Vacation is the time to explore and experience something different from the daily routine and everyday life. This time I’ll share an adventure taking you 700 years back in time to a significant event in Scandinavian history:
The Battle of Hova in Sweden on June 14th 1275 between peasants commanded by Valdemar of Sweden and Danish cavalry commanded by Magnus III of Sweden and his brother Erik. The result was that Valdemar had to flee to Norway and Magnus became king of Sweden. This is the background for a fantastic medieval week, with the biggest knight parade and tournaments to be seen in the Nordic countries. The villagers turn out to a man dressed in medieval clothes as they invite you to join the festivities. Knights in shining armour encounter each other every night in the fight for the kingdom of Sweden. Let’s start with the parade (click all pics to enlarge!):
It’s amazing how a small village with 1,400 residents fill up such a big parade! I took a bunch of pics and will share in a movee with you:
As a one week fair in this charming village, you have The Knight Village: Craftsmen are making and selling their products. The town guards maintain the order among the medieval villagers, and some poor creature might end up in the stocks for a short time. Here you find burning stumps, fragrant herbs, magic stones and plenty of other medieval things that belong to that period in time. Here you can also buy dresses, armour and other clothes if you want to change into a medieval guise for a day or more. I guess pictures are worth a thousand words, so let me give you some examples of what you can see in the Knight Village:
Left: The Medieval Street. Right: Iron Smith
Left: A dog meets a pet goat. Right: Medieval Children Carriage
Again, pictures are worth a thousand words, so let me give you another movee:
Late at night, when the mist is covering the valleys where the medieval kings rode their tour of the country, maybe we’ll visit a concert in the church or just enjoy the fragrances in the warm and light summer night. The villagers sleep for a short while but the fair goes on for nine whole days. Do you want come over next year and go back 700 years with us?
Great pics! You did a good job of capturing the atmosphere of the fair! Thanks for sharing it with me. You will always be my Knight in shining armour ;-)
RennyBA
Thanks my dear and experiencing it with you doubled the fun of course!
You know I love medieval romance ;-)
What wonderful pictures! I love Midevil Fairs!
RennyBA
Thanks – I knew you would love it Maribeth!
I love this. You went back 700 years…this reminds me of the Renaissance Festival :) ~ My fav fest! Have a grand week, friend. *huggies*
Wow!! I want to be there! It’s on every July? This is so cool! I hope to meet my knight in shining armour on a white horse.
*day-dreams*
RennyBA
Yep, same week – welcome to join us next year – I’m sure you’ll find your perfect knight!
wow ..what an exciting and thrilling event….Renny and Diane…
great post…thanks for sharing :)
have lots of fun :)
RennyBA
Glad you liked it too – we just love to share you know :)
Hope you have some summer fun too!
Your posts are always educational and entertaining. I voted for you at the Bloggers Choice Awards. :)
RennyBA
Thanks for your compliments Mark – and for your support too :)
That was absolutely fascinating. The costumes are so colourful..I bet they took many hours to make. Even the horses have costumes! I love all that medieval stuff and once a year here, we also have a medieval fair with jousting and all sorts of tournaments like they used to have in those times.
Great post, Renny and the photos really make it come alive.
RennyBA
Glad you liked it too Roby and for sure we’ve made a lot of efforts to make all this fabulous costumes.
Hope you’ll post from yours too – keep me posted!
Good to know you got the spirit from the pics.
Oh wow, that looks like a lot of fun! I didn’t even try to take photos while I was shopping at the markets in Victoria. Of course I need to get some time to breathe and upload my photos. I didn’t bother yet to figure out why my internet still won’t work… I’m going to reset everything next and hope that works. We have had server issues at work too.
RennyBA
Yea, it was great fun!
Sorry you have connection problems – hope these resets helps!
oh i would love to see that in person! since i help with a local historical farm that centres on the early 19th century settlers i would love to go back even further and see this sort of thing! thanks so much for sharing it. there must have been so much to learn about, no wonder it goes 9 days. :)
RennyBA
Your welcome next year Lime!
I hope you’ll post about your fair too!
Yea it was very educational and I also learned a lot from the research for the post too :)
How fun! That must have been the entire village in the parade then, eh? And I’ve never seen a Medieval Goat before! :)
RennyBA
Yea, I guess every one of them was in the parade!
:) I could not resist – the goat was so cute!
What a beautiful medieval event you share with us! As it is fast 7 pm, just watching at the medieval sausages, and medieval BBQ I become very hungry!
Was there a medieval bal too? I like to hear medieval music and dance with the villagers. Messire Magnus must have been a brave Chevalier!
RennyBA
I just love to share with my blog friends you know! Glad you liked the pics as an appetizer – hope your dinner was good tonight!
I’m not sure about a ball, but there was dancing one night too.
It took me back in time! Nice post, Renny.
RennyBA
I’m glad Sue and thanks!
That looks like fun! We have medieval festivals here too.
What a lovely fair and beautiful shots!!
Hello Renny!
My, my, my…I must say that I truly enjoyed seeing these medieval fair pictures! It seems like it is a really festive event! Now, what really caught my eye was the medieval natural products stand (and the lady’s dress was absolutely lovely)!
Pet goats lol…it is funny cause even today I was talking about this whit a friend…they are cute; but I prefer dogs!
Thanks for having shared this delightful moment!
Cheers
Oh,.this seems like so much fun! Reliving the past…all the good parts, at least. Ha, ha, they even have a medieval mouse maze!
It is heartening to know let the younger generation learn about the history and culture of their country….yes I would love to experience this wonderful culture and hopefully not 700 years later heheheheh…..
Now that’s something I’m not familiar with, and we do not have that in Canada (well, Canada doesn’t really have medieval times I guess!).
The costumes are really good, I’m surprised. Must have been fun.. especially in a small village, where I’m sure the atmosphere was great.
What fun. I’ll bet you had a really good time at this festival. I wish I was there, maybe I will go there someday, who knows.
Love and Blessings,
AngelBaby
Thanks for the trip and the detailed explanation. I feel as if I’ve been there because of your explanation. I had a wonderful time. It’s nice to know I can do lots of shopping in the medieval village too and even get a massage after all that shopping and eating ;) Oh an I love the medieval children’s carriage very creative.
Completely unknow for us, what you here so brilliant write about and illustrate with excellent photos.
We ponder what will be going on when we arrive next week?
hugs
from the Rasberrie pickers
I love these medieval festivals! We have one in Långhundra also!
very, very cool, renny! i hope that if i ever visit your country, i can be part of this great medieval event! can i come in a princess costume? hehehe!
Now that looks like a fun experience! Great photos!
Nice moments from the past. I only knew about the Vikings from history books and of coz, Robin hood :)
I love medieval fairs! Actually I visited one last Thursday in Kampen (I’ll post about it when I have the pics ready) and next week we are going to a medieval festival/fair of two days in Luxembourg.
Thanks for sharing!
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hello everyone , im a medieval craftsman from syria , i make weapons , armor, clothing , and somtimes carpentry , i want to try my luck in europ , working with those festivals , make a living amd enjoying helping to make these festivals alive , but i dont know where to start , besides im not sure if this kind of work provides me with staying paper , can any one give me some hints if you please , since you seem to be medieval lovers .