Valborg 2009

In Sweden, Valborg is celebrated the day before May 1st. (In true typical fashion, the holiday is celebrated the day before, so that you can spend the actual holiday recovering...) It is celebrated by singing traditional songs about the coming of spring culminates with the lighting of a big bonfire.

Last year we went to Pildams Park for our first Swedish Valborg celebration. It was such fun that we decided to go again this year. Only this year we came better prepared: we brought a picnic dinner, blankets to sit on, coats to wear when it started getting cold, games to play when the kids got bored and glow sticks.

When we got there the kids ran around.

We'd brought Tipton's friend, Aaron, with us. This was the best picture we could get of the two of them. They were nonstop motion.

The later it got, the more crowded it got. There were several interesting people in the crowd. The kids loved the teenagers sporting mowhawks.

We met up with several friends, including the Trively's. I owe Clare BIGTIME as she is always watching over Lilli for me.

They played music over loud speakers and the girls danced. (If you look in the background behind Lilli & Mia, you can see a suspicious looking pipe... fortunately the wind was not blowing our direction.)

When it got dark (around 9:15pm) a choir sang some traditional Swedish valborg songs about the coming of spring. A light show was projected onto the surrounding trees (did not get any good pictures of that) and a famous swedish poem about Spring was played on the loud speakers.

We broke out the glow sticks and waited for them to light the bonfire. Tipton sat on Dave's shoulders for a better view. Dave took this picture. I think it's great! I especially like that the way Tipton is holding the glow sticks makes Dave look like he's got antennae!

This year there was a fire pre-show! They had several flame-thrower type machines set up in a circle. They released little balls of fire in time to some music. It was fantastic!

These pictures don't do it justice.

And then they lit the bonfire! It was much smaller this year. We had hardly any rain the month of April, so we weren't sure if they were going to have a bonfire at all. It is much larger than it looks in the picture, though.

By the time we got home Lilli had passed out in the wagon.

It was a good time.