Weatherwatch: How to catch the wind in a trap of stone      •
The Guardian,     • Jump to comments () viking age stone
labyrinth in Sweden. Some ancient labyrinths were made of
stones, rather than cut out of the rock. This one, in Halland,
Sweden, dates from Viking times. Photograph: Alamy  The coast of
Scandinavia is decorated with many shallow labyrinths cut into
the stone, some dating back to Viking times. They are
concentrated on the coast because sailors and fishermen made
them to control the winds. Their origin is unknown, but they
were still being built in the 19th century, with labyrinth
rituals enduring into the 20th century.  The labyrinth is
unicursal, which means it has a single winding path with no side
branches. The challenge is to walk through it without stopping,
stumbling or crossing a wall. Tradition says one has to walk the
labyrinths in Sweden's Haparanda archipelago either seven or
eleven times to calm the wind before a fishing trip. This can be
rather laborious, so sometimes the walking