Völsekvädet (Johan Sandström)

Völsi blót: The Völsi was the penis of a stallion, and the rites surrounding it are described in Völsa þáttr. It was taken from a stallion during the autumn butchering, and it is said that the mistress of the homestead considered it to be her god, and kept it in a coffin together with linen and leeks (see also horse sacrifice). In the evening everybody gathered in the main building. The mistress presented the penis from the coffin, greeted it with a prayer, and let it pass from person to person. Everybody greeted it with the religious phrase May Mörnir receive the holy sacrifice!

(I know this is an autumn blót. I just liked the music an thus posted the video).

Valborgsmässoafton (or simply “Valborg”) in Björkvik, Sweden (30th of April-1 May).
The same as Walpurgis Nacht.
Originally a Heathen holiday though now named after the saint Valborg in Sweden.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valborgsmassoafton

(Source: bistrobjorkvik.se)

Guys from Texas who are using snus (cause they like it).
He has like half a year of snus there and several brands even i havent heard of.
He puts the snus in place with his tongue like a real Swede. ;)

I MUST try “Oden” snus for obvious reasons.

 Or as a Brittish guy explained: “The mud version of cigarettes”.

Forn Sed Sverige: Alvablot 2010: Gudabilder efter blotet

Alfa Blót in Lerum, Sweden (close to Gothenburg)

 He presents the idols (as Alfa Blót is rather private the actual Blót isnt shown).

The Ve is by a birch (almost invisible in the darkness).

Offerings of apples,oranges (!), onions,eggs and samples of everything eaten at the banquette.

FreyR with his big….organ.

A wooden replica of a FreyR idol.

Freya (three idols, one with Brisingamen).

Thor (dyed red).

And ofcourse Odin….old one eye.

This is Älvdalsmål/Älvdaliska. Sweden has a few “dialects” that are more or less languages unto themselves, more or less untouched by “standard Swedish” they developed more directly from Norse. In this case they even used Dalecarlian Runes as a writing system as late as 19 century.

These languages are called “Mål” (as in “Mal” in Havamal = Speech)

The linguistic definition of a Swedish traditional dialect, in the literature merely called dialect, is a local variant that has not been heavily influenced by the standard language and that can trace a separate development all the way back to Old Norse. Many of the genuine rural dialects have very distinct phonetic and grammatical features, such as plural forms of verbs or archaic caseinflections. These dialects can be near-incomprehensible to a majority of Swedes, and most of their speakers are also fluent in Standard Swedish. The different dialects are often so localized that they are limited to individual parishes and are referred to by Swedish linguists as sockenmål (lit. “parish speech”).

Elfdalian or Övdalian (Övdalsk or Övdalską in Elfdalian, Älvdalska or Älvdalsmål in Swedish) is a linguistic variety of the Scandinavian language branch spoken in the old parish of Övdaln, which is located in the south-eastern part of Älvdalen Municipality in Northern Dalarna, Sweden.

Traditionally regarded as a Swedish dialect, Elfdalian is today regarded by several linguists as a separate language. As some other Dalecarlianvernaculars spoken north of the Lake Siljan, Elfdalian retains numerous old grammatical and phonological features that have not changed considerably since Old Norse and is considered to be the most conservative and best preserved vernacular within the Dalecarlian branch. Having developed in relative isolation since the Middle Ages, quite a few linguistic innovations are also present in the language.

Elfdalian has around 3,000 speakers and its existence is severely threatened. However, it is possible that it will receive an official status as a minority language in Sweden, which would entail numerous protections and encourage its use in schools and by writers and artists. The Swedish Parliament was due to address this issue in 2007, but apparently has not yet done so. The European Council has urged the Swedish government to reconsider the status of Elfdalian/Övdalian on four different occasions, most recently in October 2011. The Committee of Experts now encourages the Swedish authorities to investigate the status of Övdalian through an independent scientific study.

Writing systemLatin (Elfdalian alphabet),Dalecarlian runes (until the 20th century)

Hårgalåten (by Elina Järventaus Johansson)

A folksong about the legend of how the devil, dressed as a musician playing the violin, got the youth of Hårga village, Hälsingland,Sweden to dance themselves to death at Mount Hårga.

When their parents headed for church in the morning the young where still dancing, close to tears and with hearts almost exploding out of their chests.

There was no stopping until they all where dead.

Our folklore is so cozy!

Maria Wern - The Speechless God - SCANDINAVIAN CRIME SERIES (by SFInternational)

In the midst of the midsummer celebrations on the island of Gotland, a series of vicious murders take place with occult (I would say “Heathen”) overtones. 

The Maria Wern series consists of 7 feature-length episodes based on the novels by best-selling author Anna Jansson and starring acclaimed Swedish actress Eva Röse.

Spring Blót

Uppsala,Sweden

Slängpolska from Sörmland, bowed harp

A bowed harp / bowed lyre built and played by Swedish Lidskjalf

The “Talharpa” or “Talgharpa” is a lyre but played with a bow.

The instrument goes back to at least the 1300s in Scandinavia.

There is a player of the instrument depicted in Nidarosdomen,Trondheim, Norway proving that.

Today the instrument is more common in Estonia (especially within the Swedish community there).

Lyres where around during the viking age but it is unknown whether they where played with a bow or not.

Swedish bagpipes: Ljugaren

 Played by ogallmo

The Swedish “Säckpipa” or “Dala Pipa”  (also called “pösu” or “Spälpösö,bälgpipa, drompipa, pipsäck, spelpåse,” or simply “Påse” = Bag originally).

The bagpipes could be found all over Sweden during medieval times but survided in the province of Dalarna (Dalecarlia) where this type comes from.

Typically the Swedish bagpipe is single reed, single drone and mouth blown.