Originally emailed Easter Sunday, April 16, 2017
Dear Family and Friends,
Gläd påsk! Happy Easter! We’ve always loved this time of year with renewal and new life everywhere, and the hope of resurrection for each of us. Knowing that life goes beyond this world gives us an eternal perspective on all we see and do. How grateful we are for Heavenly Father’s Plan of Happiness that provides the opportunity for life after death for each of us through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In Him we have hope for eternal happiness, help through our greatest challenges, and guidance in our daily choices. It is He that we celebrate today.
Of course, this week our focus has been on bringing all our Easter plans and activities to fruition, so it has been busy and fun from Easter Eggs for the missionaries at district meeting, to the treasure/egg hunt after Seminary, to the Sunday meetings and luncheon. The program we wrote for church, based on scriptures and involving most of the members, went off well. After church we helped with a nice luncheon for everyone.
I (Linda) have enjoyed learning about the Swedish Easter traditions. Easter is called "Påsk" and is pronounced Poask (long o sound with a very slight ah after it). Although most people celebrate Easter in Sweden in a secular way, most of the traditions have religious significance....like America, right? Easter eggs (Påskägg) here are large and made of paper/cardboard. Usually they are filled with candy. Candy is a huge part of Swedish culture. Each grocery store has several aisles of candy and a very popular section called "godis." That's right, pronounced "goodies." This section is bins of mostly unwrapped candies, primarily jelly-type candies, most flavors I can't describe. Swedes particularly like salted black licorice and coke-a-cola flavors. M&Ms make their appearance along with Skittles, but most are not known in America. Most of the fruit flavors are mildly sweet, maybe a bit salty, rarely sour. (Obviously, we've tasted more than a few!) There are at least 50 bins in a store (and the stores are not as large as our grocery stores!)
On Thursday night, is called Maundy Thursday. The event's origin comes from the belief that when Judas betrayed Christ the evil spirits were let loose. From that is was believed the the witches flew on broomsticks and met on an island on this day. Often people would lock their broomsticks in a cupboard on this Thursday to prevent the witches from getting them. In the 1600s there was a "witch hunt" and their burning occurred on this day. Today the children dress as witches (which means girls in peasant clothes with scarves in their hair and freckles on their faces; boys wear hats and mustaches), and go from house to house collecting candy. (They are supposed to offer a letter or drawing for the candy, but that seems to have phased out in recent years.) Just as I was telling this at dinner Thursday night, our doorbell rang and there was a little witch about 9 years old who spoke perfect English. When she turned to leave, I told her "Glad Påsk," she turned and said, "You can just say 'Easter.'" Ouch!
My favorite tradition is "Påskris." This is birch twigs with colorful feathers attached to them. People place theme in buckets near their front doors (see picture). Because it is still so drab here--brown grass, bare trees--seeing the colorful feathers fluttering in the wind really brightened my spirit. Traditionally, the birch twigs represent Christ's suffering (being beaten) and the feathers invite Spring. Naturally, I had to collect a few birch twigs on our hike this week. (They were from windfall, unfortunately they were kind of brittle, but they still did the job.) Then I dragged John to a craft store to find feathers. Fortunately, they sell feathers with wires attached to them for easy application. Voila, Påskris!
Perhaps the highlight of our week was a traditional Easter dinner yesterday at Ulf's home. (see picture) Ulf is a member of our branch, who loves the missionaries and treats them very well. What a spread he put out for us! There were 3 potato dishes--one called "Jonsson's Temptation"--potatoes, onions, anchovies (I couldn't tell they were there) and cream--was heavenly! Then there were meats: chicken, salmon, smoked wild boar, smoked turkey, and ham. Eggs with caviar atop along with lox on the platter. Six types of sill (pickled herring)--I tried all six and liked them all. John tried one and had enough. A few condiments--onions, creme fraiche, (I don't remember...) and a salad. We didn't need dinner, that's for sure!
The early spring weather kept us in much of the week--cold, wet rain, and/or snow. Thursday looked nice, so we headed out for a little hike up another small mountain about 20 minutes away. With a brisk 32 degrees, we enjoyed the hike, taking photos and started back down. We had seen snow in the distance but thought it was going out toward the ocean. At first the flakes fell like occasional fairies fluttering around us--beautiful! But by the time we reached the bottom of the mountain we were covered in snow and walked through a white-out to the car. A half an hour later, the blue sky was shining again! Gee, it sounds like home, doesn't it?
Perhaps the most unique thing we saw this week was the house with grass on the roof. (picture) No, this is not thatched. The grass is growing on the roof. I suspect it will be turning green soon! Sod roofs were common in the olden days, but this was a very modern house! I'll add some more pictures on Facebook. It seems I always have more than I can write about in this letter.
Thank you for your responses. It is always wonderful to hear from you. Sometimes I forget that I am half way across the world. It's so nice to live in this technological age!
We hope that your day has been one of peace, with thoughts turned toward the Prince of Peace, and may you have a wonderful week.
Always,
Mom, Dad / Grandma, Grandpa/ Linda, John
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