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issue! By Pamela E. Apkarian-Russell April showers may bring May
flowers, but in Sweden April also brings the witches that help
celebrate Glad Pasque or Easter. Mumming and guising are ancient
traditions, which are part of the cultural heritage of many
countries and take place usually as part of the celebration of
feast days, holidays and gala events throughout the entire year.
In Sweden the main time for such festivities is Easter-Pasque
the time of the reawakening of the earth, the rites of spring.
Pasque is the time of the resurrection of the Deity and the
earth. From prehistory on humankind was very aware of the
importance of this time of the year as it was when the crops
would be sown or soon thereafter. Sweden has a cold climate and
welcoming of warmer days would have been very important in both
an agricultural sense and as a social event. How or why the
tradition began of people (especially females dressing as
witches and, later on, males as