Easter letters are the tradition. When it’s Easter in Dalsland.
👉 🇸🇪 Läs detta inlägg på svenska Påsk i Dalsland – påskbrev, minnen och vårt sätt att göra det idag
Traditions that change
I don’t really keep track of Easter anymore.
What people do.
Easter bunnies, witches, and all of that.
But I know how it feels.
And I know how it used to be – and how it is now.
For me, Easter in Dalsland has taken on its own meaning over the years.
Easter letters in Dalsland – a quiet tradition
Here in Dalsland, there’s a tradition I really like.
You make beautiful Easter letters.
Put candy inside them.
Go knock on someone’s door – someone you want to give it to.
Give it.
And move on to the next.
Such a simple thing.
And still – it carries something. A feeling of care.
There’s something special about Easter in Dalsland –
the calm, the traditions, the feeling.
When I was little – Gothenburg and quick steps
We didn’t do that when I was a child.
But I didn’t live here then either – I lived in Gothenburg.
Back then, it was different.
Quick, often quite messy drawings.
You rang the doorbell.
Left your drawing.
And then you waited.
Sometimes you got candy.
Sometimes money.
And honestly – the money was more fun.
Because then you could buy exactly what you wanted.
Easter witches, red cheeks and Blåkulla
And the most important thing – I almost forgot.
You dressed up.
As an Easter witch or Easter man.
Red cheeks.
Headscarves for the witches.
Hats for the men.
And my grandmother would tell us:
That the witches flew to Blåkulla.
On their brooms.
They drank coffee together there.
And then flew on into the night.
There was something magical about it.
A little scary.
But mostly exciting.
When Easter has always felt a bit grey
I’ve thought about that.
Why I tend to feel a bit low around Easter.
Because it’s not just now.
It’s been there for a long time.
Even when I was a child.
I remember Easter as grey.
Cold.
A bit empty somehow.
Shops were closed.
Everything stood still.
And it was often cloudy – at least in my memory.
But it wasn’t just the weather.
There was also a feeling of disappointment.
And a kind of worry I couldn’t really put into words back then.
A fear.
That things might not be calm.
That someone wasn’t doing well.
And those small things that weren’t really small.
The Easter eggs.
Others got big eggs, filled with things.
We got small ones.
With a few foam candies inside.
There was nothing wrong with that, really.
But as a child, you felt it.
Like something was missing.
And maybe it wasn’t even like that.
Maybe it’s just a memory of a feeling from childhood.
Maybe we got more Easter eggs than I remember.
But that’s not what stayed.
It’s the feeling.
And sometimes it’s the feeling that becomes the truth we carry with us.
Maybe that’s why Easter in Dalsland feels different to me today.
🌿 Today I understand a little more
Today I can see it differently.
That feelings stay.
That the body remembers.
And that certain times of the year
carry more than we first think.
Maybe it’s not Easter itself that makes me feel low.
Maybe it’s the memory of how it once felt.
The worry at home.
The feeling that others had something else – something more.
And for us…
it was mostly a quiet day in front of the TV.
Especially Good Friday.
A long, silent, rather boring day.
Like waiting.
For Easter Saturday.
For the Easter eggs.
🌿 The feeling that stays – a small explanation
I’ve been thinking about how memory works.
And I’ve come to understand something.
We don’t always remember what actually happened –
we remember how it felt when it happened.
The body stores feelings.
Like a memory of its own.
So even if the details fade over time,
the feeling can remain.
Like a tone in the background.
I’ve also understood that these feelings can return.
Through smells.
Places.
Times of the year.
And maybe that’s what happens to me at Easter.
Something old comes back –
not as a clear picture,
but as a feeling.
And when I think like that,
it becomes easier to understand myself.
Not as something being wrong.
But as something once having mattered.
So maybe it’s not about Easter at all.
But about the memory of what it felt like to be small back then.
And today, I can make something else out of it.
Easter in Dalsland – our way
Today it looks different here at home.
We have almost grown children living here.
And grown children with their own families.
We’re not really into traditional Easter food.
Instead, we do it our way.
We grill.
Some meat.
Sausages.
Burgers.
Mushrooms.
Grilled vegetables.
And a potato gratin.
An Easter that feels more like us.
Easter eggs – for big and small
Today we’re heading out to deliver Easter eggs to the grandchildren.
So they get their eggs.
And the adult children get Easter eggs too.
But not filled with candy.
Instead – with eggs.
The kind you eat.
Easter with Alfred – and care for the others
Alfred had decided he wanted to celebrate Easter with us here at home.
And that in itself is something special.
We also invited the other grandchildren, with their parents.
But they had other plans.
So today, we go to them instead.
Leave their Easter eggs where they are.
Easter eggs – our way
This year, it won’t be big candy-filled eggs.
I think they get that from so many others anyway.
Here, we do it differently.
They get two eggs each:
One with a little candy.
And one with money.
A bit of both.
A bit of choice.
A bit of care.
The days that became Easter in Dalsland
Yesterday was one of those days that just… became.
Before we left, we dropped off Easter eggs for my other grandchildren.
Hugo got his two eggs –
but he paused.
“But grandma… what about Emilia?”
He didn’t even want to open his
until he knew she got hers too.
And when he understood she would get two as well –
then he opened his.
That says something.
They got small eggs this year.
And that was probably a good thing –
they had already gotten lots of candy from others.
But maybe they still thought
we were a bit stingy.
One egg with a little candy.
And one with money.
Hugo likes 20-krona bills.
And maybe he was a bit disappointed at first.
But then he heard:
there were actually five twenties in that money.
Then it felt different.
Alfred – the goalkeeper
Then we went on.
Because Alfred had a football match.
And honestly… what a kid.
He was the goalkeeper.
And he was amazing.
Really amazing.
So steady.
So quick.
What a goalkeeper.
You feel warm all the way through
just standing there watching.
The ice cream adventure
And in the middle of everyday life,
life at home keeps going too.
We tasted the ice cream.
Added some cookie crumbs.
I bought two more containers
and made a new batch.
Now there’s one in the freezer
with 2 dl cream, 2 dl milk
and vanilla from a vanilla pod.
I thought it was a bit too rich at first,
so this time I used less cream and more milk.
Another one I made with
1 dl yogurt, a little honey, and 3 dl milk.
And one with cream, milk, and chocolate powder –
left unsweetened, since the powder already has sugar.
And the sourdough – Sune
The gluten-free one.
The one that didn’t want to behave at all at first.
The first bread was too loose.
A real failure.
But this morning I made a new one.
And now it’s rising.
Gluten-free flour isn’t as simple
as regular wheat flour.
But I’ve decided.
I’m going to learn this too.
In the dough I used:
a little profiber,
some psyllium husk,
salt,
honey,
and my sourdough –
the one that has been growing for five days now,
made from oats.
And maybe this is what my Easter in Dalsland has become.
💭 Questions for you
What does your Easter look like this year?
Do you hold on to traditions – or do you do it your own way?
Do you remember how you celebrated Easter as a child?
Was it letters, dressing up, or something completely different?
And what matters most to you today –
the food, the traditions, or the people you share it with?
And finally – I wish you a truly lovely Easter.
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Yesterday has already come to rest in history.
Tomorrow is waiting further ahead.
But right now –
this is where life happens.
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