The Phenomenon of Year Walking And Other Swedish Folklore

Year Walking

Year walking is a tradition that has long been forgotten in Sweden, It is a type of divination that was mostly practiced in southern Sweden around Christmas time or New Year's Eve. Year Walking is the practice of seeing into the future, not many know of what you exactly do, but it was said for you to see into the future. No one knows exactly where it comes from, but the act of doing so perished in the 1800's. The practice is likely over one thousand years old and a Pagan ritual. Each rules on how to Year Walk was different in each village or town, and in other regions.

It is said to perform a Year Walk, Like I said before, To choose a day either on Christmas or New Year's. On these special days food was plentiful for lots of festivals and celebrations took place. If a person was to Year Walk, They could not partake of food or drink, and must sit within a dark locked room, not speaking to anyone either. Some say you must have a mirror and a single candle light, others say you can not even see the likes of a fireplace on this day. The Year Walker then must wait until the strike of midnight, and go out to the town they lived in. They must find the church within there and circle it in a certain way, some say three times or more. The Year Walker then must blow into the keyhole of the church, at that moment they temporarily lost their Christianity, And lured out The Church Grimm, making them vulnerable to supernatural creatures who will challenge them. Upon challenging these creatures, the Year Walker will get a series of hallucinations or vivid visions, or even sounds.

It is also said that certain key hallucinations will tell of what will happen, It is not said if you see things within your town of if they come in visions. For example, If a Year Walker saw graves thrown up in the cemetery a plague was coming. If they saw small men, (Dwarves or Elves) carry sheaves or saw a person carrying a hay cart with mice, one could expect a plentiful harvest. If they saw armed men on the road, one could expect war. It is also said you could attend future weddings on the Year Walk or even funerals. It is also said if you head to the church or cemetery, You will see people from your town dressed in red dancing about the church or cemetery. These are the people who would die in the following year.

There is not many stories upon Year Walking, I could only manage to find two. If one was to go Year Walking for seven years and on the last night met a mounted man, (A man who is hiking a mountain or such) Who had a 'runkavle' in his mouth, (I can not find what exactly a runkavle is, someone suggested it is a wand or stone) If the Year Walker was brave or strong enough they could take the runkavle and would be wise, some say they would gain all the secrets/knowledge of the universe, and they could see into the future without Year Walking again. There is also another story in which a Year Walker will meet their own ghost on the road. Upon Year Walking they would meet a series of Scandinavian creatures in which we will discover later on.

Of course, there is side effects to Year Walking, having visions and hallucinations is one, along with losing touch within reality. One who Year Walks could develop schizophrenia and anxiety, and possibly multiple other disorders. Martin Nilsson, a man who claims to have Year Walked who resided in a mental institute said: " Before I saw what happened next year, I lived among the stars. I lived there for many lifetimes it seemed. What do I care for next year? Time has already ended." I am not fully sure if this claim or man is true, since you can't always trust the internet, nor do I know he is connected to Martin P. Nilsson a Swedish writer who studied Greek mythology.