First of Advent has come and gone, and this is the traditional start of the commercial Christmas. To be sure it’s the start of the spiritual Christmas too, but this does not manifest itself with the power of the retail industry.
The Christmas markets are popping up around town, and since I like these markets I went to Great Market Square (Stortorget) in Stockholm’s old town. The square is the oldest in Stockholm, and it’s had markets for at least 500 years. We think this is very old of course, but it’s just because cities as a phenomenon arrived pretty late in history up here in the north, a mere 1000 years ago. In comparison to ancient centers around the Mediterranean seaboard, buildings of that era are, well, recent and modern?
The Christmas market has been here every year since 1915. Since the Great Market Square has been used for markets since the earliest time of the city, one has to assume that Christmas shopping was done here too since the earliest time.
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- Stall selling ceramics
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- What about this?
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- Stall with Christmas decorations
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- Girls singing Christmas carols
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- The market in the medieval city square
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- Traditional (?) candy
Since the market is a bit cramped, I got good use of a 20mm lens. I’ve not considered this lens for street photography before, but I’ve changed my mind now.
