Graveyards

(3 August, cont.)  

Before we left the village of our paternal ancestors, we also made a stop at the church and churchyard where we have our family graves on dad's side of the family.

Fristad Church (built 1850)

The only graves we have left there now that are our responsibility are those of our parents and paternal grandparents, plus that of my grandfather's grandparents (but that one is just a flat stone lying down in the lawn and requires no special care).

I don't know what the practice is in other countries, but in Sweden, nowadays, either family look after their graves themselves, or pay an annual fee to have that done by churchyard staff. (As we don't live nearby, we pay for the service).

If there is no one to continue to care for a grave any more, it goes back to the church; which means that the spot can be reused by someone else (but not until after 25 years after the last burial there). 

My grandmother came from a large family, and most of her siblings were buried in this churchyard too. My parents in their time used to care for three or four more old graves here. But after dad died, we returned those to the church - and by now, they have been reused. (I made that decision before I started digging deeper into family history myself - and perhaps that was just as well!) There are still another two or three graves that belong to cousins of my dad, though. Nowadays I normally only visit once a year or so; but when I'm there, I usually still walk around to those that I still remember where they are.

Back in 2011 (the same year my dad died) there was a tragic accident in another churchyard in this part of Sweden, where a child was killed by a heavy old headstone falling over it. After that, there was a national decree issued that every headstone in every graveyard in the whole country has to be checked regularly. If a standing stone does not pass a certain pressure test, it is laid down on the ground; and if you want to have it raised again, you have to pay to have that done in a secure way. 

One result of this is of course that you see more old headstones laid down on the ground these days. But another is that many old church yards also look more "alive" and well cared for now than they used to. 

(PS. The stone on the grave of my great-great-grandparents was always lying flat, I think.)

A Church Concert

Yesterday evening I went with my friend E to a concert in a countryside church in the village outside town where my parents lived in their retirement years - and my paternal grandparents all their life. They + more relatives are also buried in the churchyard there. 

When we arrived, I first went for a stroll around the churchyard to check on 'my' graves, while E went into the church to make sure we got good seats. She also knew a few more people who were coming - including one of her own daughters singing in the choir.

No flowers had been planted yet on the graves tended by the church (a service we pay an annual fee for, and pansies will probably appear there any day now); but to my surprise I found this little angel keeping watch on my parents' grave. As it was not me or my brother who put it there, I'm intrigued who did... As I've never seen any of our other family graves adorned with such ornaments either, I suspect it's most likely that it really belongs to a neighbouring grave, adorned by several similar items. (Could have fallen over, and got picked up by churchyard staff not knowing where it belonged.) But as I don't know, I did nothing about it. (If it really does belong on the other grave I suppose they will recognise it and take it back.)

Fristad Church

It had been raining earlier in the day, but the rain stopped in the afternoon - I did not need the umbrella I had brought "just in case". After a very summery Saturday, I was back in my winter coat, though!

Photo of the interior taken while we were waiting for the concert to begin. We were there early as quite a large audience could be expected (and so it also turned out). A nice surprise for me was to also meet another old friend there (84 years old now) whom I hadn't seen in years. One of his sons was also in the choir. He sat down with us and he and I had a nice catching up chat before the concert started - while E was chatting with some other friends.

The concert was a musical Mass entitled Gloria, by Tore Aas. (Originally in Norwegian, and performed by the Oslo Gospel Choir. If you want to get an idea of what the music sounds like, you can find it on YouTube.)

Standing ovations at the end of the performance...
 

... and the choir repeating the last part... 

During the concert, the evening sun had come out of hiding and the sky was blue again.

Karum’s Alvar, Öland

Road Trip 2018, Part 17

“An alvar is a biological environment based on a limestone plain with thin or no soil and, as a result, sparse grassland vegetation. Often flooded in the spring, and affected by drought in midsummer, alvars support a distinctive group of prairie-like plants. Most alvars occur either in northern Europe or around the Great Lakes in North America. This habitat supports a community of rare plants and animals, including species more commonly found on prairie grasslands. Lichen and mosses are common species. Trees and bushes are absent or severely stunted. --- The use of the word alvar to refer to this type of environment originated in Scandinavia. The largest alvar in Europe is located on the Swedish island of Öland […and…] has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.” [Wikipedia]

We did not go as far south on Öland as the area known as the Great Alvar; but there are areas with similar nature in the mid/north half of the island too. You have already seen a bit of it in some of my earlier posts from Öland. And after our visit to the green oasis of the Solliden Palace Park (previous post), we took another detour inland (eastwards) to  Karum’s Alvar – an old grave field including an impressive Bronze Age stone ship, known as Noah’s Ark.

“Straight in front of you you see the ship setting Noaks ark, with tall stones both fore and aft. The grave is from the Late Bronze Age, 1100-500 BC. There are also raised stones and stone settings from the Early Iron Age, 500 BC-400 AD. Several graves have been investigated, and the dead had been cremated. The graves contained belongings such as finger rings and clasps. Some had swords and spearheads with them. – The burial ground is part of our cultural heritage and protected by law.”

The whole grave field is around 370 x 50 meters, and besides the big stone ship, there are also other types of old burial mounuments. The stone ship is 36 m long and 3,5 m wide. The rows of stones laid across the ship here are thought to symbolise the thwarts, and a big stone in the middle may mark the position of the mast.

After the long hot summer this year, there was hardly green patch to be seen on the alvar; but I understand that in spring, it can be quite a different experience, full of colourful rare flowers. Have a look at the photos in the German Wiki article if you want to see some views from this place with a bit more colour!

Iron Age Grave Field

In the neighbourhood outside town where my parents lived (and before them my paternal grandparents and great-grandparents and who knows how many generations before them), there have been people living since the Iron Age (~ 500 BC – 1000 AD).  There are old grave fields to prove it. (Actually not very far from this place there is a neolithic cist tomb as well, which means going back yet another thousand years at least, to about 1500-1800 BC.)

In the summer the grass grows high in this meadow beside the road, which means that when passing it (especially by car) one does not notice anything special about it. I seldom walk past this one myself, as I usually get off the bus one or two stops further on; but yesterday when going out to our house to check on things, I got off a couple of stops early for a walk. Passing the field I noticed that the grass had just been cut; which made the stones stand out more than they usually do – even if some of the “bumps” weren’t stones but little stacks of hay!

The three raised stones.

Part of one of the stone circles (just now confusingly mixed with little haystacks of the same size).

The big raised stones have been “restored” with iron cramps.

(I wonder if this one had a “top” to it once?)