Celebrations Aland style

Moorglade's Voyage
Ted Wilson
Fri 24 Jun 2016 14:51

It was raining on Friday morning, but only lightly, so the Bromptons got another outing for the 3km trip to the pole site. We were prompt, in fact so prompt we cycled past as we failed to identify it with no one else there, but on our way back another cyclist was coming the other way and they slowed down so we asked where it was, and it turned out we were in the right place and the other cyclist was the lady organising everything. She soon set us to work breaking leaves off branches that had already been left there and more people kept arriving as time passed (I guess they all sensibly waited until it stopped raining before setting off).

we were early arrivals

 

It appeared that knotting the leaves onto twine was women’s and young men’s work. The older men were soon forming wreaths of other branches and wielding tools to make sure the fixings on the pole were in tip top shape. However it was good to see so many young people joining in with a traditional activity. Lots of people spoke English so we were kept well in touch with what was going on, although some of them also wanted our opinions on what would happen following the Brexit vote.

 

But there were soon many willing helpers

   

the decoration starts to take shape

  This lady was in charge; she said she had been doing it all her life

 

There’s a lot to pole decorating

 

 

And then a bit more

Then the all-important pulling rope

The work was finished in less than 2 hours so we went back to the boat to do some jobs and rest up ahead of the evening festivities.

  This old tug was full of young people coming along to join in the fun

  The ferries were working so hard they could barely get out of each other’s way at the dock

20:15 saw us cycling down to the village again to join the group walking from the town out to the pole site. Everyone looked festive and the young girls had wreaths of flowers in their hair. At the pole the final touches were being added and people were coming in from all directions. We were issued with a song sheet – in Swedish and we didn’t know any of the tunes – and chatted to other sailors from the harbour and also English speaking locals.

 The ‘parade’ to the pole

  

It seemed only younger people and horses had floral wreaths

Adding the absolute finishing touches. These are made by one of the local women

At 21:00 everything was in place for the erection of the pole and the process started. Anyone who wanted to could pull on the ropes on either side as directed by the ‘foreman’ who ensured the pull was equal both sides so it didn’t swing out of control. The main thrust was supplied by a team of strong men with struts at the top end. They pushed and moved their struts down the main pole as it came up until they couldn’t reach any more when the rope pullers brought it past the point of no return and the foreman hurried forward to insert the securing bolt on the tabernacle. At times it looked quite risky, when it started to swing sideways and a groan went up as one of the struts fell back damaging one of the decorated strings, but otherwise the process went off without a hitch and nobody was hit on the head or crushed under the main pole falling backwards - a credit to experience, organisation and teamwork.

  

Leading the rope, but I think the sides need evening up

 

Taking the strain as they start to insert the poles beneath; the foreman is standing inside the rope

  

And up it comes

Safely secured in the tabernacle

The singing and dancing round the pole came next. Apparently apart from the Aland national song the other songs are the sort of traditional songs children learn at nursery or their mother’s knee so everyone joined in with gusto. Quite a few of the young people had brought cans of beer, or in one case I saw a wine box, so gusto was probably to be expected. In the UK it would have been an opportunity to have a raffle and sell hot dogs to raise money for a worthy cause, but here it was just an opportunity to keep up tradition and have fun with neighbours. We were told the permanent population of the island is 99, but the numbers were obviously swelled by summer visitors, who had been pouring off the ferries since Thursday night.

  This guy is the vicar and he rides a Harley as well as joining in with all activities

 

When the singing and dancing was finished the locals repaired to the community hall for a party and we went back to the boat.

    

People travelled by various means. The Fergie dates from 1947 but unfortunately broke down on their way home. We stopped to see if we could render assistance but ended up chatting to the passenger