Image from svenskakyrkan.seThe topic made me think of recent "advertising" from the Swedish church ahead of All Saints' Day, a day to commemorate the dead. In Sweden the custom is to put wreaths and candles on the graves of passed loved ones. If you pass by a Swedish cemetery on this particular weekend you will see hundreds of flickering lights - so beautiful and solemn.
Image from solakra.blogg.se
On the Swedish church website A Light in the Dark there are texts about what this holiday / custom is about and why it has become important for people. One writes that nowadays few have family and roots where they live and then it becomes more important to remember at least once a year. The need to connect becomes stronger when home (even though "home" can be fluid) is far away. Maybe it's that old cliché - "distance makes the heart grow fonder". And distance can be time as well, and not just geographical distance.
Eva Brunne* writes:
Lighting candles, remembering, thinking of what went so well, but also on that which didn't go well. It's like the candles relieves thoughts and feelings. Many times I have walked around the cemetery and heard parents tell stories to their little children about a grandmother or grandfather they perhaps have never even met. A story that connects and links to the future. And then they light the candle. [The light] points forward and into a life where we carry many stories with us that are necessary for our continued life.
But light also refers to optimism in dark times. There is always a way to light up the dark; the dark never wins. Life prevails over death. Good is stronger than evil.
I think a lot about that in these times of success for the Sweden Democrats, that, in my view, racist and backward-looking party. I sure hope that the voters that seem attracted to (according to the polls) these dark views find some light in their lives well ahead of next year's election** so that the Sweden Democrats don't get into Parliament.
* It doesn't say if she's a priest or other member of the church staff or just a member of the public
** September 2010
