Suddenly, Spring is here. Just in time!
30th April is the traditional Spring celebration in Sweden – Valborgsmässoafton, Walpurgis Night, followed by 1st May which is Labour Day and a national holiday. As this year 30th April falls on a Monday, I’m sure a lot of people will be having a long weekend with the whole Monday off as well.
30th April is celebrated with bonfires and traditional spring songs; especially in the old university cities.
YouTube video from Umeå (university city in the north)
This is one of our traditional Walpurgis Night choir songs; the lyrics are all about winter giving way to spring and summer.
In some cities a carnival parade, arranged by technology students, is also part of the tradition. (See my Walpurgis Night post from last year.)
I’m not planning on any big spring celebrations for my own part this year. It’s been good to get out a little bit with the camera again over the weekend; but after weeks of bronchitis and other problems, I still find myself getting tired very quickly. Going out at night to breathe in smoke from a bonfire while trying to sing(!) does not seem like the best idea how to treat my still sore respiratory organs…
Outdoors photography is more than usual something of a gamble at the moment. My eyes are still very sensitive to light, and I have to keep my sunglasses on most of the time. The sunglasses are polaroid. The real challenge occurs every time I’m inspired to turn the camera sideways – with the sunglasses on – because then the screen on the camera goes black and I literally can’t see a thing! So occasionally I do have to take the sunglasses off to get a clue what I’m aiming at…
I have to compliment my camera on doing a good job with these cherry blossom macros though. On top of my eyesight problems and wearing sunglasses, there were also strong gusts of wind to deal with, so I had to hold the branches with one hand and manouvre the camera with the other! (These photos are all straight out of the camera, no editing.)
Happy Spring to all of you living in parts of the world where that may be applicable just now!
This post is linked to Macro Monday at Lisa’s Chaos.
very beautiful blossoms :)
ReplyDeletewell the camera did a fantastic job and so did you. i would love to see/hear the bonfire. you are right about staying inside at night and away from smoke with the way you have been feeling. our labor day is in Sept we have memorial day holiday the last Monday of May.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, Monica. Almost as beautiful as the bikes in the last post!!
ReplyDeleteThe cherry blossoms are beautiful! I have had to resort to holding flower stems still in the wind, too! Just when I will get a good shot lined up, the wind always comes. The song is interesting, it is almost like a march.
ReplyDeleteYour blossom shots are just gorgeous! My daughter and her school (Adolf Fredriks) have just sung spring songs at Skansen...
ReplyDeleteBeautiful blossoms. :))
ReplyDeleteGorgeous colors in these lovely blossoms!
ReplyDeleteHappy MM
What a beauty. The pink flowers are so pretty. Too bad i can not grow them here in my subtropical climate.
ReplyDeleteConsidering what you were coping with the photos are brilliant. I especially love the last one.
ReplyDeleteWalpurgis Night used to be celebrated in England but I don't know of anywhere where it still is. So many of our traditional celebnrations died out during the Second World War and were never revived.