"Swedish Death Cleaning"
De-cluttering? Cleaning out your closet? Getting more organized around your living quarters? If you are, you are doing some “Swedish Death Cleaning.” I just learned this term from Roy McMullen. Roy recently joined our email group.
Welcome, Roy and all our other newbies to our email group!
Roy described it best to me, “it’s
housekeeping where you lighten your load
.” “Swedish Death Cleaning” is quite an attention-getting term. In case you are wondering, after you clean your closet, don’t go searching for Swedish Moth Balls to put in there like I did...
I’ve been doing some “Swedish Death Cleaning” in my office. It keeps me busy and it takes my mind off of the heaviness of this pandemic. I suppose our Savers Fundrive is practicing “Swedish Death Cleaning” while we make a few bucks for the parish, as we clean out our closet getting rid of “gently used stuff” that we don’t use anymore.
When Roy mentioned this interesting term for de-cluttering, I thought of St. Knut, (also called Canute), the king of Denmark. St. Knut lived during the 11
th
century and was martyred. His feast day is January 13
th
. Back in St. Knut’s time, the Christmas Season was 40 days and he thought that was too long. Back then nobody worked during the Christmas Season. Imagine having a forty day vacation! So, he declared that it should only be twenty days. For the folks in Denmark, January 13
th
evolved into a day called
plundertime
where all the stuff on the Christmas tree is “plundered” from it. Sounds like de-cluttering the tree and de-cluttering the house of Christmas decorations. I am told you can find images of St. Knut dressed in rags and carrying a broom.
So, as you “sweep” out of your life all the clutter in your living space and in your heart during this stay-at-home period, may the prayers of Saint Knut encourage you to lighten your load and know our loving God is with us. God bless and be safe.
In Christ,
Fr. Steve Breck
Pastor, St. Mary Magdalene
