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 with All Saints' Day. 

So far this weekend, I haven't seen any Halloween-dressed kids around, though. But then 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 do with some brown horse chestnuts, and a separate LED candle...

"Happy Halloween" to all who celebrate!

On Request...

In a comment to my post Early Autumn Colours, Meike (Librarian) wondered whether Barbie and Skipper have also already changed into "autumn clothes"? The answer is yes! :)

Having sorted through my own wardrobes this week - taking some summer clothes down to the basement for winter storage, and bringing some winter items up instead - I did also find it a good time to dress the dolls for somewhat chillier days. So just now they're in the outfits above (and have been given a battery tealight to brighten up the darker evenings).

For readers who may not know/remember them from earlier posts, the story is that for five decades or more, all my old Barbie(&co) dolls were packed away in a box; first in my parent's attic, and then in my own storage. In 2023 I finally decided to donate them to a charity shop - but in the process of organising that, I arrived at the compromise to keep two (with a selection of clothes for each, most of them made by my mum in the 1960s). 

And since then, these two have been on display on a shelf in my living room instead - and changing outfits now and then, according to season. I suspect I've probably shown their entire wardrobes by now - but I did choose items that can be combined in various ways. In the photo above, all clothes were sewn by my mum, except Barbie's pink top (which I actually made myself a year or two ago, from the cuff of a sock).   

Sepia Saturday: Early Days of Television, and Barbie Dolls

In his introduction to Sepia Saturday 823, Alan Burnett writes: 

"Back in the 1950s and 60s, people often wanted their television sets included in photographs; those box-like, round-knobbed sets were the status symbol of their time."

This reminded me of probably the only "TV photo" that I have from my early childhood. It's in my first photo album (put together by my mum), and when looking it up now, I note that it's from the autumn of 1957 - which means I was only two years old when it was taken. 

My mum's note (in Swedish) below the photo translates: The child in the Age of Television - or "Look, it's snowing". ...  "Snowing" referring to the fact that more often than not, back then, there was nothing on to watch - and even when there was, the image might often be rather blurry and "snowy"... And here I'm obviously just staring at a blank screen! 

The TV belonged to my maternal grandparents, and the photo is from their living room. Regular TV broadcasts in Sweden did not start until 1956, but my maternal grandfather was always keen to try new inventions, so did not wait long to get one... My own parents did not get one until years later, I think. 

---

I'll combine this with a few photos I snapped from my flat screen TV a few days ago. There was a short documentary on about the history of Barbie dolls, and some women of different ages collecting them, and "remembering"...

As some followers of this blog may recall (I know at least Meike does!), some years ago I gave away most of my own old Barbie dolls, but decided to keep two - which have since been "living" on a shelf next to the TV in my sitting room, rather than tucked away in a box. And when something Barbie-related is on, of course they want to watch with me...

 

"My Barbie and Me"

Looking in my old photo albums for TV-related photos now, I also happened to find the  photo below of my first three Barbie dolls, from the summer of 1965 - and taken by me with an old black-and-white camera then rather recently "inherited" from my dad:

Barbie, Ken and Skipper

Checking up on things now, Barbie dolls were launched in Sweden for Christmas 1963. I doubt I was among the very first to get one, so more likely that I got these three for my birthday + Christmas in 1964. The Skipper doll is the same one that I still have (at some point in early history, she had a haircut); while the Barbie doll is the last one I got. She came with three different wigs, so is really kind of "three in one". But I prefer her in this one: 

(Repeating a photo from Easter)

Gnome on the Stone, and Elf on the Shelf

 Today was another grey day, but it wasn't raining, and I had nothing special "scheduled", so I decided to go for a walk around the cemetery around noon, to get the most out of the little daylight that there was. For the first time since my knee injury I walked all around the place - and then a bit extra. (All in all I was out for about 45 minutes - using both walking poles.)

And old ("returned") grave reused as flowerbed, with some plants that still add a bit of colour to this grey season. 
 

Hydrangea climbing on the old stone wall along one side of the cemetery.

The buds on the rhododendron bushes seem a bit too far gone for their own good as well (I made the same observation about some azaleas on my last walk there). Weather forecasts now indicate that temperatures will probably be dropping again next week, though...

From a distance, on a grave out in one of the "fields", I spotted something very bright red on top of a standing headstone. I couldn't quite make out if it really was what I thought it looked like - or perhaps just some red flowers giving me the illusion...? So I decided I had to go and have a closer look - and it was indeed something I don't think I've ever seen as grave decoration before: 

I decided to blur the name before posting the photo here, but (not surprisingly) the grave belongs to someone who died only 19 years old, and less than a decade ago. 

