Wintertime in Sweden is cold, dark, and most Swedes opt to stay off the streets. It isn’t all dark and gloomy though! To capture the spirit of this time of year here in Sweden, I figured I’d put together a brief photo-essay for you to enjoy! Without further ado… let there be light!
The darkness around this time of year (3:30 pm-8:30 am) is successfully combatted by a bevy of holiday Christmas lights hung across most of the city’s side-streets!
Lund’s Cathedral is lit up for the season as well
This is Lund’s Central Square, where the Christmas tree went up a couple weeks ago and has been lighting up the surrounding area ever since. As you can see in the background many buildings and apartments will place candles in their windows to combat the darkness.
Most of the activities this time of year are indoors. For instance: my hall-mate Shu (from Japan) and I have been going bowling relatively frequently these days. He bowled a 200 last time and here he is celebrating!
A few weeks ago the University hosted the annual Anna Lindh Memorial Lecture, named after Sweden’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Dr. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, spoke about “Global Challenges to Human Rights Today.” The the link to his talk is included below:
Another high-profile speaker, former President of the UN General Assembly Mogens Lykketoft, visited campus a few weeks ago to answer questions following the screening of a documentary titled “Lykketoft and the Occassionally United Nations” about his time in office.
On December 10th, I turned on the TV and lo and behold the Nobel Prize Awards Ceremony was starting! This year’s Laureates in Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature and Economics were all presented their medals by the King of Sweden (Carl XVI Gustaf), who is seated with the queen and the Crown Princess Victoria in the bottom right of the screen!
One of my favorite Swedish Christmas traditions is definitely Saint Lucia. I went to a Saint Lucia choir concert at the Lund Cathedral on December 10th, where this photo was taken leading up to the event. Every year, a young woman from each community in Sweden is chosen to be Saint Lucia, the bringer of light in the midst of the winter darkness. She wears candles in her hair and is aided by handmaidens, dressed all in white, wielding candles.
Saint Lucia (on the far left of the image, wearing her crown of candles) processes towards the Church steps accompanied by her handmaidens on the right. I took a video of them and their beautiful singing:
Saint Lucia (in the very front and center) surrounded by her handmaidens and the rest of the Church Choir singing traditional Swedish Christmas songs.
Many Saint Lucia concerts happen over the course of the Christmas season, including this outdoor one on the official Saint Lucia Day (December 13). Again, amazing singing:
It’s been a wonderful lead-up to Christmas here in Sweden, and next week I’ll be travelling home to Portland to spend Christmas and New Years with my family. I’ll post after I return to Sweden in January! Happy Holidays!
Aaron Danowski 
Safe travels home, Aaron! Thank you for your excellent blogging.
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Loved seeing your home-away-from-home! Thank you for the blog and pictures. May your travels home be easy and uneventful and your time at home Joyful! Miss you! Julie McCulloh
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I really enjoyed your photo essay and snippets of the beautiful music.
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