A Year in Sweden: Valborg and 1st of May

We got a nice break last week as Sweden celebrated Valborgsmässoafton and Första maj. No school or work on Monday or Tuesday for a nice, long weekend. We even lucked out and had absolutely beautiful weather--sunny, warm and no rain. We hear that doesn't always happen.

We spent Monday morning on a nice family bike ride. We rode on the Linnérundan trail through the wetlands of Kristianstad. It is a beautiful mix of marshes, forests and farmer's fields. And for the first time all year, we rode without wearing any jackets.

Biking in the wetlands--you can see our little city off in the distance.

Home again, it was time for a walk through the woods near our house to Netto to buy hot dogs and marshmallows for the evening's festivities. I love these stretches of woods that help you forget you live in the city.

Everything is blooming right now.

We bike and walk in these woods often.

Leaves! It feels like spring took forever to come but it
is finally really here!

In the evening we drove about 15 minutes north to the village of Österslov to celebrate Valborgsmässoaften. We were told this was the "best fire" in the area and many of our church friends were planning to go there. It was a big bonfire. There is a nice little park area on the shore of the lake and they had the big bonfire set up in the middle of it. There were a number of people there, but not too many for the space-- felt like a small gathering rather than a huge crowd. In addition to families from church we also ran into a co-worker.

Ready to light the bonfire

A bunch of kids came in (I know they were scouts but they weren't in uniform and scouts in Sweden are girls and boys of a wide variety of ages) holding torches and stood around the fire. Then they had a few speeches that weren't amplified well enough to really hear. We mostly watched the kids fidgeting with their torches and hoped none of them lighted themselves on fire. :-)

Luckily the smallest torch bearers had parental supervision

Then they lit the fire and everyone sang a few songs-- one was a traditional spring song. The other was the Swedish national anthem. After that everyone hung around and visited and roasted their own hotdogs and marshmallows in the park's charcoal grills.

Fire starts to burn

Not long after they lit the fire, a whistle started blowing and all the kids went running. It was a clown and he threw candy out to the crowd of kids for them to catch.

"Godis!"

The kids enjoyed throwing rocks in the lake and visiting with friends. For a while a bunch of the kids (teens and younger) from church were jump roping. It was pretty funny because they were taking turns running in, jumping a few, running out-- and they were goofing around counting the jumps in a wide variety of languages. When the sun set, it was really pretty on the lake. We'll have to go up to that lake and swim in the summer.

Gorgeous sunset!

The bonfire put out a lot of heat once it got going!

Monday was Första Maj (First of May) which is traditionally a labor holiday, but we didn't see any protest marches or such. Some sort of labor group did rent out the park across the street from us for the day, but they held a big family carnival. It made me think of some company parties we've been to. Since all the rides were aimed at young children, our kids weren't tempted to join in. We were relieved that it didn't draw large, noisy crowds or too much extra traffic. We'd been a little nervous when all the trucks had rolled in to set up.

Things you experiencing living by a park

We were craving some really good ice cream so we did what everyone does here in that condition, we drove to Åhus to buy some yummy Otto Glas (glas= ice cream in Swedish). It really is good ice cream. During the 20 minute drive, our son was having fun with his camera and got a few pictures of typical Swedish life.

Swedish flags flying for the holiday

A typical rural bus stop. Notice the bike rack.

We have lots of rapeseed fields-- used in vegetable oil-- in our area.
They are in bloom right now and they are beautiful.

Once in Ähus, we had a few minutes before the ice cream stand opened so we visited St. Maria's church. It is a beautiful old church first built in the 1100s. It has gradually been added on to and redecorated.

St. Maria's Church

There were a few faded wall paintings that looked extremely old.

I love the painted trim along the arches.

Notice the boat hanging from the ceiling.

The altar

And the engineer gets a picture of the back side-- is interesting to see.

Interesting donation box to pay for postcards and candles.

Our daughter ordered all our ice cream in Swedish without resorting to any English (and without the server switching to English on her-- a common occurrence as an American in Swedish). We have to relish the small victories as we struggle to learn a new language. After eating our ice cream-- in freshly made waffle cones, yum! We wandered just a little farther down the waterfront to Aose Hus-- the ruins of a castle built in the 1100s by a powerful archbishop. We all really enjoyed climbing around it. The kids concluded that we need an ancient castle ruin in our backyard.