Ekshärad of Wermlandia

The weekend after the 1st of May the year of 2009, I visited a village called Ekshärad in the province Värmland (Wermlandia) where I lived during the time autumn 2005 to spring 2006. I and a group of four other young people worked as volunteers in the pentecostal church there, we met young people at school and also made sure many fun stuff happened during Friday nights in the church basement. Being a volunteer was a very important time in my life, so it also felt special to come back to the place and meet all the people. The photos I'm sharing with you here are on the old wooden church to show how old traditional culture can look like in Sweden. The archer is an old typical symbol for Ekshärad and I'm going to write down the story around him later on. According to the legend he was out hunting, this was after the huge plague during the middle ages, and aimed for what he thought was a bird sitting on a high tree top. But it was the rooster on the top of the church! This way the village that had been abandoned during the plague was discovered again. Of course, this church is not that old, but the statue shows that the legend is still living on.

In the church yard there are so called Life Trees instead of grave stones and crosses. They're typical for this small village in Värmland, they can't be found anywhere else in Sweden. I think they're really beautiful!

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Easterling Photo Album