While we were researching ideas for things to make for Christmas we came across the Finnish holiday decoration called a Himmeli. We had never seen anything like it before so we decided to find out more about it and give it a go ourselves.
The word Himmeli is derived from the German and Swedish word Himmel which means “sky” or “heaven”.
Traditionally Himmelis are hung above dining tables to ensure a good crop for the coming year. It is believed that the larger the Himmeli, the larger the crop. It is made up of geometrical shapes that hang from, and within each other.
A traditional Himmeli is created out of rye straw that has been gathered from the previous harvest. For our Himmeli we decide to use drinking straws of various colours. They are easy to cut and are pretty durable.
These amazing mobiles are a symbol for the celebration of life and are believed to act as a talisman for positive energy and good fortune.
We are very happy with our finished piece. We hung it above our own feasting table for our Christmas party this week.
Here are some examples of other Himmelis.
[…] created one to hang above my dinning table at home and another larger one with my art class in EVE Estuary. This we also hung above our feasting table, at our end of year […]