Ösmo church

Ösmo church is one of the churches decorated by Albertus Pictor in the XVth century. It was built in the XII century. It is located in Ösmo, along the old road from Stockholm to Nynähamn.

Cain is always represented by Albertus Pictor with a pointy beard and a conic hat. Cain is the farmer, raising crop and Abel the pastoralist, breeding stock. No surprise that the two did not go along well. The opposition between pastoralists and farmers have resulted in numerous conflicts, in the US, at the time of the colonisation or in Southern Soudan in the recent years.

The wheel of fortune, representing the four ages of life. This is a recurrent theme in Pictor's paintings.

The four pictures below are most interesting. The do not represent a scene from the bible, but illustrate an old legend in Scandinavian countries. The legend is about an old woman who pactises with the devil to steel milk from her neighbours by using a magic "milk-hare" that milks the cows in the vicinity and spits the milk out when back to the old woman farm.

This would just look like a funny old Scandinavian legend. However, it illustrates well the beliefs that could have contributed to the witch hunt that culminated in 1675, two centuries after these paintings, in the Torsåker trials and the beheading and burning of 71 witches (65 women and 6 men). Milking the cows was a duty of women. And whenever there was a problem with milking the cows, witchcraft from the neighbours would be suspected first!