LearnSweden Blog

Valborg-Bonfires,Songs and Parades

    

Lit bonfires mark the tradition of "sista April", or the last day of april. As we gather around the "majbrasor"(may fires) with our family and friends, we listen to choirs, sing songs of spring, eat gravad lax and do what Swedes do best.....celebrate.

Some of the strongest Valborg traditions remain at Sweden's two oldest universities, Lund in the South and Uppsala, to the North of Stockholm.  From early in the morning to late at night, white capped students sing the songs of spring.

In Göteborg(Gothenburg) they have a cortege carnival parade. Our blogging friends Camilla Engman and Elisabeth from studio violet are having a fantastic parade of their own at manos. Have a look and see who's coming.

For a taste of Sweden on Valborg Eve, listen to a familiar favorite,"Vintern Rasat", The Winter has Fallen. You can find it on itunes as well from Träsan.

Here are the words to sing a long.

Vintern Rasat

Vintern rasat ut bland våra fjällar,
drivans blommor smälta ned och dö.
Himlen ler i vårens ljusa kvällar,
solen kysser liv i skog och sjö.
Snart är sommarn här i purpurvågor,
guldbelagda, azurskiftande
ligga ängarne i dagens lågor,
och i lunden dansa källorne.

Ja, jag kommer! Hälsen, glada vindar,
ut till landet, ut till fåglarne,
att jag älskar dem, till björk och lindar,
sjö och berg, jag vill dem återse,
se dem än som i min barndoms stunder
följa bäckens dans till klarnad sjö,
trastens sång i furuskogens lunder,
vattenfågelns lek kring fjärd och ö.

Happy Valborg from all of us here at LearnSweden.

                 

     

Double Green in Savannah

The invitation asked us to come to Savannah City Hall to witness the signing of an agreement between the greenest city in Sweden,Växjo, and a city in want of mentoring to become the greenest city in Georgia.

                        

Växjo, a smallish city in the province of Småland has been a role model over the last 40 years in developing innovative approaches to "living green". Växjo and the surrounding area has made a committment to decrease their usuage of fossil fuels. To date they have decreased their per captia usage by 32% by using alternative and renewal fuel to heat their homes. They are also leaders in sustainable housing and environmental technologies. Clean-tech is Växjo's industry.

The Lord Mayor of Växjo, Nils Posse, says that Savannah has the potential to become "double green". Savannah already has a sustainable forest around it's city center, as well as, 21 green garden squares in the historic district of Savannah. Now with the help of Växjo, they will learn how to use renewable and reuseable energy to take Savannah into a state of "green".

Here's what happened: 

We met and mingled.

                         

                        

We gathered to watch the signing of the agreement between Växjo and Savannah.

       

       

                             

        

  and now we exchange gifts ..........

      

      

    

and then it was done.  May Savannah live long and double green.

Charmed by Savannah

Moss covered trees beckoned for a walk under their splendid canopies.

     

     

Water laden statues in their fountains summoned to those who were near-by

                             

       

                        

Beautifully restored mansions left us in awe.....

        

       

    

Savannah mesmerized us with her natural beauty and embraced us with her warm Southern hospitality. We were so very fortunate to have spent a few days in Savannah Georgia while we participated in the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce E-Days. Over the next few days we will share some of the great adventures we had there .

Fat Matter Press

                                       

So often we recount a familiar story only to know it again when we see it through the eyes and talents of someone who has been inspired by it. The moment I saw the photo of the "Crane Dances" I wanted to know more about them. When I discovered who was the source of the inspiration I knew I had to share it with you.

Fat Matter Press is the passionate pursuit of a father and son and their love of using a Chandler & Price letterpress. Steeped in the tradition of letter pressing they produce lovely cards and art books while upholding a very old printing tradition.

Old letter-presses weren't the only things that caught their eye. While Todd was reading Selma Lagerlof's "The Wonderful Adventures of Nils" to his daughter ,this passage danced from the pages of the story and onto their beautiful printing press.

“They were majestic. These gray, dusk-clad birds . . . came gliding down the knoll with a mysterious abandon. They swung around – half flying, half dancing. With wings gracefully lifted, they moved with an inconceivable speed. There was something marvelous and strange about their dance . . . as though gray shadows played a game too complex for eyes to follow. . . . There was a wildness in it; yet the feeling which it awakened was a wonderful longing.”

To discover Fat Matter Press for yourself please have a look here.

For your enjoyment, the following photos were provided by Todd and are the property of Fat Matter Press.

          

          

          

The Beckoning of Lovely

Last fall I was introduced to the work of Amy Krouse Rosenthal. The first film was Amy sharing 17 random things that she had made with and an invitation via the internet and YouTube aka the universe, to create a very cool 18th thing together on August 8th.

 

              

Amy didn't know what would happen August 8th. She didn't know if you she would be all alone in her invitation.  Throwing caution to the wind, she went to see what she would find. This is the follow-up video to her 17 things I made. What transpires is amazing. Enjoy and may you be inspired too.    

                

Inspired......Lisa Hannigan

This week sees both of us together in the US in the wonderful and enchanting city of Savannah. There we will take part in the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce e-days. We decided not to leave you wanting for more Learnsweden blogposts. In this week of our absence, we decided that we will share some of the things that have inspired us.

Today's inspired voice comes from Ireland. Lisa Hannigan literally mesmerizes me with her voice and her artistic ability. This video is one of the most unique and captivating music videos that I have seen in awhile. 

Please enjoy her video Lille from her newly released album Sea Sew.

