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Yesterday was the winter solstice. The longest night, of a year that to many of us has been heavy to carry. Natalia and I felt it needed to be properly celebrated, old school, with a mid-winter blot in the style of our Nordic ancestors – to allow for the new to replace the old, with the returning sun, lighter hearts and new scientific discoveries.
In the pre-Christian times, the blot was a blood sacrifice. Me being vegetarian, the blood-shed felt outdated – so we sacrificed a chocolate Santa instead. (Although, as it turns out, sacrificing chocolate can also turn violent…) Dressed in our most season-appropriate finery, with fire (candles), mjöd (beer) and some well-chosen words to lay the past year to rest. And then we rounded off the evening with some eggnog and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. All conducted over Skype, of course.
And in sacrificing for the new year, we also wished for new and exciting stories to come. Big feats on the horizon: Me defending my PhD after the summer, Natalia doing her first internship as a nurse in the spring.
But also smaller stories. After singing in the return of the light, I clicked the “Publish” button on the website I have been working on, on and off, during this autumn. I have enjoyed writing about my crafts, remembering the botanic gardens I’ve visited, editing photographs. In the new year, I hope to have time to also write a little about my research. A portfolio for myself, just for fun:
So here’s to the returning sun. Wishes for new stories of art and science to be experienced, and then written about. A new captivating TV show to love together with Natalia (because we only have one and a half season left of Buffy). And hopefully more visits to Bergianska – in the picture, a past visit lighting up the darkness in December 2017, the smells of dry Mediterranean soil, inside the seasonally decorated Edvard Anderson greenhouse.
Posted on Instagram December 22, 2020.
Katja Malmborg 