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Tonight (April 30th) it is Valborgs eve in Sweden. I believe very few countries in the world celebrate this evening, perhaps other Scandinavian countries and possibly the Baltic States.

Valborg (sometime called Walpurigs in English) was an 8th century nun and saint. However, she has little to do with the Swedish celebration, other than that the 1st of May bears her name. (Every day of the year here has a name attached to it)
The coincidence of date, led to Valborg being connected to the old Viking tradition of having a spring and fertility festival where bonfires were lit to scare off evil powers.
Today, Valborg's eve is celebrated by lighting big bonfires and singing songs to welocme the spring. It has also developed into a special student celebration.

What odd custums and traditions do you have where you live? Odd in this context meaning unusual in an international perspecive

erm...maypole dancing! odd, but I am not sure whether it is unusual

The Morris Dancing on the May Day. Or, eating Marmite on the toast. I can't think anything worse... err, weirder than those two.

@Minerva - same thing! example - http://ukplus.com/ukplus/clickcounter.j ... &location= Just one family of Morrises - check the contents page...

Originally posted by Minerva
eating Marmite on the toast. I can't think anything worse

Philistine! Marmitist! how can you not realise the true majesty of the grilled yeast-based snack?!

you deserve to be stalked by morris dancers

Originally posted by Yshania
erm...maypole dancing! odd, but I am not sure whether it is unusual

Maypole dancing? Is this the same thing as the Scandinavian Midsummer celebration (3rd weekend in June) when a pole clad in leaves is risen and people dance around it singing they are frogs and jump? A very popular custom amongst the many summer tourists The pole is indeed a phallos symbol, the celebration was originally a rite of fertility.

posted by Minerva
The Morris Dancing on the May Day. Or, eating Marmite on the toast. I can't think anything worse... err, weirder than those two.

Personally, I prefer Morris dancing far above Marmite - that is not to say I like Morris dancing

Originally posted by C Elegans
Maypole dancing? Is this the same thing as the Scandinavian Midsummer celebration (3rd weekend in June) when a pole clad in leaves is risen and people dance around it singing they are frogs and jump? A very popular custom amongst the many summer tourists The pole is indeed a phallos symbol, the celebration was originally a rite of fertility.

Very similar, though a maypole has ribbons attached to the top, and dancing around the maypole weaves the ribbons around it. I believe it has its origins in the pagan festival of Beltane (April 30th), which was a festival of fertility. When we did maypole dancing for May Day at infant school, I don't remember anyone mentioning anything about phallic symbols, strangely...

Originally posted by Georgi
Very similar, though a maypole has ribbons attached to the top, and dancing around the maypole weaves the ribbons around it. I believe it has its origins in the pagan festival of Beltane (April 30th), which was a festival of fertility. When we did maypole dancing for May Day at infant school, I don't remember anyone mentioning anything about phallic symbols, strangely...

Strange, I wasn't told about the phallic symbol until much later either... Must be due to new historical research.

I've seen the ribbon weaving dance on film, it looks quite pretty, much more pretty than the Swedish frog-imitation dance anyway

Another tradition here that many foreigners find strange, is the Lucia celebration the 13th December. According to the legend, Lucia was a girl who lived in Sicily in the 4th centry, and she died as a martyr when the Romans executed her by cutting her down with a sword. The Swedish Lucia tradition is far removed from the original legend, and the modern customs are only about 150 years old. Celebration takes place very early in the morning, and a Lucia in a white gown (with a red ribbon around her waist to symbolise the blood) and a crown with candles on her head, is leadning a train of girls also in white gowns, but with candles in their hands. They sing, and then serve coffee and special rolls with saffron.
The Nobel celebrations in Sweden include the traditional Lucia train for the laurates. This has been quite amusing over the years, since many of the laurates have never even heard of this tradition before. Imagine beeing awaked at 6 am by a train of singing ladies in long white gown, carrying candles
One year, a laurate was totally shocked and started crying. Another one had a more positive experience and said he thought he was dead and had come to heaven

I guess Guy Fawkes Night, aka Bonfire Night, aka Fireworks Night might seem quite strange to people from other cultures... It commemorates the foiling of a plan by Guy Fawkes (and some other people, I think he was the one unlucky enough to get caught!) to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1603 (not sure on that year, but close enough I think...). So every 5th of November or thereabouts, we have fireworks displays and bonfires - the most bizarre part of it is that children are encouraged to make a "guy", a life-sized model of a man, and then they are all thrown on the bonfire!

