So, this was a great piece of information, and I highly recommend you all check it out. But for the sake of time, I will not go heavily into it. Kuusela mentions some other interesting things about the ritual, including sometimes the walker would have to go to up to seven churches to complete the ritual. While Kuusela goes on to state that he does not think it is likely that Year Walking is pre-Christian, I will maintain that it is just because of other sources I have found in the past. It is interesting to note that Year Walking is one of the few Pagan rituals to survive in the time of Christianity, as most were eventually stomped out and forgotten. The walker, if he sees this, could encounter the risk of being killed, and he could only spare himself if he were to leave behind an item or garment. Kuusela mentions an overlapping folktale known as Julotta, when the dead would gather in the church to celebrate the birth of Christ at midnight on Christmas day. Another of Kuusela’s sources from Vårvik claimed that in the church yard, a walker could see things such as trolls, werewolves, revenants, and rats. Kuusela also mentions the Hel-Horse, which he says he suspects is similar to the Kyrkogrimen (a creature I have covered) in the form of a horse. One of the beasts the walker could meet, the Gloson, had sawing teeth and red eyes, this being one of the more terrifying creatures. An interesting new piece of information to note is that apparently a walker could see things that were humorous and comical, but if he was to laugh or smile, the ritual would fail. This was included in a work of Arndt’s knowledge of Swedish traditions he learned while traveling in 18.Īs was suspected, Kuusela mentions that there were indeed many supernatural beings involved with the tradition. He said they would try to sneak out into the forest as quietly as possible, and head to the church so they could see the events of the following year. This is important because it shows us that Year Walking is actually much older than originally thought.Īrndt mentioned a ritual in which people would try to see the future on Christmas night. Perhaps the most interesting thing that Törner mentions is that the ritual was known as Year Walking in pre-Christian times. He also mentioned that the ritual was also performed on Lucia Night (December 13th), and Persmässonatten (June 29th). He claimed that then the walker would seethe harvest, killings, his spouse, children, and other things of the like. He mentions the tradition is done by somebody who does not speak or eat on Midsummer’s Eve, does not sleep on the night, and walks around the fields or meadows. Törner mentions in his work a slightly different version of the ritual, taking place in Midsummer. He calls it the year walk, but interestingly mentions that the tradition was no longer practiced. Gaslander provided an explanation similar to the ones I have provided (No food, drink or light for 24 hours prior, come out at midnight, don’t speak or look back, walk to the church, see signs of the future). Gaslander associated the traidtion with Christmas Eve rather than the New Year, as it normally is. Gaslander, an author, described the ritual in a book posthumously published in 1774.
This is an interesting thing to note, considering the ritual is believed to date back over 1,000 years, although Rudebeck did mention the tradition as old. According to Tommy, Rudebeck’s case was the oldest one he could find, and he mentions that it seems to have been fairly well known at the time in the Småland (Southern Sweden). The people in question being Petter Rudebeck (around 1700), Petrus Gaslander (around 1750), Johan J. These accounts all date between around 1700-1807. Tommy was able to find four confirmed people who wrote about the Year Walking ritual.
#Year walk swedish tradition full
I will link the full article at the end of this post, but I will, for the sake of convenience, summarize Tommy’s writings. As some of you may remember, I talked about a Swedish man named Tommy Kuusela who was writing a chapter in a book on folklore that focused on our great little tradition of Year Walking. Although now I think it’s safe to say that I’ve found an amazing source. I apologize that recently this blog hasn’t been very active, but this is because not much evidence on this topic comes out that often.
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