Yesterday when I woke up, I saw that most of Saturday's snow had melted again and been replaced by hazy rain. But brief though it was, the snow certainly had put me in the mood for Christmas - for baking, wearing warm socks, sipping hot tea and mulled wine and spending cosy evenings curled up in my favourite chair - and of course, going to Christmas markets with their assorted piggies.

Pigs seem to be everywhere for the Christmas season in Sweden; pig motifs on cards, table linen, aprons, wrapping paper, gingerbread biscuits shaped like pigs, piggy marzipan cakes, straw pigs, big pork hams for the traditional meal, etc. It's all rather macabre really, since poor old Wilbur is not only cute and pink, but he's also firmly on the menu.

I had thought that Sweden would be all about the reindeer motif (which ironically is the most common in the Australia), since they seem to have a lot of them in Lappland. But I suppose it would traumatise kids here too much if they thought that Santa served up the reindeer after they had hauled him around the globe in one night. It sounds like the sort of thing that Amundsen did with his doggies. And we all know how that traumatised me forty years ago.




This year I'm on a mission to buy a couple of straw pigs for someone. Which is a great excuse to loiter around and study them at my leisure. Lars-Göran can't hurry me on or roll his eyes as I'm researching, aren't I? I mean, I have to make sure it is cute, don't I? And who can stop at one. I've never hear a story about one pig. The familiar fairytale talks about the Three Little Pigs. So I have to get three - one for you and two for me sounds fair. Oh wait! What about the rhyme my mum used to do with my toes - there were FIVE pigs in that one, beginning with "This little piggy went to market...."


Can you tell that I was really excited before we left for Motala. Despite the overcast weather and the constant drizzle, I was happily looking forward to reliving some of my previous market experiences. The pictures I had in mind were similar to these ones. And that was reinforced by the blurb I read on their website:

"Stämningsfull julmarknad på torget och i hamnen med mycket marschaller och glöggservering." (basically, a Christmas market in the square and harbour, full of atmosphere with lots of welcoming candles and mulled wine). So I got a very unwelcome shock when the market turned out to look like this:




No atmosphere, no charm and worst of all - no straw pigs! How could that be? I had a bad feeling when I saw that the first stall sold mammoth crocs. And that was the highlight - things went radidly downhill from there. I walked around the dozen or so hastily erected stalls with a sinking heart. The unexciting offerings included a stall selling scrubbing brushes and baskets, another selling lottery tickets, one selling lucky dips, a Dunkin' Donuts caravan, a "Piss-Weak World" style Chocolate Wheel, a lolly stall with generic sweets you can buy anywhere, a bric-a-brac stall, a florist selling door wreaths etc. I was nearly in tears with disappointment.

Where were the Christmas goodies, the smell of hot sugared almonds and warm mulled wine mixed with spruce and straw? Where were the stalls selling ornaments, sweets, smoked meats, fish, cheese, mustards, jams, cordials, bread and buns? Where were the handcrafts - wrought iron candlestick holders, glass decorations, straw goats and pigs, cards, hats and gloves? It was very quiet in the car all the way home. I'll be crossing this off my list of things to do in future.


I did however cheer up later in the day when I heard that an Australian (Dave Downey) had won the world Santa competitions being held as part of the Snoyran Games at Gällivare in the north of Sweden. I laughed when I read that when he was asked how he practices, Mr Downey replied: "Kangaroos, sheep, porridge eating, of course, the usual Santa activities. It's just a bit harder in the heat that's all." Go Dave, you show them!

At least we still have our own Vadstena markets to look forward to. They are advertises as Gammeljul (Old Christmas) and is held in the majestic renaissance castle on the shore of the lake. In the afternoon, we went for a walk in town and passed one of the castle entrances.




They've decorated it with boughs of freshly cut spruce interspersed with pretty, soft white lights. Two floors of the castle are lit up and it is here the handcraft markets are held, with foodstuffs being sold on the other side inside the castle walls and a medieval style market in the main courtyard. It was closing time (4pm), so people had dispersed, but we had a little peep in the courtyard ehrough the late afternoon gloom.




People were leaving, laughing and chatting away, laden with bags. It's a good sign that there is at least something worth looking at inside. We talked about trying to come down on Tuesday for a good look at what is on offer. As well as the little pigs, I need something to send to Madde in Africa to remind her of Christmas at home.

We looked at this morning's paper and saw that they raved about the Motala market (Swedish only), which begs the question, exactly where were they reporting from? Surely not from the same place we were!