Here is Karin at Kurkil in Rockhammar. This is her summerhouse though it is the dead of winter, and we have to keep our coats on inside until the wood stove heats up the place and we can warm our hands over the cast iron top. What we know about this little red house is that it was probably built in 1705. And the oldest room (the main room where everyone lived, ate, slept and laughed) we imagine is 200 years older. There are forest ghosts here that are even older. Back, back from before the Christians came. Ghosts of Pagans not aware they live in the shadow world. In the middle of winter, when the days are shortest, sometimes they slip between worlds and come tumbling into ours. We see their diaphanous shapes dancing by the moonlight. And, sometimes we can’t stop ourselves from joining their ghostly dance at midnight. Waking at late dawn, they are gone from our world. But we can still feel their icy embrace.
