently. We’ve been having rainy days lately and I have not been out taking a lot of new photos; instead I’m playing with my archives and photo editing software. (Picasa + Corel Paint Shop Pro X in this case)

The friendship quote reminded me of the line “take a sad song and make it better”… Google and YouTube were in friendly mood and sang it back to me:  

For All Language Lovers...

I got this sent to me on Facebook, and thought I must share it here as well. Two of my blogging friends came especially to mind... Rae and Scriptor Senex.

Stephen Fry Kinetic Typography - Language

6 June – National Day of Sweden

The Swedish flag (this is not my own picture, but the ones below are)

 

 

Our tradition of celebrating 6 June as National Day is not very old. It is said to have begun in 1916, even if the date chosen goes back to the year 1523, when Gustav Vasa was elected king: an event which re-established Sweden as an independent country after having been in union with Denmark and Norway since 1397.

Some later political events in the history of the nation have also taken place on the same date. It was however only as recently as in 2005 that 6 June was proclaimed an official Swedish public holiday – and instead we lost Whit Monday (the Monday after Pentecost), which many people would have preferred to keep, since that always gave a long weekend.

 

This year, 6 June fell on a Sunday, so no extra day off… But it was a beautiful sunny day, and a lot of people gathered for a celebration in the park – with parade, music, singing, speech and flag-waving.

The Swedish National Anthem:

Even though I always have difficulties remembering all the lyrics to our national anthem – and also find them a bit pompous - yet on a beautiful summer day like this, the song can still make my heart swell and bring tears to my eyes…

Here’s a translation I found on the internet:

Thou ancient, thou free,
thou mountainous North,
Thou quiet, thou joyful beauty!
I greet Thee, most beautiful land upon earth!
Chorus:
Thy sun, Thy sky, Thine meadows green!
Thy sun, Thy sky, Thine meadows green!
Thou throne upon memories of great olden days,
When honoured thy name flew over the world,
I know that thou art and wilt be as thou wert!
Chorus:
Yes, I want to live I want to die in the North!
Yes, I want to live I want to die in the North!

You may notice that the song does not even mention “Sweden”, instead it speaks of The North. Attempts have been made from time to time to exchange it for a new one, but no success.

Sail Away

In town today, one of the windows of this old wooden building caught my eye…

Sail Away ~ Enya

13 December - St Lucia Day

13th December in Sweden is Lucia Day, or St Lucy's Day (link to Wikipedia article). As with so many other celebrations, the origin is a strange mix of quite different legends and traditions.

On the one hand, the celebration is connected to old beliefs that on the night between 12th till 13th one should guard oneself against Lucifer (the devil), or a female evil spirit or witch by name of Lussi, by staying up all night and keeping candles burning etc. (In old times this night was believed to be the winter solstice, the longest night in the whole year.)

On the other hand, it has also been connected to the Italian legends of St Lucy, patron saint of Syracuse who died in the 4th century.

Anyway, the tradition arose of young people going round between houses and farms on this night, singing special Lucia songs (and Christmas carols and hymns), and bringing candles and sweets and pastries. Lucia traditionally wears a long white dress or robe, and a crown of candles on her head. Her maids just hold candles in their hands. Boys can take part too, also dressed in white robes and wearing white cones on their heads decorated with stars and sometimes also holding a stick with a star on top. They're then called "star boys". (Nowadays boys might also be dressed up as Santa's helpers or gingerbread men.)


 
A special kind of sweet buns or rolls are made for Lucia; often they are made with saffron, and because of their special curled shape, they are called "Lucia cats". Ginger biscuits also belong in the Lucia and Christmas traditions.

Every town has their own Lucia, usually elected by a public voting process involving the local newspaper and a charity organisation. This Lucia and her maids spend around three weeks in December going round visiting different organisations and public places, singing traditional songs and collecting money for charity. Each school and church etc usually also have their own Lucia celebrations.  Young children sometimes go round and sing to the neighbours. Older students sometimes stay up all night, or get up very early to go and wake up parents or teachers etc.

One of my best Lucia night memories is from when I was in a youth gospel choir in my early 20s. A few of us started out in the very early morning, all dressed up, and then went round to collect the rest. Many of them were still living at home with their parents, so then we'd wake the whole family and sing a few songs at each place. Then we brought the choir members with us and so with each visit there were more of us. The last people visited were our choir leaders, pastors and the janitors at the church.

The picture at the top of the post was taken at a mini Lucia concert outdoors in the park close to where I live, a little over a week ago. At five o'clock in the afternoon, it is already completely dark. It was only possible to take photos when they were on stage in the light.

Here is a clip I found on Youtube, so that you get one of the traditional songs as well: