Category: Culture

Swedish charity

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

panini

I’ve always been under the perception, valid or not, that charity (corporate and private) is not big in Sweden. In recent years, a mass of different TV galas might have been changing this – eg, ‘Children of the World’, ‘Cancer Gala’. My impression still, however, is that charity is not something yor average Swede involves themselves so much in. One explanation for this might be the welfare state structure that exists in Sweden – we pay our taxes and the state should take care of the needy. Another explanation might be that we don’t want to accept that there is such a large need for charitable actions in a modern, developed country like Sweden. A third reason is that corporate charitable donations are not tax deductable in Sweden like they are in many other countries such as the USA.

Whatever, the reason, something happened today that really impressed me.

Normally, I love the sandwich and salad shop ‘Panini’ , I buy a lot of lattes and lunches there. Today I love them even more.

Earlier this morning, as I was buying my morning latte, I noticed a sign behind the counter. The sign read:

‘Food should be eaten, not thrown away. At the end of the day, Panini gives Everything that has not been sold to ‘Stadmissionen”s shelter for the homeless’.

This really impressed me. British sandwich chain Prêt-a-Mangér has been doing this for years, and I am so happy to see it in Sweden. Everyone’s a winner – Panini, the consumer, the receivers of the donations.

So, more of this please!!!!! Sometimes, charity does begin at home.

The Nobel Death Prize

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

image

We are currently in the times of  Nobel prize announcements. Pakistani schoolgirl Malala did not win the peace prize but she has left an indelible mark on our collective memories. She will certainly be remembered. 

But why is there a peace prize in the first place? Well the story goes like this. Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, woke up one day to his own obituary in the newspaper. Mistakenly, the paper had declared him dead, when in fact it was his brother. As a title for the obituary, the newspaper had written a rather unflattering ‘the angel of death is dead’ and that Alfred Nobel had made it possible to kill more people than anyone who had ever lived. 

Suddenly he understood this is how he would be remembered and, to change it, he founded the Nobel Prizes. Now his name is synonymous with science, literature and peace.

It makes for an interesting reflection. If we could read our own obituary, would we be proud of what we read? Would we also change our behaviours to influence the memory of us and, if so, why not do it now?

Death by music – Swedish style

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Eurovision_Song_Contest_2013_official

This Saturday it starts – death by music.

Every Saturday for the next 6 weeks Swedish television is broadcasting the Swedish ‘Melodifestival’ – in which citizens choose the winning song to represent the country at the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC). Every Saturday for 90 minutes we listen to 8 songs, eventually narrowed down to a winner in the grande finale. Already, newspapers are abuzz with this event. And this year, even more so, since Sweden won the competition last year and is also hosting the ESC this year. The Melodifestival and the ESC are big news in Sweden. Probably due to the legacy of ABBA, the ESC is seen as a springboard to a fruitful and prosperous artistic career. The gateway to fame and fortune. This is quite unlike many other countries in Europe, not least the UK, where participation in the ESC is seen as a the final nail in the coffin of a dying career.

A couple of days ago, the celebrity host of ESC was announced – a controversial stand-up comedienne called Petra Mede. The nation was divided (at least those who cared). Newspapers wondered why a couple wasn’t chosen – why a woman was chosen to lead the event on her own! How would she manage without a man! What’s more, she’s pregnant! How is she going to be able to focus on the job when she has a new born baby at home?! Organisors of ESC responded to these comments quickly and categorically. Petra Mede is a very competent host, her baby will be looked after by its father and the reason we are not having a couple is to keep costs down. This is also the reason that the event will be held in a smaller concert venue than could have been possible. The organisors referred to the extreme cost of the latest final in Baku, and the fact that Portugal and Greece will not be participating this year due to financial constraints. Sweden should lead they way, they said, and take the whole competition down to a more affordable level so as not to exclude less wealthy countries.

Now, excuse me, but how is 4 televised Melodifestival competition heats in different Swedish towns, a fifth televised opportunity to qualify, a final televised Melodifestival competition in Stockholm, two televised ESC semi finals and one huge broadcasted ESC final in Malmö keeping the costs down???

Like I said, death by music.

Swedish dinners

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

food

Food is in the highest degree cultural. Our memories of childhood and our upbringing are often connected to food. What we eat, how we cook it, when we eat it and who with and the rituals around the consumption of food are all cultural. What generations pass down through generations – recipes, stories, table manners, traditions – all of them cultural.

Often when we travel or live abroad many of the strongest and lasting memories we have are connected to cuisine. That sloppy stew we ate at Clara’s Place in Soweto, or that fresh tuna that we devoured in Bodega Bay, the vegetarian street food from Penang and the spicy mango salad in Bangkok are often what we think of when we recall the visit to that particular country.

I am fascinated by rituals around food, and I have had a couple of recent experiences in Sweden connected to this. At the weekend, I was going out for dinner in Stockholm with a large party of about 60 people. The non-Swedish owner of the restaurant had declared that everybody should pay their dinner on arrival. The result of this was a mood-testing long queue partly in the restaurant and partly out into the snowy and windy winter street. Each person waited patiently to pay at the counter, some in cash and some with card, and bought a drink before sitting down. The process was insufferable and took the best part of an hour until everyone was seated and the food could be delivered. I know that Swedes typically prefer queuing, just like us Brits, but this was ridiculous and not the best start to what was later a pleasant evening.

