Photos

This pacifier tree (or "nappträd" in swedish) can be found in the north outskirts of Falun. Children can be brought here to dispose of their pacifiers once and for all in a sort of ceremonial or ritual way: By hanging them from one of the branches on this birch.

I went there with my three year-old daughter and it was quite emotional to witness her final parting with the pacifier (the one with the blue elephant). The mood was reverent - almost like that of a funeral or memorial service - and really marked the passing of a threshold of sorts: One of the last remaining steps in her transformation from being a baby to becoming a child.