When I got back home, I got started on my own "final" Christmas decorations... (Got those boxes up from storage yesterday, which was also laundry day for me, so I had to make a few turns down to the basement anyway.)

I don't have a lot of gnomes and "santas", but I have a few, which are now up on their usual shelves etc around my flat. For example, the Santa family knitted by my mum...

 ... And as soon as they had settled in, Skipper came to visit them, and return the stray little yarn gnome doll which she has been looking after all autumn (ever since I found him under the sofa, where he must have been hiding since last winter)...

As reward for her faithful "babysitting", when back home on her own shelf again, Skipper got to decorate her and Barbie's own Christmas tree:

 

This one also lives in my living room. He was bought by myself some time in this century, because he reminded me of Dumbledore (from the Harry Potter books). Therefore he also gets the company of the two little owls...

I also have a few kitchen gnomes, but I'll save those for another post. 

Braving the Snow

 

My winter Moomin mug

 Time to try and overcome the fear of snow... 

 

 

... put on proper winter boots with studded soles... 

... and get out there...

... even if just to the dustbins, plus a few steps extra! 

(Cold winds blowing, so not tempting to stay out long...) 

Back in - after my five minutes or so of "braving it" - I got Barbie and Skipper to dress for winter, too. Skipper is wearing a pair of winter boots that I made for her earlier in the autumn, from two fingers cut off from a worn-out glove. And if anyone is wondering what it is that she is holding under her arm, that's a little yarn gnome that I found under the sofa earlier in the autumn, and who must have been hiding there since last Christmas - if not longer... I entrusted him to Skipper to look after until this Christmas, and she's taking her job seriously. 

Shadow Art, Pretty In Pink, and the Anatomy of Socks

 

Sitting in my TV chair by the window, I happened to glance the other way, and my eye caught this shadow, which seemed very appropriate as a celebration of the Autumn Sun...

 It was caused by the sun hitting the vase with leftover leaves from my birthday bouquet, and casting a sharp black shadow of them on the back of my hoodie sweater, draped over the back of a chair. (The thin horizontal lines are also shadows, from the venetian blinds in the window.) 

To go with the pink theme, I'll also throw in this photo of Barbie and Skipper (mainly for Meike, who asked after them in a comment on my previous post). Barbie is enjoying the luxury of wearing a new pink top that I managed to make for her out of the cuff of a sock. (Skipper says magenta doesn't go with her hair colour, so she'll wait for me to wear out something that would suit her better... Her striped top was sewn by my mum in the 1960s.) 

 

Sometimes, and especially when one is blogging in a foreign language, a blog post may take an unexpected turn before it reaches its end. Like, when one can't think of the name for the upper part of a sock, and has to go searching for it... 

Now I want to know if all of you with English as your first language would have been able to name all seven parts of a sock correctly?? 

Barbie's & Skipper's Christmas Adventure

Barbie and Skipper persuaded me to take them on a tour "around town" (i.e. the whole flat) to see the seasonal decorations and lights and temporary art shows (Christmas cards) - and meet some gnomes.  

 

(P.S. Skipper got to borrow Barbie's gym shoes for this walk.)

 

 

On this tour, it was also revealed how many "Santas" live in the little Santa's House...

Back home on their own shelf after the tour.

💖

"... Some day you will be old enough
to start reading fairy tales again..."

(From C.S. foreword to The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe, dedicated to his goddaughter Lucy Barfield.)

Barbieland vs Real World

 

My Barbie and Skipper dolls somehow found out that the movie Barbie is now shown on Netflix, and managed to persuade me to watch it with them this afternoon...

I was a bit sceptical, but have to confess I got hooked along the way, and quite enjoyed it.

Barbieland is a matriarchal society populated chiefly by different versions of Barbie and Ken  (plus a few other dolls made by the same company, but they are pretty much ignored by the dominant Barbies and Kens). The Kens all spend their days playing on the beach, while all top jobs are held by Barbies. 

Alan (Ken's buddy) tries to make his voice heard
now and then but no one really listens to him...

 

One day "Stereotypical Barbie" starts to feel some worrying changes - like, when she steps out of her shoes, she suddenly (oh horror!) finds her feet turning flat...

She seeks advice from "Weird Barbie" - a doll severely disfigured from having been played with too violently by her human. She tells Barbie that to get cured, she has to find the child playing with her in the Real World. Barbie then sets off on a journey to the Real World - and finds herself joined by Ken, who hid in her car to follow her. 

In the Real World they meet with various adventures, and get split up. They both end up returning to Barbieland, but separately - and with rather different ideas in their heads about what needs to be changed back there.

I'll refrain from revealing more, I think - in case you want to watch it yourself...

 Happy Third Advent Sunday :)