Easter week in
Sweden has definitely been a cultural change and different to my normal Easter
Sunday. Instead of my usual family dinner and chocolate Easter eggs Megan and I
spent the day making crepe with the French students. I received some lovely
Easter Cards and letters from my Granny, my little brother and sister telling
me about how many eggs the Easter bunny had left them.
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| Påskkärringar (Easter Hags) |
Whilst in town I noticed
that there were witches hanging in the town centre. I was curious so I asked
Ulla our tutor what these represented. Ulla explained that in Sweden a myth exists surrounding Easter time. On
the Thursday before Easter it is believed that witches fly off on broomsticks
to dance with the devil at Blåkulla. This tradition has continued to this day
and Swedish children dress up
as witches known as Påskkärringar (Easter hags) painting their faces and
walking door to door carrying their broomstick to spread the Easter cheer and
receive sweets. I thought this was very much like Halloween in
comparison to the Easter bunny story In Northern Ireland. These witches give a clear indication that
Swedish Påsk origins predate Christianity. However, Easter today, has little to
do with Christian beliefs for the majority of Swedes.
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| Megan and I loving our bikes |
Easter week here in Trollhattan has been very
relaxing and with the weather picking up again Megan and I decided to embrace
the Swedish culture and purchase bikes. We have spent this week exploring the
many beautiful areas in Trollhattan as well as cycling to Vanserborg. I can
understand why so many people here travel by bike as the grounds are very flat
in comparison to Northern Ireland where there are hills everywhere.
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| Trollywood stars |
Some people refer to Trollhattan as Trollywood as
it is very well know for the music and film industry in Sweden As we explored
the town we noticed that the town has its very own Trollywood stars on the
ground on a street close to the canal. We cycled to the beautiful canal,
waterfalls and even visited a lovely church.
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| The beautiful Canal in Trollhattan |
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| Church beside the waterfalls |
My placement in Fridaskolan starts next week
therefore at the end of this week I will purchase my first monthly bus card.
Although I would much prefer to cycle to school I will be attending a school in
Vansburg, the neighboring town of Trollhattan. The class begins at 8.30
therefore taking the bus at 7.30 to make it on time is the better option. The
bus and train system is very efficient, very rarely do people in Sweden take a
taxi as it is too expensive.
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| Enjoying some party food at Trollhattan badminton club. |
This week the French student Robin who plays
badminton with me decided to have some food and drinks after badminton at the
club to celebrate his birthday. Robin and I discussed our opinions on the
Swedes character and both agreed that they are very friendly and helpful but
extremely reserved and it takes time and effort to get to know them as they
don’t like to open up to new people. He thought it was a great chance to get to
know the badminton players of the club and it was definitely a great idea. He
told me that in his club in France they usually sit together after badminton to
have tea and cake and he would like to introduce his club tradition to the club
here in Trollhattan before going home which seems closer than ever.
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