Runtuna (Swedish) is a small parish to the north of Nyköping.
Runtuna Kyrka
Neil Hopcroft
A digital misfit
Odens berg
From the board at the site (I couldn’t find any information with Google):
“Här är ett område fullt av historia. Det börjar med Odens Berg under Järnåaldern och går from till statarnas 1930-tal.
Väster om vägen har registrerats ett 60-tal flacka gravar. Vid vägen mot Ärsta ligger ett gravfält med ett 20-tal gravhögar. Att urskilja de flacka fornlämningarna är svårt om man inte är specialist.
De flacka gravformerna tyder på att den äldsta delen i det här fornminnesområdet är det väster om vägen. Där ligger en stor kvadratisk stensättning. Den har tydliga kantstenar och har haft en rest sten i mitten.
Vid undersökningar av gravar har det visat sig att resta stenar placerades på mansgravar. Gravklot ligger följaktligen på kvinnogravar.
Fornlämningarna gränsar till den gamla fastigheten Onsberga. Den hette på 1300-talet Odensberg och tyder på forntida Odenskult här i trakten.
Odens Berg tyckte de först kristnade illa om. Namnet var ju hedniskt och hade att göra med den förkristna tron på Oden, Tor, Frö och de andra gudarna.
Gravhögarna nära Ärsta är med sin välvda form typiska för gravskicket århundradena innan kristendomen kom till landet.
Gravarna är inte utgrävda men en undersökning skulle sannolikt resultera i fynd av brända ben, keramikbitar, redskap, smycken and kanske vapen. Brandgravskicket var det vanliga under denna tid.
I närheten fanns en gård eller mindre by under järnålderns slutskede. Kanske låg den vid Ärsta där den nuvarande bebyggelsens gårdar ligger.”
Which I think means roughly:
“Here is an area full of history. That began with Odens Berg until 1930s.
West of the road are 60 flat graves. With the road to Ärsta lie a gravefield with 20 grave piles. Discerning the ancient ruins are hard without a specialist.
The flat graves indicate the oldest memorials are west of the road. There lie square stones. That have been carved and put up.
Excavations show they stand on graves. Grave spheres lie following the women.
The area shows the old border of Onsberga. The in 12th century called Odensberg after ancient Oden worshippers.
Odens Berg thought badly of the first Christians. Name was heathen and had made believe in Oden, Thor, Froe and the other gods.
Grave piles near Ärsta are made in arched form typical of graves in the centuries before Christendom game to the land.
Excavations have found a burnt leg, bits of pottery, tools, jewelry and perhaps weapons. Fire graves lay until this time.
In the vacinity was a farm until the end of the iron age. Maybe near Ärsta where the modern farm lies.”
…if anyone has any better suggestions for the translation let me know.
Edsviken lakeside
Walking back from Ulriksdal Slott along the lakeside of Lake Edsviken (Swedish).
Ulriksdal Slott
On the way back from Inverness I stopped by Ulriksdal Slott.
Inverness
I took the bus to Mörby station, which was interesting more for the narrow gauge railway that runs through it than anything else. So I walked back toward town through Inverness.
Uppsala slott
We walked up the hill from Uppsala to the castle on top of the hill.
A. with an Uppsala runestone
A. with a runestone.
Book review: Fishing in Utopia by Andrew Brown
[Read aloud to Adelle]
Fishing in Utopia, Sweden and the Future that DisappearedThis book rewinds to before our time in Sweden and describes a country we hardly recognise. There are some familiar aspects, of course, a lot of it revolves around the quintessence of Swedishness, that acceptance of others but only as long as they, in turn, accept that quintessence.
This book starts in a rural industrial setting with nail guns and wood pallets, with which the writer becomes disillusioned. He moves back to England where he also finds that he does not fit in.
When Olaf Palme is assassinated he returns to Sweden to find it a rather different place to the one he remembers. The country was reeling from the awakening that the world is fragile, and that bad things can happen, even here.
It seems, though, that he has changed even more than the country has. He is a writer now and spends much time in isolated cabins, interrupted by visits to places and people of his previous experience, eventually going on a road trip toward the end of the book, heading to the far north, beyond the reach of agriculture, deep into prospecting territory.
While the Sweden in this book is not the one we encountered, it does contain some familiar scenes, and it provides some context for the view of life we had from our privileged perch in Stockholm. Explaining the origins of the concrete Million Programme, which by the time we were there largely housed immigrant populations, peoples who have now been in the country long enough that they are Swedish born, even if they are of elsewhere. It seems that accepting these people was easier for those in Stockholm, where there was already a mix of people.
We were accepted in our time there, partly because we passed as Swedish, at least until we spoke. It is sad that there are those who are trying to disrupt that acceptance now.
His mother in law originates from Östersund, where we were Vikings one midsummer, and he passes through the town several times in his travels. This is a weird town, one that keeps showing up, I later discovered that I worked with one of the Vikings, although I had not met him on our visits.
Unsurprisingly there was a thread of fishing running through the book, providing a context for his contemplative moments. This was uncomfortable for me, fishing holds no appeal.
This would be a good book to understand more about the Swedish temperament and some of the history that lead it to be the country it is today.
Uppsala again
I wanted to show A. the runestones in Uppsala, so we bundled onto a crowded train and headed north. Thankfully the connection from Uplands Vasby wasn’t so busy and we had a chance to relax a little before hitting the bitter cold of easter.
Kista spires
Another view of modern spires in Kista.
