All Saints' Day / Halloween

In Sweden, All Saints' Day (Allhelgonadagen) is a holiday (red day in the calendar) always falling on a Saturday - preceded by All Saints' Eve (Allhelgonaafton) on the Friday, and followed by All Souls' Day (Alla själars dag) on the Sunday.  

Traditionally, our All Saints' weekend is a more solemn affair than the American Halloween, and mostly to do with visiting and decorating the graves of our ancestors and loved ones. In later decades we have imported some of the Halloween traditions as well, though (pumpkins, ghosts, costumes, trick-or-treating etc) - which makes the whole "celebration" a lot more confused nowadays. (At least for us old enough to be aware of the change...)

Opinions also still differ about which day to best fit in the Halloween stuff. Some people argue that it should be Friday (All Saints' Eve); others that it should be 31st October, no matter what day of the week - which this year would coincide All Saints' Day. 

So far this weekend, I haven't seen any Halloween-dressed kids around, though. But then I I don't think I can recall ever having seen any typical "trick-or-treating" practiced in my immediate neighbourhood. (Quite a few of my neighbours are also of Muslim background, so I suppose even less likely to be picking up that tradition.) 

Yesterday (Friday/All Saints' Eve) I woke up to a cloudy and foggy morning. But neither rainy nor windy - which seemed to make a good setting for an "early" (as in before lunch) walk to the nearby cemetery, to light a candle on my great-grandparents' grave there. Back in my childhood we always went after dark - but personally I never really liked that. And these days I prefer even more to be able to see where I put my feet...

Judging by the amount of cars driving into the cemetery already around noon, I wasn't the only one who preferred going in the daytime.

 

 

 

At home, I've never done a whole lot of decorating  for Halloween. I have had some orange (fake) gladioli in the vase on the chest in my living room all autumn, though - and for this weekend (and probably through November) also added my Owls. The candles behind them are the dark green LED ones (with timer) that I recently bought. I feel safer with that kind now, and only sometimes light real candles when sitting still for a while.

 

And of course Barbie and Skipper wanted to dress up a bit. Skipper complained about not having anything orange in her wardrobe; but she got to borrow a skirt from Barbie. They also asked for pumpkins - but I said they had to make to with some brown horse chestnuts, and a separate LED candle...

"Happy Halloween" to all who celebrate!

Walk in the Park

After a rather rainy and windy week (or so), the sun showed its face again today, and tempted me to go for a walk into town after lunch. 

When I reached the main square, I almost wondered if they had had  a particularly bad storm raging there...? But of course they were just in the process of trimming the trees growing along both sides of the square. (I don't know what kind of trees these are.) 
 

I once again visited the charity shop near the square to drop off a couple of items of clothing that I'm no longer using. (As I have no car and can't carry much at a time, I've been having a "gradual" wardrobe clear out...) And before turning back home, I also visited my favourite tea shop by the square, and the pharmacy for some over-the-counter items. And then walked back home through the park and along the river. 

While many trees I see from home have lost nearly all their leaves now, the park still provides quite a colourful autumn display.

These trees are what I call cherry blossom trees (the ornamental kind). I spring they are covered with pink blossoms; in autumn they provide a different kind of beauty!
 

  

 

 

 

 

One of my favourite sculptures, the green rabbit with revolving eyes - which means its facial expression keeps changing. Its official title is "Mate Hunting", and the artist behind it is Marianne Lindberg De Geer. 

I took even more tree photos on my way home, but I think I'll save some for another day - not yet sure how much I'll be getting out and about the rest of the week (or what the weather will be like!) ... 

Leaves Keep Falling

 

It's been a rainy weekend here. Yesterday afternoon I managed a short walk in the immediate neighbourhood, though  - and without getting wet. 

Today I managed to stay dry as well - but by staying in!! ;)

The night between yesterday and today it was also time to turn our clocks back to winter (=normal!) time. I turned all mine (except the internet-controlled devices) back last night, before going to bed. When I woke up this morning I had to double-check though - because in spite of turning the clocks back, I managed to sleep until 10 a.m. ... 

 "Little My" timer (if you don't know her, she is one of the Moomin characters). She is of no help at all with the big twice-a-year time changes - nor with getting up in the morning. But she does sometimes help with reminding me to take breaks from sitting too long at the computer, or to make sure I unplug the iron after I'm done with ironing...

 

Weekend Reflections

 

Linking to Weekend/Street Reflections #300 

Monday this week (19th October) did not only offer blue sky and amazing autumn colours in the trees, but also perfect river reflections... :) 

The photo at the top shows a view across the river to the city park (in Borås, Sweden). The second one shows an old industrial complex along the same river. (Those who have been following this blog will no doubt recognise it from many previous photos - but on a day like this, I can never resist just taking one more...) Not sure what kinds of businesses reside there now, but originally they were no doubt to do with the textile industry. 

Skywatch Friday

 

It's been raining here since Tuesday, and that seems likely to continue over the weekend - but I saved this photo from Monday for Skywatch Friday... :)

The perspective is a bit unusual as I was walking on a street (sidewalk) down below where these trees grew.