“Flying to Blåkulla: Letters from an Easter Witch” is a ride through Swedish Easter Witch tradition

SOUTH PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Whereas Easter in America sometimes includes a bunny and eggs, in Swedish custom, there are Easter witches and letters left on stoops. On this week’s 6abc Loves the Arts, Karen Rogers takes us to The American Swedish Historic Museum in FDR Park the place a brand new exhibition explains all of it.

Flying to Blkulla: Letters from an Easter Witch is a trip via the historical past of the Swedish Easter Witch custom.

“The assumption in witches they usually’re flying to this little island of Blkulla, which is the place supposedly the satan was speculated to reside,” says Christopher Malone, Curator on the American Swedish Historic Museum.

Legend holds that the satan threw events there throughout the Easter season, a narrative that fashioned the idea for the way Swedish kids nonetheless have a good time the Easter vacation in the present day.

“The place kids would run round totally different villages, some costume up as witches, some costume up as trolls,” says Malone.

They usually go door-to-door, giving residents a hand-drawn Easter letter in change for sweet that they gather in a copper pot.

“To symbolize the kettle that witches have been giving to the satan,” says Malone.

The witches have been stated to generally carry dolls and horns.

“Effigies to assist scare individuals,” says Malone.

“To hold this odd ointment that made them be capable to fly,” says Malone.

The exhibition is predicated on a set of Easter letters from a neighborhood Swedish household that immigrated to Philadelphia within the nineteenth century.

“They depict superb watercolors,” says Malone.

There’s additionally a guide on the historical past of witchcraft that was used throughout the Witch Trials in Sweden, Germany and America.

A relic known as the Malleus Maleficarum,” says Malone, “The guide talks about witches flying, how they acquired the ointment.”

The Easter Witches folklore began as a tactic to maintain kids on their finest habits.

“Keep in mind what Easter is all about. In case you do not do these issues, then you are going to be taken by one of many witches and flown to this little island known as Blkulla,” says Malone.

Now, it is a season of celebration. You may catch “Flying to Blkulla: Letters from an Easter Witch” via Might 1st.
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The American Swedish Historic Museum | Fb | Instagram
1900 Pattison Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19145
Museum hours: Tuesday-Friday, 10am-4pm; Saturday-Sunday, 12pm-4pm