My “book friends” and I want to wish you a delightfully spooky Halloween!
Month: October 2025
Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead)
Death can feel heavy and frightening – but in Mexico it is met with color, music, and humor. Día de Muertos is a reminder that our loved ones never truly leave us, as long as we remember them.
Here you can read about the celebration of the “Day of the Dead,” which, despite its theme, is anything but gloomy.
Halloween and All Saints' Day
Halloween, pumpkins, costume parties, and spookiness.
All Saints’ Day, grave candles, memories, and stillness.
Whether you prefer lighting jack-o’-lanterns, grave candles—or both—this season is a time for togetherness and reflection. Two traditions, different in tone, yet both with light as their symbol against the darkness. So why do we celebrate them so differently?
Movie Picks: 'Death' in the cast
Death has played many roles on the silver screen – from philosophical games of chess in the Middle Ages to romantic dramas and animated family adventures with talking animals. Here’s a selection of films and series where Death itself sets the mood with laughter, tears, and chills.
Dark humor
We laugh when we should really be crying.
We make jokes in our darkest hours – but why?
Faced with the choice of falling apart or fighting pain with darkness, we color our humor as black as grief itself. Sometimes, a laugh is the only light we can find in the shadows.
Post-mortem photography
How many photos do you have of your loved ones? Just on your phone or in the cloud, there might be hundreds.
Even more tucked away in photo albums and boxes of old holiday snapshots from the days of analog cameras.
Now imagine having just one single photograph of a family member – and it being of their corpse.
In this post, we’ll explore how, during the Victorian era, people remembered their loved ones through a photograph of their dead body.
Swedish Funeral Candy
Imagine arriving at a funeral and being handed a glass of wine and a small piece of candy, beautifully wrapped with a macabre motif – that was a common tradition here in Sweden less than a hundred years ago.
The Many Colors of Grief
Grief wears many colors. Here in Sweden, black is probably the first that comes to mind – but around the world there’s a whole palette of shades, each carrying its own meaning in the face of death. From white in Asia to purple in Brazil, every color tells a story about how people understand loss, remembrance, and hope.
The Kyrkogrim (Church Grim)
Kyrkogrimmen – the Church Grim – guardian of the graveyard in Nordic folklore
Have you ever felt watched while visiting a graveyard? Perhaps you caught a glimpse of a dark creature with glowing red eyes as you passed a churchyard late at night? Then it may have been the kyrkogrim (Church Grim) – the spirit guardian of the sacred grounds – keeping a watchful eye on you.
The History of the Grim Reaper
The grim reaper, the reaper, the pale rider…
Death has many names, but we all recognize the image: a skeleton in a black cloak, wielding a scythe.
How did the Reaper become the iconic image of Death? And why is he carrying a scythe?
In this post, you can read more about the history and symbolism of the Grim Reaper.