Glad Påsk!

Some of the twigs with colorful feathers that you can find just about everywhere around Påsk.

Some cute little "witches"

Karlstad's Stora Torget. The busiest I have ever seen it.

Antje and Keilin dying eggs!

Antje and Martin preparing to race!

Keilin showing us how it's done.

The end!

A picture of the sun....just because....its the SUN! Thank the Lord for Spring!

As you all know, this past weekend was Easter weekend, and since it was the first "major" holiday I have experienced in Sweden, I figured it deserved its own blog entry.

While people recognize the origins of Easter as religious, it is considered to be a secular holiday in Sweden. So...what do they do? Well, the children dress up as Easter witches, wearing old clothes, colorful headscarves, and rosy cheeks with freckles. They walk from house to house with baskets full of hand painted or colored drawings to give to their neighbors in hopes of receiving some candy in return. Its almost like Halloween in the states, except the witches are not scary, and they all dress up the same (Although I DID see one little fellow in a spiderman costume....not sure what that was all about :o) To decorate, Swedes take various twigs and put colorful feathers on the end to place in their yards. They generally eat the "traditional" Swedish food such as pickled herring, cured salmon, and potatoes.

I did not experience the "complete" Påskdagen because I did not eat the traditional food; however, I think I got a pretty good glimpse of Easter in Sweden. On Saturday, I went with Keilin downtown where there was a big festival for Påskdagen. There were little kids everywhere all dressed up in their witch costumes, vendors selling everything from home made kanelbulle, to lingon juice, to flowers, to candy, and there was even some live music. It was the most people I have ever seen at one time in Karlstad. haha!

Then, on Easter morning, I sang with the choir at the church, and some of my friends came along as well. Afterward, I got together with Keilin, Antje, and Antje's boyfriend, Martin, to celebrate together. We boiled and dyed eggs, ate a German meal (Zuess und Sauer Eier...yum) and played some German Easter games with the eggs, like rolling them down a hill in a race. It was a wonderful day. I guess you could say I was able to experience both a Swedish and German Easter at the same time! I'll never forget it :o) I hope everyone has a peaceful Easter wherever you might have been!

Until next time,

Lauren