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Once upon a time there was a young African who visited Sweden for a whole year. When he returned to his homevillage, all the people gathered around him to listen to his experiences from the land up north.

- "It was a very exotic land with animal loving people", he began his tale.
A few days during the beginning of the sunperiod, they worshipped their chickens with great eagerness. They decorated their homes with chickenfeathers and pictures of chickens, they ate eggs of different consistencies and they dressed up their kids, lit fires and shot fireworks. It was kind of an evil spirit they tried to scare away.

Later that year, when the sun - which they all worshipped too - stood the highest up in the sky, they dressed a pole with leafes and flowers and raised it towards the sky. They then began dancing around it and singing their native lands songs.
I especially remember how they mimiced the frogs sounds and movements.

When the evenings became darker, the people gathered around small fires. The adults now wore bibs and small hats on their heads. The animals they now celebrated were small expensive crustaceans which they ate together with strong drinks which these people love more than anything.

The most horrible thing that happened to me was when the nights were the longest. One night, the door to my room opened up and in came a bunch of women dressed in white dresses. One of the women had lights around her hair and they all sang about horses and spoke about cats.

People in this country rarely talked about their God. But I got to join in when they celebrated the big pigparty. They prepared the pig in many ways, and in the evening they were all finished eating - Then their God came.

Well, they never told it was that way, but I figured it out anyway. He looked like our old medicineman - with a mask infront of his face and with strange clothing. He brought precious gifts to the people, whom then became happy and joyful. Then he disapeared again. They said that he visits them once a year.

Yes, these people sure were strange and exotic!

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