I'm back to full health which means I'm back to doing "Norwegian-ly" things. Or at least trying to...
And so it goes...
Last thursday, in celebration of the beginning of Fall (Summer hath all too short a lease...), I went out to a traditional, Norwegian celebration for the Autumn Equinox (you know, when it starts getting dark earlier). While, Mabon is more of a Celtic celebration, there are many similar traditions held throughout Scandinavia. And that is how I found myself on the Akerselva Walk (elva means river so it literally means Aker's river in English... thanks for playing along). What exactly happens on the Akerselva walk (ok... it's actually called "Fakkelvandring langs Akerselva", Flame walk along Akers River)?
Fire. A lot of Fire.
And children kicking hats off of sticks
I realize, out of context, these poorly taken pictures may seem bizarre. Please, keep up. We all know that the harnessing of electricity is a fairly, short lived phenomenon and, as such, before its advent, fire was of great importance. Even so in the frigid north here(I've been making "Game of Thrones" jokes about being "North of the wall" for some time now). I imagine all the fire (there was also a fire eater I failed to capture) is just a way to pay homage to the giver (and taker) of life.
As for the kids kicking hats off of sticks, I imagine it must've been pretty boring before the advent of TV and Draw Something. I'm kidding, here's the real reason. So yeah, it was a lot of fun, there were also a lot of different musical groups and some really awesome torch, lights, and candle set-ups in and along the river.
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Alt for Norge
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