Sweden’s ‘gentle art’ of cleaning houses before death
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In her elegant apartment in central Stockholm, 84-year-old Lena Sundgren looks at her crowded bookshelf, lit by the light from a candle.
She sighs deeply and lifts up a pile of garden books and moves them aside. “The feeling of getting rid of them is a relief,” she admits. “This death cleaning, which I do a few times a week, calms me down.”
Death cleaning, or “dostadning” in Swedish, is the name of the mill to sort in your personal belongings before your death.
The concept has gained some cult following around the world since it was coined by author Margareta Magnusson in her bestseller 2017 “The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter”.
“I think you should take care of your stuff so that no one else has to do all the work for you with all the crap you have left behind,” the author told AFP.
Sorting through a lifetime of possessions “takes you back to moments you may want to remember, and if you don’t, just throw it away,” she says.
Death cleaning differs from the messy approach to a tidy home associated with Marie Kondo, a Japanese celebrity who gained global fame and promoted the idea that people should only keep the things that give them joy.
Swedish death cleaning is intended to relieve families of the burden of sorting property after the death of a close relative.
“You can not live forever!”
Magnusson’s daughter Jane appreciates her mother’s efforts.
“I think most people who have really old parents and a hectic life would like to go through less of their parents’ things when they are away,” she says.
“I’m grateful for the enormous amount of work she’s done … and glad it’s starting to pick up speed around the world.”
Magnusson’s book has been on the New York Times bestseller list, has been translated into dozens of languages.
An American blogger who posted a video about his experience of death cleaning has received three million views online.
While Magnusson coined the term, Swedes have been death cleaners for ages.
“Forty years ago, a very old neighbor told me she was going to do death cleaning,” recalls Kristina Adolphson, an 84-year-old former actress who now also does.
“When you are dead pure … you must realize that you can not live forever!”
The Swedes’ pragmatic view of dying helps to explain the phenomenon, says Magnusson and believes that other cultures prefer to avoid the subject.
“They are afraid of death, and so are Swedes. But we talk about it.”
Only a few essential items of clothing hang in her closet, but some figures of animals and trolls are still in her living room.
“I’ve cleaned my apartment to death many times but I still have a lot of things. So it never ends.”
© 2021 AFP
