Traditionally, the spruce is the Christmas tree in the North-West of Europe, but this is not always the evergreen with is the subject of christmas carols. In Flanders, we have a famous christmas song about […]
Category: Norwegian stories
DATING WITH PLANTS
Or “three years wood wide web stories” I am 32 years old and I have always been single … in the eyes of my parents. I never introduced someone as my significant other to them. […]
Finding black scary water spirits – in Norway and Belgium
Ponds, springs and pools were gateways to the underworld for the former inhabitants of the southern Campine region in Flanders (Mechelen, Lier…). The Nekker is a black water spirit and lives in in particular in […]
Did you already hear the first notes of your dream song?
And the thirteenth month has begun. The harp of the gods has been tuned. The trees are quiet. The Twelve Silent Nights is an ‘in-between period’, the ‘time that does not exist’ in the lunar […]
Sacred Garden trees in Norway, part 2 –
In spring 2019, I was doing a bit of research about trees in Norway. I found an interesting paper by Douglas Forell Hulmes about “sacred trees of Norway and Sweden: a #friluftsliv quest”. This professor environmental education […]
‘Bergtatt’ – my new favourite Norwegian word
Bergtatt: the word itself is captivating, enchanting and encompassing the images I have from Norwegian folklore. I have not written for a long time. I had some good reasons: finishing PhD (not there yet) and […]
I came to hidden springs and ponds.
I came to hidden springs and ponds. Reading this quote from Norwegian poet Johan Sebastian Welhaven (1807 – 1873) gives me goosebumps. I came across Welhaven only recently through Mikkjel Fønhus, a renowned writer from […]
A woman in the polar night, a woman in lockdown
“In 1934, the painter Christiane Ritter leaves her comfortable life in Austria and travels to the remote Arctic island of Spitsbergen to spend there a year there with her husband. She thinks it will be […]
Lucia – the night of light … and trolls?
A Finnish friend, with ties in Belgium, and with who I learn a lot about forest and nature based health practices in the last month, shared this video with me, and I like to share […]
A kiss in the shadow of a linden tree
I said goodbye to Belgium, and for the first time I do not know when I return. This blog is a sort of goodbye to the linden trees and the forests in Flanders, and a […]