Anyway, in the previous entry I shared our experience of seeing the American Boychoir perform in Stockholm. Leslie was right about their performance being inside a church. The name of the church is Immanuel Church. The worship hall can seat about 1000 people when the balcony and choir seats are included. Towards the left side in the picture (from my previous post,) you will see a magnificent organ, which has 36 rows of pipes. There are also 18 bronze bells in the mid section of the organ and 56 Spanish trumpets! The American Boychoir did not use musical instruments of any kind during their performance, but the Swedish choir sang several songs accompanied by the organ and also the piano.
The main worship hall of Immanuel Church is vividly coloured to suggest live foliage. The artistic decoration deals with The Sun and The Word. Behind the boys in my picture are the twelve apostles, each one holding the Book, the Word, in his hand. The painting on the pews suggests that the congregation is with the apostles in the same leaf-shadowed place. With my husband's military background, I could not help but think of this in terms of camoflauge! Its a very unusual decorating scheme, but it is a true reflection of the Swedes, who love nature with an almost religious intensity!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Onto a totally different subject, tonight is Walpurgis Night in Sweden. Huge bonfires are lit, and there are often fireworks, singing and dancing. The people step forward to sing songs that mark the end of winter and the coming of spring. Walpurgis occurs before the pagan celebration of Beltane, the traditional summer fertility ritual of witches, Wiccans and pagans all over the world. In Sweden, the lighting of bonfires is an ancient custom and it is debated as to whether it was a way to scare off predators before sheep and cattle were put out to graze or whether it was a protection against witches. The Swedish custom is descended from the Walpurgis fires of north Germany, and since most German immigrants were to be found in Stockholm and its surroundings, this is where the custom first took root. My husband was talking to our neighbor one day about Walpurgis night. Our neighbor explained about the huge bonfire that we could go to, not far from our house. My husband asked if we could roast hot dogs, as that is a pretty common thing to do at a bonfire in America. But our neighbor kind of grinned and said, "Well, you can, but you'd be the only ones!" We won't be going as I've also heard this is basically an excuse for all the neighborhoods to gather together and drink. Besides, hubby is working late tonight and there's no way I'm heading off to a big ole bonfire to hang out with a bunch of drunk Swedes!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The boys and I went grocery shopping this afternoon. They were such a great help! They helped me pick out cereal, and they picked out onions, tomatoes, bananas and apples while I shopped for other things. They unloaded the grocery cart (or buggy, depending on which region of the U.S. you live in!) While they unloaded, I bagged our groceries. I still can't help but feel a little perturbed by the fact that I have to bag my own groceries here. Its one of those things you take for granted "back home," and I'll gladly tip those teenage boys from now on when they do the job for me and even haul them to my car, smiling all the way. Those guys are great, aren't they? So I finally completed the bagging process and my boys helped load everything in the truck, and finally unload it all when we got home. We go grocery shopping once every 2 weeks, so this adds up to what feels like an infinite number of grocery bags when you have to trudge them up to the second floor of our house. What a blessing to have two strong, helpful boys!
That right there is enough to make me
Rejoice Evermore!
Marla
No comments:
Post a Comment