Spring-winter, a Swedish love affair

- Only a Swede does that.

It is Jannie helping me up on Saturday morning. The March sun is shining and I am mentioning I would love to sit outside this weekend, the forecast looks very promising. They say afternoon temperatures around 46°F (8°C).

Jannie is shaking her head. "Only a Swede does that". Jannie is Danish and came here by accident. She has lived in Turkey too. She likes it here, she does, but Swedes do things which are hard even for a Dane to grasp. Like wanting to sit outside in the sun at those temperatures.

But then you haven’t understood the beauty of the March sun on the 64th latitude.

March is what we call spring-winter. It is still winter in terms of snow and temperatures, even though it’s milder than January and February of course. But it’s the light. The light is back. We have just passed spring equinox, the day is finally longer than the night and today we switched to savings time, hallelujah! And the quality of the light… in combination with the snow… it’s a love affair.

March and April is when Swedes pilgrimage to the mountains close to the Norwegian border. To spend the days downhill in the slope or on a mountain lake cross country skiing. And an important ingredient on those days is to dig yourself down in the snow, make yourself comfortable on a sleeping mat or a rain deer skin, have hot chocolate and oranges and turn your face to the sun. Breath out. Close your eyes. Heart beat slows down. And you just love life.

You actually don’t even have to go to the mountains. You can do this on your own back yard. Which I wanted to this morning. I can’t sit in the snow on the ground of course, but I was thinking I could actually be in my sun chair against the west wall. Although there is snow there so…

I texted Magnus. Magnus is my dear neighbor at the beginning of the road. He is just the sweetest and he is the one who has been shoveling the snow for me this winter. I am so grateful to him. So right now, was he at the house? Could he possibly come over? Yes of course!

He was here in a few and so was his darling son Loke, 8. Together they made a path in the snow to the west wall for me, grabbed my sun chair in the baker’s cottage and put it in place next to the wall. I tucked myself in in my long thick fur coat and lay down in the chair. Facing the sun. Closed my eyes. Breath out. Heart beat slows down. It’s March 25 and I am actually siting outside in the snow and sun.

Every Swedish child with access to snow and nature grew up with spring-winter experiences like mine. It’s in our DNA. We crave this through our lives.There is no way a Dane can understand this. A child from Syria, Kurdistan or Afghanistan starting their Swedish life in the inlands of northern Sweden might though.

The March light lures us outside. It cries for you. It’s like a siren you just can’t resist.

Jannie was the one helping me buy the sun chair last May. She can’t understand why Swedes dress themselves in heavy winter clothes and choose to sit outside when it’s still cold, but she is the one making it possible for me. Thank you Jannie and thank you Magnus and Loke!