Ett Klick För Skogen

Bevara Sveriges gammelskog!

Ett klick för skogens första gammelskog blev bevarad den 28 juli 2005. Då räddades Årrenjarkas gammelskog. Det är en vacker och biologiskt värdefull plats. Insamlingen började i februari 2004 och avslutades juli 2005. Tack vare stort stöd från flitiga klickare, generösa trädköpare och hängivna sponsorer lyckades stiftelsen bevara denna unika plats.

Insamlingen till nästa gammelskog har nu påbörjats. Din hjälp behövs eftersom:
- Endast 5 % av skogarna nedanför den fjällnära skogen består av gammal naturskog*
- Endast 0,9 % av skogarna nedanför den fjällnära skogen har permanent skydd mot avverkning*

*Källa - Naturvårdsverket

Gå in på sidan och gör ett klick dagligen. Allt bekostas av sponsorer så det kostar inte dig ett öre att göra en insats för vårt lands natur. I skrivande stund har 77294,99 kr samlats in av folk som klickar. Sätt gärna Ett Klick För Skogen som startsida så att du inte glömmer bort det. Sidans adress är: http://www.ettklickforskogen.se

Oskorei

Jag vill tipsa mina svenska besökare om en mycket intressant Blog vid namn Oskorei. Om ni mot förmodan inte redan följer den är det hög tid att börja nu. Ni hittar den här: http://oskorei.webblogg.se/

The Celebration Of Yuletide Part III

The Baking

Traditionally the houswife will bake cakes for Yuletide in three different shapes:

* Large Cake
* Gingerbread and Almond Biscuits
* Shaped Biscuits

The houswife should allways be aware that the Yuletide baking has a special meaning. It should not only taste good, but it should be part of the meaningful celebrations. The cakes and biscuits should therefor be an expression of the great changes at the Winter Solstice, like the Yuletide Tree, The Jul Wreath and the candles. Therefor a good houswife should pride herself on keeping to the old recipies and shapes rejecting all cheap and American factory produced goods.

The large cake, which is still served today with a candle in the middle, and the large flat cake are still to be found in every house today.

Gingerbread cakes and biscuits, which taste so nice made with honey and syrup and which fill the whole house with their delicious aroma, should be cut out in heart shapes, star shapes, or wheel shapes.

The preferable shapes of the almond biscuits are:

* The Cockerel - the announcer of day time
* The Boar - boarmeat used to be eaten at Yuletide
* The Rider - Wotan on his horse
* The Hunter - Wotan
* The Spinner - Lady Holle in fairytales; Frigga
* The Tree Of Life
* The human couple

In addition hand formed biscuits should be made and formed in the shape of the Runic Letters. This is not at all difficult if the dough is rolled into a long thick spaghetti. Runic Letters like the Swastika, the 4 spoke, 6 spoke or 8 spoke Sun Wheel, the Odal Rune in all different shapes, the pretzel, the sun spiral and the horse shoe can then be formed easily.

These cut out and hand formed almond biscuits should be used to decorate the Jul Wreath, they shouls hand on the Yuletide Tree, and they should be found on the Yuletide Table of every family.

The Celebration Of Yuletide Part II

The Jul Wreath

On the first Jul Sunday the Jul Wreath is hung up in the livingroom. Its fir branches fill the house with pre Yuletide smells, its red ribbons awaken the joy for the coming celebrations, and its red candles brighten up the dark winter evenings. The Yuletide Wreath is equivalent to the old Sun Wheel, and as it is made from living greenery it reminds us of the old Tree Of Life. Once we have made these connections we will surely make the right preparations for the festival.

One should get a wooden wheel of about 50 to 80 cm diameter. Cut off one side of the hub so the wheel can lie flat. It is then stained dark brown or bright red and so becomes the Jul Wheel of the family, wich should be kept on a low table or the family chest in a corner of the living room.

The Jul Wheel or Sun Wheel with its deep rooted Germanic religious meaning is utilised as the base for the Yuletide Tree.

A small, young, forked tree trunk without branches is stuck into the centre of the hub, so we can recreate the Tree Of Life growing from the Sun Wheel wich will be used by the family at every celebration of the year.

Instead of the cart wheel you can use a wooden wheel with the dividers inset and decorated with Runic letters. The tree should still be fixed in the centre. The green tree may be replaced every year by the trunk of the Yuletide tree at the end of the season. It is important that the wooden wheel has replaced the meaningless cast iron Christmas tree stand, wich has no place in our homes. The same goes for electric tree lights and the horrible glass decorations for the tree.

We now place red ribbon borth ways across the fork of the tree, the ends of wich are tied to the Jul Wreath, wich now hangs freely about half way up the tree.

The Yuletide Tree

The Jul Wreath is made by binding bundles of small pine twigs around a wooden hoop (a child's toy hoop is ideal), and fastening 4 red candles on it.

When the Woman prepares the table for afternoon coffee on the first Jul Sunday, she decorates it with further twigs of pine and lights the first candle on the Jul Wreath. Every following Sunday an additional candle on the Jul Wreath is lit, thereby the lights grow slowly untill there is an explotion of lights on the Juletide Tree by the time of Winter Solstice, portraying the Winter Solstice fires. It is also customary to light 4 candles on the first Sunday, decreasing it every week by 1 candle. This should point to the dying old year, wich is reborn in the many candles on the Yuletide Tree even as its last candle dies away.

The Celebration Of Yuletide Part I

When Neblung (November), the month of the dead, has passed, the time of Yuletide is starting, with its knowledge of the rising of the sun from its sleep, of the renewal after the wintry death, of the birth of the light from the darkness of the long nights. Although we who live in the far North now can alleviate the depressing feelings through electrical light and heating theese days, the old experiences of our ancestors are very strong and vivid in us. We still feel that Yuletide is the greatest celebration of our year. Therefore we make every effort to celebrate it in style with our family.

The Timetable

Firstly you have to look at the whole of this festive time. It used to last from the 6th day of Jul (December), which was Wotan's Day and is now St. Nikolaus's Day, to the 6th day of Hornung (January), which was the old Frigga Day and is now Epiphany, with the main celebration at Midwinter Night, the night of 21st of Jul, when all the mountain tops would have been alight with fires.

We have become accustomed to some alterations to this timetable. The preparationtime, Advent, now lasts from the first Sunday in Jul to the 24th of Jul. Advent contains 4 Jul Sundays, Wotan's Day (6th), and the Winter Solstice (21st). The Twelve Sacred Days of the season start with Yuletide Night on Jul 24th and end on Frigga Day on Hornung 6th. These 12 days are filled with special celebrations, especially on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

It was just a matter of time...

...until I got a webblog of my own, and now here it is in all its glory. It is a bit late right now but I will be sure to update it with some interesting things first thing in the morning. Be sure to check back.

Heilige!