And the days get shorter

As Fall increasingly pushes out the bright days of summer and the light changes to that 'golden hour' glow for the brief hours we have sunlight here in Stockholm I notice that the residents of Stockholm change. It seems that the winter wardrobe comes out and the summer one gets put away almost by the calendar as opposed to the temperatures and season themselves, the bright blues, greens, reds, oranges, and yellows of summer clothing give way to brown, black, dark camel and occasionally still the red pair of pants. The wearers of these cloths also seem to pull into themselves as well acting more reserved, quieter, and what might appear to be sadder and it almost appears that the mood fits the clothes instead of the other way around.

Now that I have lived here for a year, and I have experienced all the seasons I can see why in late Spring, Sweden embraces the sun and summer like no other other country I have experienced. Conversely though this Fall I am more aware of the opposite and how Fall brings a melancholy to Sweden. It might appear that people pack up their love of life and their upbeat, unbridled joy with the patio furniture that they put away in the garage, only to appear again when the bright sun and longer days once again appear. What I do think happens is that the joy is there, but it turns inward to home and family. The upcoming holidays kicked of by Lucia in mid-December and all the lights and candles aglow all over the country are about light and joy, and keeping back the darkness. It may seem more tempered that that of a Midsommar revelry but the festiveness is just the same, it all just happens indoors.

The thing that surprises me most though is the the clothing. Everything is dark, dark, dark come Fall and into Winter. Now, bear with me here as this train of thought may be a bit disjointed and come off the rails. Winter here in Sweden is dark. At most I think we get 5-6 hours of sunlight (that is sunrise to sunset) at the time of the Winter Solstice, so if you go to lunch late while at work, you return to the office at dusk. The whole country seems subdued. You would think that it would be appropriate to fight the darkness with some bright wardrobe choices, akin to fighting the darkness with candles in your windows, but no. Rarely do you see a bright red or yellow winter coat, everything is black or brown, or maybe dark camel in color and to be honest at night it makes it damn hard to see people walking about. When you are dressed as dark as it is outside and still move about with a pedestrian right of way it is downright dangerous. I get tense driving at night in Sweden in the winter, I am always afraid I am going to hit someone! In order for safety I suggest that Swedes start wearing brighter colors in the Winter months. Break the norm and walk on the wild side and try on something festive. It might just save your life, and make you feel good too!