四月三十到五月二日這幾天是瑞典的傳統節日，

叫做Valborgsmässoafton，英文是Walpurgis night，

也就是沃爾帕吉斯夜。

(取自 http://www.hembygd.se/index.asp?docid=15120)

今年忙於為大家準備美味的麵包，而無法回國參與這個慶典，

G大廚特地翻出一些特別的慶祝活動影片來跟大家分享-

Valborgsmässoafton (normally called Valborg) is an annual holiday that is celebrated on the last day of April. Originally it was celebrated to keep away witches and evil spirits, but these days it is celebrated to mark the first day of spring. Valborg occurs exactly 6 months after Halloween and people believed that the evil spirits were particular strong during this night. To protect against the evil spirits people lid fires at the hills. People gathered around the hills and sang and made noise to scare away the witches and other evil creatures. As many times before, the church is trying steel old ancient holidays to make it “Christian proof”. Saint Walpurgis (Valborg in Swedish) became a saint on May 1, hence the name of the holiday.

沃爾帕吉斯夜，我們通常只會簡稱為Valborg，

是一個每年一次的節日，我們通常會在四月底的時候慶祝，

早期是為了要透過慶祝活動來將女巫和惡靈趕走，

但後來被用來慶祝春天的到來。

Valborg大約是在萬聖節的六個月之後，

人們認為四月三十日晚上的惡靈的能量特別強，

為了要保護村民不受惡靈侵害，

人們會在山丘上點火，大家圍在火爐旁大聲唱歌，把邪靈嚇跑。

[編按：如果你早一點來拜訪中國人，你會發現用鞭炮是最方便的XD]

在基督教傳入瑞典之後，教會試圖把這個慶典改為基督教的節日，

因而改為五月一日過節，並更名為"聖沃爾帕吉斯節"。

Today, Valborg is considered the first day of spring (although large parts of Sweden still have some snow on the ground). At least the snow has melt enough so that we can pick up the old Christmas tree that we throw out of the window at the beginning of the year. Every community makes their own bond fire out of old Christmas trees and old branches that have fallen down during the long winter. Although the beliefs in evil spirits are long gone, people still makes a lot of noise and set off fireworks. Choirs are singing traditional songs to welcome the spring. In some cities there are professional choirs performing, in others people of all ages are signing together in a drunken haze. The warmth of the fire heats up the cold “spring” (if you can call 0 degree Celsius for spring) night…. The party goes along late into the night, which is fine because May 1 is Labor Day.

現今，Valborg被當作是春天的第一天，

即便此時瑞典很多地方地上仍批著雪，

至少雪已經融得差不多了，

雪深已經低到我們可以去撿年初被拋棄丟出窗外的聖誕樹，

每個社區都會起一個火，用聖誕樹跟枯枝，

[編按：聖誕樹下場好慘，替它在地上寫一個慘字...]

雖然現代的瑞典人都很鐵齒不相信會有惡靈來襲，

但仍然保留古老的儀式，

起一個火堆，然後圍著她發出很多噪音，

有的地方還會大合唱傳統歌曲來迎接春天。

有些城市會有專業的合唱團表演，有些則是一家老小群聚酗酒，

營火的熱溫暖了寒冷的春之夜(如果你可以接受0度C也叫做春天)，

慶祝趴踢會一直持續到半夜，不過沒關係，

因為隔天是勞動節，放假一天喔耶~

(瑞典人表示：我就是愛放假，你咬我啊~)

(2007年在瑞典北方的Umea市舉辦的慶祝活動)

後來的慶祝活動越來越多花招，

有萬人大合唱，還有搞一些奇型怪狀的火堆，

甚至是一群年輕人找個公園party整夜，

有的地方還有DJ放音樂，搞得像dance club一樣，

有機會到瑞典一定要來感受一下過Valborg的歡愉氣氛!