Easter Again (Leo Kotke)

I am learning about Easter now. I found the info below to share with you.
In Sweden long ago, Easter was thought to be the witches' time. In west Sweden, they lit Easter bonfires around which people would scream and yell to frighten away the witches. On Maundy Thursday the witches were said to fly off to "Blåkulla" and return again on the Saturday. Read more about the Easter traditions on the pages created by Luleå University.
Nowadays, children dress up as Easter witches on the Thursday before Easter and go from house to house and are given gifts or money - very similar to the North American Halloween.
After the long fast during Lent, eggs were eaten in celebrations, often taken from the nests of the spring birds and children would play games with eggs - such as rolling the egg. The older children in Skåne would assemble at a special celebration when they would dance, play games and eat eggs.
The Easter egg has a long history. In graves from B.C. in Gotland, colored clay eggs were found. They were painted in red and yellow as the eggs represented the sunrise and sunset - and even today the Swedes, like other Europeans, paint their eggs at Easter.
As a reminder of Christ's suffering, years ago young people would thrash each other with silver birch twigs on the morning of Good Friday. These silver birch branches, decorated with brightly colored feathers, were the originator of both the Lent and Easter decorated branches.
Semlor are special buns that used to be associated with Lent but now seems to be sold earlier and earlier in the year! They consists of a sweet bread bun when the middle is scooped out and filled with marzipan and whipped cream. Otherwise, lamb is often eaten at Easter as well as many of the dishes eaten at the Christmas Smörgåsbord.
Here is Grimnäs, as with many villages in the area, on "long Friday" we are having a fishing competition followed by a cookout where they will sell hamburgers and korv. The village pub will be opened to sell beer and spirits. On Easter Sunday, Lars and I are hosting the first "knyts kalas" Easter. I am introducing potluck to my Swedish family. I am looking forward to experiencing another Swedish tradition and starting a new one.
P.S. I have some bad news. The rabbit died. No, I am not pregnant...my snow bunny melted. *pout*

Too Much Time On My Hands (STYX)

Living in a rural area can be very peaceful and relaxing. It can also make you a little nutty - think Jack Nicholson in The Shining. I can always find something to do, like clean (arrggg!). But I wanted to do something creative and I wanted something fun for the kids to see when they come over. The weather is beautiful, not freezing. The snow was packing nicely. This is Easter (Påsk) week, so I looked out the window thinking, “What can I do with this snow?” At first I thought I would make Easter eggs out of snow and lay them around in the yard. Then I got a little ambitious. OK, she isn't perfect. I was going to put a basket in her paws but the snow stopped packing so I had to quit. Maybe this will start a new Påsk tradition in our little village. Even Lars made a snow egg. By the way, Glad Påsk!