Confirmation "a rite administered to baptized persons, in some churches as a sacrament for confirming and strengthening the recipient in the Christian faith, in others as a rite without sacramental character by which the recipient is admitted to full communion with the church."

My buddy Bear, since a year back Catholicfrom toes to hair, decided to seriously catholizize himself this year. Of course I was there, dressed up in a striped black shirt with backslicked hair. Felt strange being in a church, specially a Catholic one, and even stranger ones the public prayers and god-worshipping songs began to take place. I didn't join in on any of them, just didn't feel right (i'm not religious you see), but I stood up with the rest of the crowd and listened to the bishops & priests interesting speeches in respectful silence. It was a pretty pompous event, with lots of hatchanges, big goldenlike staffs and headsqueezing as well as a general stream of people towards the altar. I laughed a bit inside when time for the "friendly gesture" came, and everybody shook hands with everybody nearby, seeing as the government has tried to change the way people greet each other in order to halt the rapid increase in swine-flu nationally ... not that swinefly bothers me any, all the people who have died in it so far were either sick in something else or really really old. Anyhow, once the whole ceremony was over and the confirmands (rough translation from Swedish) had all exchanged the traditional confirmatory greeting with the Biship and pledged alliegence to the flag of God we all exited the room and Bears dad gave me a ride to Bears grandparents place where the afterparty was to be arranged.

We ate great, smoked salmon under a bed of majoneese and cucumber, surrounded by lemon slices, potato sallad, pasta sallad, marinated salmon, regular sallad, sour onions and a little bit of everything. For drink there was Pommac and Wine (both red and white). Four of Bears other buddies were there as well and we all sat together and spoke on the terrace for a few hours. For dessert three delicious cakes were brought fourth, and following them personal icecream slices as well. It's Swedish tradition (not Catholic) to give presents to the Confirmand, so everyone did. I brought the game Taifho (in fear that Bear might read this I will not reveal price or location of buy), which was seemingly an appriciated gift, Bears mom had played it before and gave it great praise to my upcoming content. We played it too, four players, I won. :)

One after another the guests left and after a while only I was left. We took a couple of long walks, first with Doris (dog) and then without, in the forest, in complete darkness. Youtubed half an hour, ate dinner (Quorn fillets with potatoes, sallad and olives, some strong sauce, tasted good) and then I left at about ten. My mother waited patiently at the trainstation after having seen both a cat sorrowfully meowing by its owners bicycle and a mouse run across the road before her. No Pokemon tonight.