The Church That Allows Sledding: Not a Dead Place

There was an outcry when children went sledding at Skogskyrkogården in Stockholm.
But now there is a cemetery where tobogganing is free.
– Det is not a dead place. It is a place for a lifetimesays Jerker Schmidt, vicar of Västermalm’s parish.

At Skogskyrkogården in Stockholm, there has been a heated debate about whether families with children should be allowed to go sledding in the area or not. Some believe that the cemetery is a place for mourning and peace, while others want to have fun and go sledding.
Parents have been urged to tell their children not to ride among the graves and no-go signs were put up but ignored by snow-loving families. The moderates went so far as to demand fines for sledding in cemeteries.

“Not a dead place”

But now comes a church that reasons a little differently on the subject. The parish priest Jerker Schmidt gives the green light to sledding at Kungsholm’s church, which belongs to Västermalm’s parish.
– The cemetery is, on the one hand, the resting place of the dead. A hallowed place, it is a resting place. It is a place of sadness and loss where we get to meet and remember those who mean a lot. But it is not a dead place. It is a place in the middle of the city. It is a place for a lifetime. Then it becomes difficult to think either or. You need to be able to get along and you need to be able to find solutions, he says in Efter fem.

Both rice and rose

The church has received both rice and praise for its decision.
– We think we’ve found a good solution where the children here behind from the preschools can go sledding a few times a year in a part of the cemetery that we don’t actively use with grave sites. At the same time we try to preserve the special character and the great importance of this place for people, says Jerker Schmidt.