Valborg, or Walpurgis night in English, is a festival that celebrates the coming of the spring. (Although it’s rarely warm in Sweden when people celebrate it on April 30. We all froze this year.)
In Sweden, people celebrate by setting large bonfires and singing songs. I asked a bunch of people what the holiday was for, and they all say it’s some sort of pagan thing, but they didn’t really know more than that.
In practice, people get together and party, especially teenagers.
For those of us with kids, we had a little pot-luck and then headed down to the local bonfire.
More about Valborg.
Hey! I’ve been following your blog for some time… I wrote a blog post about the origins of Valborg for the Swedish Institute if you’re interested! You can check it out here: http://blogs.sweden.se/expat/2011/04/27/spring-in-sweden-is-a-nonstop-parade-of-holidays-this-is-not-a-joke/.
Hope you had a wonderful time at the bonfire!
Kate
Thanks Kate