Who wouldn't want to blow up the government? No wonder it's a celebration!

In Oz we celebrate the Queens birthday twice, once on her actual birthday and once on the "Australian" date . I've never quite understood why.

Originally posted by Ode to a Grasshopper
Who wouldn't want to blow up the government? No wonder it's a celebration!

But it's a celebration of the fact that he didn't!

In Oz we celebrate the Queens birthday twice, once on her actual birthday and once on the "Australian" date. I've never quite understood why.

The Queen's official birthday isn't on her actual birthday here either... I dunno why. Then again, it's not like we celebrate it

Originally posted by Georgi
But it's a celebration of the fact that he didn't!

No it's not, it's a celebration of the fact that he almost managed it. It's an attempt to honor the memory of someone who dared to try what we all, in our deepest hearts (openly in my case), wish we could do on a daily basis.

Originally posted by Ode to a Grasshopper
No it's not, it's a celebration of the fact that he almost managed it. It's an attempt to honor the memory of someone who dared to try what we all, in our deepest hearts (openly in my case), wish we could do on a daily basis.

Ummm yeah, that's why we annually burn his effigy

yep. we throw him on the bonfire because he failed, and anyone who makes such a half-ar$ed attempt at such an important achievement deserves such treatment

I always thought the effigy was of the policeman who caught him...

Originally posted by Robnark
yep. we throw him on the bonfire because he failed, and anyone who makes such a half-ar$ed attempt at such an important achievement deserves such treatment

Now I like that explanation

Originally posted by Georgi
So every 5th of November or thereabouts, we have fireworks displays and bonfires - the most bizarre part of it is that children are encouraged to make a "guy", a life-sized model of a man, and then they are all thrown on the bonfire!

Sounds rather like one of those "substitution holidays" that ethnographers tell us are common, as cultures move from one religion to another, or to a secular basis. Oct. 31st (referred to by many names; in Celtic tradition, Samhain) was originally celebrated by sacrificing a captured enemy, and in later years by the sacrifice of a vegetative substitute--the Wicker Man, who was burnt as the "solar or oak" half of the year gave way to the "ivy" half: the waxing, to the waning.

@fable did that response mean that you do not have Guy Fawke's Night in the USA?

anyway, Morris dancing is about as wierd as anything, but I didn't know they did it outside Oxford . Probably because the only time Morris Dancing has ever come up, other than here in Oxford was when one of the Gallagher brothers called Radiohead 'a bunch of Morris Dancers'. anyway, I just assumed it was an Oxford thing. This morning (May Morning) I woke up at 4.15 in the morning, as did about 25 people I know (young people my age this is) and everyone marched into town, got licked, and watched morris dancers and listened to the Magdalen Colledge choir singing from the top of Magdalen tower. Every year since time immemorial students have drunk massive massive quantities of champagne and jumped off magdalen bridge like lemmings (a drop of about 30 feet into 4-5 foot water ), but today they fenced it off so that noone could (two blokes and a girl did anyway ), and mysteriously the average chemical consumption seemed a lot lower...

No Guy Fawkes' Night in the US--I suspect 99.9% of the population has never heard of him.

Originally posted by frogus
@fable did that response mean that you do not have Guy Fawke's Night in the USA?

No, they have some weirdo July 4th thing instead...these colonials, I ask you!

Here's a vote for Marmite, great stuff that it is.