Week 28 Intro to Vikings 101

This was a transfer week.  On Tuesday morning we welcomed 16 new missionaries and in the afternoon we welcomed a new couple, the Donohoos.  They are temporarily staying in the "clubhouse" until their  assignment and apartment are ready for them.

On Thursday we (the Andersons and us) introduced the Donohoos with our usual "Welcome to Sweden" tour of Stockholm.  This time, however, at the Royal Palace we were treated by a performance of the livgardets dragonmusikkår or Life Guards Dragoon Music Corps, one of three professional military bands in Sweden's armed forces.  This band is rather unique as it is a mounted band.

Friday night we went to Uppsala, a university city about an hour and a half north of Stockholm for a pageant. After our arrival, we grabbed a quick dinner from a popular street vendor.  Ahead of us in line were students wearing costume animal features, such as bunny ears, tiger faces, and         .  Others had headbands with their names written on them.  They were freshmen and their dress was part of their "welcome," or we might call it an initiation, to the university.  Evidently these little activities are organized their various colleges/fields of study and last for two weeks.  One group proudly explained that they had gone swimming (naked) that morning (not a hot day by any means...about 50 degrees).  Hmmmm.  I'm not sure how these activities impact the first week of school but all the students seemed pretty happy!  We  then settled in for the performance at the dom kyrka (cathedral)-- the Uppsala Kronikespel.

This outdoor pageant chronicled the legends and history of Uppsala, the building of the dom kyrka and the establishment of the university.  Although we couldn't  understand many words, an English synopsis and the acting made the meaning very clear.  I love being in these kinds of Swedish events, which draws the local Swedes and teach me so much of their culture and values.  There were about 100 people of all ages involved in the pageant which included dancing, music, fire, smoke, one goat and 4 horses.

(Unfortunately, my camera battery died after this  pic, so I don't have any pictures of the pageant.)

We learned of the poverty in the early days and the brave woman, Disa, who defied the king and won his heart by saving the lives of the poor who the king sentenced to death. One of my favorite scenes was the legendary the death of King Erik.  After being beheaded, a spring developed at the site of his murder.  The interpretation of the water springing to life through dancers in shimmering sliver blue dresses was stunning.  And I learned a few things.  For example, I didn't realize that the father of binomial nomenclature--that genius homo sapien-- Carolus Linnaeus, was from Uppsala.  


Of course the evening  had to include a visit to the local toaletten.  The freestanding booth seemed like something out of an old Dr. Who show.  We had to press a button for the door to open, then the door closed on its own.  When we finished, we turned the handle down to get out.  The door re-closed behind us, and was followed by noisy water being sprayed and flushed, sounding as if the capsule was going to take off.  After about 3 minutes, a light came on indicating it was available for the next person.

Saturday morning we all went to the Autumn Viking Market in Gunnes Gård, a restored Viking village.  Again, this was a purely Swedish event.  I was impressed with how many young people were involved in the re-enacting and the number of ancient skills that are being kept alive--leather work, shoemaking, carding, spinning wool and making yarn, hand sewing, needle binding, and weaving.  Of course there were more manly activities, too, such as throwing axes into logs and fighting in coats of mail.  

 This group entertained us with music and songs.  

A Viking boat.  

 Needle-binding.  It is sort of  cross between hand sewing and crocheting.  It makes a sturdy product that can be easily mended if it gets a hole.

 In the big kettle over the fire, wool is being boiled in preparation for being dyed.  The whole cooking station was copied from the Bayeaux tapestry which was made in the 1070s.  These modern-day Vikings are fastidious about being as authentic as possible and are well-educated in Viking living.

 Lined up for a quick battle, these Viking soldiers enjoyed every aspect of their demonstration.  If you want to see a video check out John's Facebook page.

 This is a clever game --sort of tic tac toe on steroids.  (As you can see, Scouting is alive and well in Sweden.)

 This gentleman is an archeologist, who was happy to talk to us and teach us more about the Vikings. A few things I learned:   1)  The Viking Era in Sweden is from about 750 to 1100.  It is a bit shorter according to Great Britain, which is based on battles with Vikings on their soil.  2)  The climate was warmer, more like southern Europe during the Viking  Age.  3)  The Viking Era was a rather golden time of prosperity and education.  Most people, including common people, could read unlike most countries in the world.   4)  Runes were used prior to the Viking Age but they were based on a Germanic runic alphabet of 21 symbols.  By the time of the Vikings, the alphabet had been reduced to 16 letters.  One of his favorite stories of the common person writing with runes is an inscribed bone that contained this message:  "It is time to come home now."  He imagines that it was written by a wife and sent to her husband working in a field.   5) The Viking Age ended when Christianity came to Sweden.  6) The population of Sweden was decimated in the 1300s by the Plague.

A very clever and entertaining storyteller who promised to tell Sister Anderson a story in English if she stayed.  Of course, he made a pitch for selling his CD (in both Swedish and English) just before he told us a story, so the Andersons felt obligated to buy one.

This week I was impressed with a Conference talk of October 1971 by Elder ElRay Christiansen, entitled "The Sifting."  He spoke of how when Satan rebelled, he lost his agency and was sent to earth by Heavenly Father.  He is under God's control and is allowed to tempt us, but only to the degree that we allow him to do so.  A quote by Elder James Talmage furthers this idea:  "Yet in all malignant doings, ...[let us remember that the adversary] can go no further than the transgressions of the victim may enable him, or the wisdom of God may permit; and at anytime he may be checked by the superior power" (Articles of Faith p. 63).  I have wondered at times why Satan seems to have so much power in the world and why God allows such terrible things to happen.  This helped me view evil with a new perspective and recognize how extremely important our choices are to our progression.  Truly, we have the power to choose.