Traditionally Ireland

Saturday greeted us with a traditional Irish Breakfast. Eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, black pudding, taost and coffee or tea.  With a start to the dalike this , who needs lunch ? We had enough food until dinner.  Only a couple of coffee breaks were needed to survive the rest of the day.

The afternoon left us at yet another drinking establishment. This time it was the Jameson's Whiskey distillery.  Instead of taking the guided tour we took a tasting of six different Jamesons's Whiskey.  We discussed which one was our favorite,as usual it was the most expensive one. At least we have good taste.

     

    

     

One of the things we really ejoyed is that Dublin is a very easy city to move around in.  It is quaint and small with eveyrhting just being a quick walk away.  There is a pub on every corner.  Tradition has it that if you get thirsty you just stop at the nearest pub and throw back a pint.  There are plenty of other things to drink as well. We highly recommend the pub crawl tradition.

                         

After another fine Irish breakfast on Sunday, we got on a bus and headed to the Botanical gardens.  It was a myriad of color.  So many flowers, bushes, trees and so on.  Everything was organized very well with an explosion of color. Ireland is a couple of weeks ahead of Sweden.  It is much greener here than in Sweden. There is also a very nice coffee house in the garden, serving a buffet of cookies, cakes, scones, and many other great things.

        

      

     

    

    

    

       

From the center of the city, we took a bus to the seashore where we could spend our afternoon. We sat in the courtyard of a pub where we enjoyed the sun and view of the sea. Sadly, it was our last day and evening in Ireland and then back to Sweden for us.

     

     

Our last evening, we visited our last pub where a dinner of duck liver pate, and Irish Stew left a lasting memory of Ireland.  As we finished with an Irish coffee , we listened to some live Irish folk music. Well we couldn't leave now, so we danced, sang and listened until the wee hours of the morning.

It was a grea way to end our celebration of my mom & dad's birthdays. Happy Birthday !!!!!!!

     

    

   

  

   

A good Friday in Ireland

Friday  or should I say Good Friday, found us exploring the human body. An exhibition entitled "Bodies" had us looking and studying the human boday from amny angles with close up looks at internal organs.  All of this is doen with real human bodies. It was just fascinating. This exhibit impressed us alot and is worth a visit.  It left me with a very strong feeling that continues to last and I can predict that it will remain in my memory for a very long time.

       

Next in store was a memory walk. How could we come to Dublin and not acknowledge all of the great writers and works of literature that have been born here in Dublin.  Our walk took us to a variety of statues, monuments and other memories of Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift, Bram Stoker,George Bernard Shaw, James Joyce and Samuel Becket.

    

     

    

Not finished walking yet we journeyed to Phoenix Park, the largest park in Europe. There, we stopped for our afternoon tea, well for me it was coffee, but the rest was the same such as scones,hard whipped cream and jam. 

   

   

Now that we were refreshed it was off to the zoo. One of the most unique aspects of this zoo is that the animals live in large enclosures, not in small cages. Our evening was spent together in our apartment enjoyng a wonderful dinner as a family.

   

Ah to celebrate in ........Ireland

Over the Easter holiday I had the great pleasure of traveling to Dublin Ireland to celebrate my parents 80th birthday. It was a real family affair, 13 of us in all.

We left on Thursday from a rainy Stockholm and arrived in an equally rainy Dublin. So we were faced with what to do first ? Being a beer fan, the first thing that came to mind was Guinness. Can you believe a beer museum with 7 floors? The House of Guinness is a showcae of how this wonderful brew is produced, the hisotry of the company, but best of all was the fantastic bar on the top floor where one can see all of Dublin.

                             

          

        

      

After seven floors of brew touring we ventured off for a walk. Temple Bar is a lively section of town, with many restaurants, pubs,entertaninment, and many other amusing things to keep busy with. As we walked through the quarter, musicians played, clowns goofed around, and jugglers tumbled and threw their various wares.

     

The only way to end the day was in a "classic" pub. We all ordered a seafood platter which held cockels and mussels and many other sorts of fine fish, all washed down with a guiness of course. An irish coffee was the perfect way to end the day before we started it all again the next day.

   

Blåsippor

What can be better after a long, cold and dark winter here in the north, than the first days of spring? When you can be outside without winter clothing and you won't freeze. When you feel the warmness from the sun and you even may need sunglasses. You walk around, take deep breaths and feel a new smell, the smell of spring. Then you hear all the birds, celebrating spring and taking love loops together with a new or old partner. Butterflies are waking up and flying all around in the bushes that are just starting to get their new leaves. And then all flowers that are coming up from the ground.

       

Best of all is the Blåsippa (Anemone Hepatica). They are so beautiful and they often grow in big groups and colour the green grass blue.

      

All Swedish children know the song about Blåsippan and it is sung at day nurseries and schools all over Sweden.  They will sing the song to celebrate the arrival of spring.
Blåsippan ute i backarna står
niger och säger: ”Nu är det vår!”
Barnen de plocka små sipporna glatt,
rusa sen hem under rop och skratt.
”Mor, nu är våren kommen, mor
nu få vi gå utan strumpor och skor.
Blåsippor ute i backarna stå,
ha varken skor eller strumpor på
Mor i stugan, hon säger så:
”Blåsippor aldrig snuva få.
Än få ni gå med strumpor och skor,
än är det vinter kvar” säger mor
(From www.dockmammor.se)
 
Translated it says something like this:
 
Anemones are growing, so now it is spring. The children are picking the flowers and running home, shouting  "Mother now it is spring, now we can go out without shoes" But their mother says," It is too early, it is still winter and cold."