Superstitious Swedish customs

[Dora Connor]

I have heard that there were many customs in Sweden, based on superstition. Is this true?  
I mean, when I was a child my grandmother, who was born in Smaland, Sweden, used to tell me stories about her life. She told me stories about things like trolls and giants, and said that people were extremely frightened of those beings.
I can remember she told me that the Christening ceremony was very important. A child not baptized could be replaced by a troll's baby. Why did people think this?
She also told me that women were extremely careful not to leave the house without a piece of iron, like a pair of scissors, in their apron pockets after a recent child birth. Can someone please tell me why?
There were also very odd ways to cure sicknesses, Grams said. There was one about pulling the ill child through a hole in a tree trunk.  
These thoughts have puzzled my head for ages. I would like to know more about these kind of superstitious customs.  
If anyone has more examples of superstitious customs, please tell me about them! I am very curious, because I find this very interesting.
 
Tack!
 
Kindly regards,
Dora Connor

[Annika Hjelm Hemmingsson]

Dear Dora Connor!
In bad English I shall try to explain following:
 
Superstitious in old time was very common. When people have no education about food, vitamins and illness, they try to find out something to get cured. I think it is usual over the whole world, in old time and still.  
 
Rakitis called English illness in Sweden, was very usual in old time, and is a lack of A D vitamins because of long winter without any sunshine and food without important vitamins. The children get ill, and the bones in the skeleton get soft so the legs get deformed when the children walk.  
 
When people see something very strange in the nature for example a tree growing to a ring they think magic and use it to make children healty again. The children use to be sick in the late vinter or early spring. After they have been trough the hole in the tree...spring and summer beginn, the sun coming back and make the children sunburn (so they get D-vitamins), they beginn also to eat better food, fresh fish, vegetables and so on, and suddenly the children get healty again... so people belive that the tree make children healty and don't understand it was the vitamins.
When many childen get cured from the three more and more people use it. Today nobody use the tree instead of the doctor.  
 
Many regards
A. Hemmingsson

[Madelene Kasström]

Hello Dora!
 
There is a man in Sweden that have been writing about all the different kind of superstition in old times, I dont know if you can get the books in English, look that up. His name is Ebbe Schön.
You will get the answers about all the Swedish customs and beliefs. He writes about the important iron, it would help the dead people to stay in their graves and make trolls and giants stay in their caves. People laid it outside their doors. He also writes about people picking bones from the graveyards to use in different medicins. People in Sweden at old times did meet a lot of different things. I cant write them all in English but in Swedish they are called Bergrå, Bys (from Gotland), Bäckahästen (from the south of Sweden), Djävulen (the Devil), Drakar (Dragons), Gamla Gudar (old Gods), Gastar, Gengångare, Gårdstomten, Havsfolket, Häxorna (Witches), Jättarna (Giants), Kvarngubbarna, Lyktgubbarna, Marorna, Näcken, Puken, Sjörået, Skogsrået, Spökskepp, Troll, Utböling=Myling (killed babies that comes back from the dead, often crying or dancing for the people that lives), Varulvar (warewolf?) Vittra, Vårdar, Vättar och Älvor. Look up the different names on internet, maybe there is a description in English of them.
 
Regards from
Madde

[Delores]

We know our relatives left Vessigbro, Sweden on May Day.  We have been searching ships manifests for their arrival in America. Recently I read an article which stated May Day was celebrated in Sweden in June.  Can someone help me by clarifing when May Day is celebrated in Sweden as here in America we celebrate it on May 1.

[Bo Johansson]

May day (Första maj = First of May) is on May 1 in Sweden too.
 
Perhaps the article had confused it with midsummer which is celebrated in June with Midsummer Day being the Saturday falling on June 20-26, and Midsummer Eve the Friday before.
 
Or the National Day on June 6?
 
// Bo Johansson

[Erik Holmlund]

As Bo said, May day is celebrated on first day of May.
 
Midsummer is one of the most popular holiday weekends in Sweden. At midsummer a 'midsommarstång' is put up. It's a long pole dressed with birch branches and flowers. Another expression for this pole is 'majstång'. The best english translation is maypole, I guess, but I don't know if the scandinavian maypole has any similarities with the maypole in english speaking countries. One definate difference is that we put up ours in late june, at midsummer. When do the english/american put up their maypole by the way?
 
Anyway, translating 'majstång/midsommarstång' may well be a reason for misunderstanding.  
 
Happy New Year!
Erik, Skellefteå

[Anna-Carin Betzén]

The word 'majstång' is derived from the noun 'maj' which means 'green twigs' - particularly in the context of decorating (and the noun 'stång' meaning 'pole').  
 
So, in Sweden the maypole ('majstång') doesn't have anything to do with the month of May ('Maj') other than that both derive their names from the greenery that is their common denominator.

[Lars Sjödahl]

I think Mayday may refer to the last day of April, Walpurgis, rather than the first day of May. 1st of May is a holiday on which the labor unions demonstrate, which isn't a very old tradition.
 
On 30'th of April swedes celebrate the arrival of Summer and light huge bonfires and sing songs in celebration of life returning to nature and everything turning green and warm again. The bonfires were traditionally meant to scare off all bad things like bad spirits or trolls or other evil mythical beasts, but most swedes just like watching bonfires as a tradition, and don't really care why. It's simply tradition.
 
The may in maypole may mean green twig but the verb maja means do dress in green twigs. It isn't merely a decoration. By dressing a huge pole with young fresh green twigs, you bind their strong life force into the pole. Furthermore, in the south of Sweden they are usually shaped like a formalised fallos (huge pole with one ring on each side) turned upside down so the sky impregnates the earth with all that life force, which simply MUST be good for the coming harvest. It's a maypole, at midsummer, in June.
 
But midsummer (the summer solstice, nowadays the saturday of that week) is way off. If the manifest says May Day, they're most probaly NOT talking about midsummer. I think the article was confused.

[Martien Dekkers]

Hallo,
I should like to know more about RUSTHALLERE.
Any information is welcome
Martien Dekkers
Netherlands

[Mikael Jageklint]

Hi,
 
From swedish wikipedia:
 
Rusthållare kallades den, som var innehavare av ett hemman, vilket åtagit sig att sätta upp och underhålla ryttare med häst och utrustning. Som kompensation befriades han från de så kallade grundskatterna.
Beteckningen härrör från tiden för indelningsverket.
 
Translation: Rusthållare is a name for the owner of a farm who maintained cavalry soldier. Equipped him with horse and needed things. As a compensation he was free from ground-taxing.
It is a word that comes from the swedish military system called indelningsverket.
 
/Mikael

[Lars Skillius]

Here you can read more about our Allotment System, the cavalry and rusthållarna: http://www.algonet.se/~hogman/slsoldat_eng.htm#Cavalry

[Martien Dekkers]

Mikael and Lars, thanks for your informatiom. The information on the website http://www.algonet.se/~hogman/slsoldat_eng.htm#Cavalry was very interesting and I would say complete.
I wish you both all the best for 2009, that starts within about 12 hours.
 
Tack och Gott Nytt År.
Martien Dekkers
Hoek van Holland
Nederländerna