Sweden -- Description and travel; Sweden -- Social life and customs
Looking across the lake, you see many large boats, driven through the
water by means of eight or ten pairs of oars. Each of them may contain
forty, sixty, or eighty men, women, and children. They present a very
picturesque appearance with their national costumes. They are very
similar to the Rättvikians, except that the women wear a tight-fitting
cap--that of the married women white, of the unmarried red. The little
boys are dressed in yellow-coloured clothes, and the little girls in
the same as their older sisters. They soon land and wend their way to
church through a beautiful avenue of trees. Here they are joined by
others, who have walked or driven in carts for perhaps ten miles. They
are regular church-goers. The church is not only a religious, but
also a social centre. Sunday is newspaper day. The gossip of the
whole district is then retailed. The men meet in crowds in the avenue,
and the women and children wander in the churchyard until the service
begins. It is like fairyland to see the bright costumes moving among
the luxuriant foliage on a Swedish summer day.
The church at Leksand is an imposing structure, in the shape of a
Greek cross, with a Russian ball-spire. It was built by some Swedes
who had been prisoners in Russia, and it holds about 5,000 people. The
sight is most impressive when it is crowded, men and women sitting
apart. The sermons must at one time have been longer or the people not
so devout, as in some country churches can be seen a relic of bygone
days in a long stick, with which an official, “the church awakener,”
used to poke anyone who fell asleep. When the service is over, the
horses are yoked, the boats pushed into the water, and the vast crowd
is soon scattered.
There is, however, one place of interest that must not be passed
over--Mora, a quiet little spot on the northern shore of Lake Siljan.
It was here that the standard of revolt against the Danes was raised
by the men of Mora under Gustavus Vasa. Near the church is the mound
where he made his famous speech that roused them to action. Dear to
the heart of the Swede is the national memorial at Mora. It is
situated about a mile from the village, and is a little square
building lit from the roof. In the middle of the stone floor is the
cellar in which Gustavus Vasa hid when the Danes were pursuing him.
The walls are covered with paintings of scenes in the life of the
patriot, and one of them represents what took place here. You see the
open trap-door, Gustavus Vasa descending into the cellar with an axe
in his hand, the woman lifting a tub to cover the trap, and through
the window you can see the Danes in the distance on horseback.
No one need be at a loss as to the meaning of any of the pictures. The
custodian has a description written in English, French, and German. He
usually succeeds in finding out the nationality of the visitor, and
gives him the proper copy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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