Chasing pussy in the dark

Sunday is the week before Easter (Palm Sunday) and in Finland there is an old tradition called Virvonta that is about something that I don't really know much about. However, the deal is that children dress up as witches and go door to door (generally to family and friends only) singing a rhyme, giving a decorated willow twig and in return, getting paid a treat.

It is my daughter's first time doing this and while I have no idea what she is going to get as treats since she can't eat anything much, we are still going to dress her up and go visit family. She is pretty excited and has very quickly learned the rhyme which is:

”Virvon varvon tuoreeks terveeks tulevaks vuodeks. Vitsa sulle, palkka mulle"

The rough translation is:

I found a stick and decorated it, here you go, be healthy yadayada - now you are meant to give me some candy or something.

Ok, that is not the translation at all but @smallsteps can tell you about it on Sunday perhaps.

Tomorrow, she and I are going to be decorating sticks (which I will try to remember to photograph a little too) in preparation for Sunday's festivities. While the tradition is to dress as a really cute little witch with rosy cheeks, over the years it has become more 'trick or treat-ish' and kids dress in all kinds of costumes. I would like her to be a witch but, she might be dressed up as something else if I can't find a suitable outfit.

Tonight, I went out for a walk with the dog and then sloshed around near the lake cutting pussy willow twigs in the dark and then headed out and bought coloured feather, pipe cleaners, glittery jewels and glue in readiness for tomorrow's decoration festivities. It is just my daughter and I doing this since my wife is studying still but, I think we can manage.

I resisted the urge and didn't buy a hot glue gun though.

The images are of the pussy willow in macro and they were taken in the dark with:

Olympus EM-1
60 mm 2.8 Macro
Off-camera flash unit

I enjoy playing around with macro photography because it can take something quite mundane and when inspected up close, can give a completely different impression of it, it can tell a story that would not otherwise be heard. My daughter is a little allergic to willow so they are being kept outside at the moment and we will see how she handles them tomorrow while decorating. She is very precise when it comes to arts and crafts and I am unsure if I will be allowed to help.

I am looking forward to taking pictures of her dressed up though as she absolutely loves it and gets incredibly joyful and playful when she gets to do something a little different. These kinds of traditions where kids actually do something rather than wait expectantly are better in my opinion and at least for her, the 'pay' she gets is going to be something she can enjoy - maybe some lingonberries instead of candy.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]

I should work on my titles.