Imagine that throughout your life you have accumulated furniture, objects, stamps, magazines, books, brochures, toys and whatever else comes to mind. Or most likely, in your family there is someone who does. Perhaps that person is older, and year after year he accumulates more meaningless things that he does not need.
Well, in Sweden there is a practice called «the swedish cleaning of death» either dostadningwhich is that, from time to time, people who reach a certain mature age must get rid of everything they have accumulated and that really is of no use to them, so that after their death they do not leave that burden behind. children.
Sound crude? It is. But he thinks of the farewells of grandparents or parents in which, in addition to dealing with the terrible grief, he has to clean, order, take out and throw away his belongings.
Personally, I remember my grandfather, an old comic book writer who used to collect hundreds of old magazines, empty cigarette boxes, books, Beta movies, stadium cups and toys that were so dusty they were hard to distinguish… Later, my grandmother was another case exactly the same.
When my grandfather passed away, my mother not only had to deal with his absence and a sudden goodbye, but with having to clean his room (which consisted of two divisions) as well as the studio she built on the roof, and had to face the fact that he threw away things that might have been very important to his father. But that she would never know.
It could even be said that the Swedish cleansing of death is a pious act by parents towards their children, because in this way they prevent them from getting rid of everything that their parents treasured for years, when many of these things are authentic. trash.
Of course this does not refer to everything that can keep pleasant memories, such as photographs, letters or even some stuffed animals. It is about everything that they bought just to buy, that they kept because they would use it later even though they never did, or even, as my grandmother used to say: «I keep the wrapper for these chocolates because it is beautiful and one day it will be useful to me.»
A woman named Margareta Magnusson, who is between the ages of 80 and 100, wrote a book titled The Swedish art of tidying up before you die. In the book he shares that he has moved house 17 times in his life, so he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to deciding what to keep and what to throw away.
Magnusson says the first secret to effective death cleansing is to always talk about it. Talking about it as a family can help everyone take responsibility for what they have to order or do.
The second key point is not to fear the cleansing of death:
«Death cleansing is not the story of death and how it will inevitably come, but rather the story of life, your life, the good memories and the bad,» says Magnusson.
Although for some people it will be extremely difficult and uncomfortable to accept it, since obviously there are also cases of older people who, when proposing this idea, will think that you are doing it in a bad way or because you long for their departure. So the ideal will be to go little by little and make them understand that this cleaning is for the common good.
Finally, Magnusson encourages people who are engaged in cleansing death in Sweden to reward their efforts with life-enhancing pleasures and activities, such as going to a movie, spending time in the garden, or eating a nice meal.
Who can resist a philosophy by the name of «Swedish death cleansing»? You could try telling your friends that you did a Swedish death cleanse during isolation, so you were busy, and discover their hilarious reaction.