Another food ritual is happening this evening in the City Hall in Sweden. Today is the anniversary day of Albert Nobel’s death in 1896 and for over 100 years has been the day of the Nobel banquet when the Nobel winners receive their prizes from the King and then sit through a 5-hour long banquet. This is an evening full of ritual, of glamour, intelligence, royalty and gossip. The whole thing is televised and many Swedes sit infront of the television to watch it, me included. To watch people eating for 5 hours. It is rather a strange and idiosynchratic cultural event. I am not aware of any other country in the world that has this kind of culinary celebration.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go back to my potato crisps.

Always wear gloves to wipe tears

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

It has been a while since I blogged about Swedish culture. I guess I needed a break. I have seen many blogworthy things during the last months but chose not to comment, until now.

On Swedish TV, a new drama is being broadcast which is causing a lot of reaction in social media and in the press. Author Jonas Gardell has decided to tell the story of the AIDS era in 1980’s Sweden. This is a story that has never been told – and it is  high time.

Although it may seem like a long time ago, the so-called AIDS crisis was only 25-30 years ago. A short time in the history of humanity. And Jonas Gardell’s story portrays a cold and uncaring Sweden, a country where Hiv patients were treated with disrespect and utter disgust, nursed by people in rubber gloves and face masks and then disposed of. Where it was acceptable to call gay men revolting, say that they spread AIDS, that they were a threat to society, that they should be incarcerated against their will, that they deserved to die. This was only 25 years ago. This opens a gaping wound in a Swedish society that prides, and markets, itself on equality and human rights. Where were these for gay men 25 years ago?

Of course, Sweden wasn’t alone in this. In the UK and the USA and many other countries the attitides were the same and in many parts of the world, such as our neighbouring Baltic countries. this is still a reality today. In Sweden, it is something that belongs to the past, thankfully, although the stigma of Hiv still weighs heavily in society.

AIDS decimated a whole generation, my generation.  Jonas Gardell’s drama has brought back a lot of terrible memories for me. These ghosts from my past are welcome in my life however. And I thank Jonas Gardell for that. But as I watch the programme, I am reminded of something that Astonomer Carl Sagan once said ‘you have to know the past to understand the present’ and I wonder how the younger generations of gay people see this story. Do they relate to it? Can they relate to it? Do they see this as part of their heritage, their cultural identity? Or is it a case of having to be there…

Our stories have been consciously erased from the history books by people in power. We have been made invisible.

But now our story is being told. And it steps out into the cold light of day to be seen and known by everyone.

http://www.svt.se/torka-aldrig-tarar-utan-handskar/

You can’t believe everything you read

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes


Scanning the internet, I discovered the following description of Sweden. Talk about the internet being a great way to spread false information! You can’t believe everything you read!

‘Sweden is the homeland of the great Moose and the majority of Swedes are dependent on it for their survival. Don’t go to Sweden for business purposes in September. It is most likely that the firm you’ll supposed to visit is closed down because of flu which is a swedish nickname for Moosehunt.

The yearly moosehunt, this is Sweden remember, is a folk feast heavily regulated by govermental legislation. Each county, every village, down to the very individual landowner gets a statistically based yearly quota on how many moose they have the right to shoot. For the average landowner this counts down to 0.0342 moose. Now how do you shoot 0.0342 moose? The best way is to team up with other hunting neighbors until you reach score one and then hump off to the woods with walkie-talkies and hope that you not shot each other or even worse – more than one moose, a catastrophy that could prevent your hunting rights for decades.

Swedish hunters always use the latest weaponry when hunting. However after an incident in 1912 when a tactical nuke accidentally killed some polish lingonberry-pickers, hunters were banned from using anything more destructive than paper airplanes. The ban was lifted 19 years later after country-clown Markoolio had been successfully assassinated with a flame thrower.

Now direct hunting is not the most important way to survive on the Swedish moose. More profitable is either to sell hunting rights to germans or moose related souvenirs to everyone else. The Swedish Moose Souvenir Industry is surpassed in the field of cheap mass produced gizmos only by toy production in Taiwan and lately the Wal-Mart’s Republic of China.

Even if the demand for Swedish moose puppets has rocketed on world market, business analyst believe that the sign of the future is export of the Moose warning traffic signs.

Moose manure paper is a huge profitable industry. Recently the paper quality has been good enough for printing dollars on, something that greatly has improved Swedens trade balance with the US.

Another successful product related to moose is the popular drink Tomtebloss, served at all nightclubs concerned of their reputation. The ingredients are: 1/3 home made booze 1/3 blueberry juice 1/3 lobster broth and a dash of Moose piss. This drink usually occurs together with Surströmming.’

Are you an Extreme Swede?

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes


We’re participating in a trade show called ‘Personalmässan’ today and tomorrow. After Day 1, it’s looking promising. The theme that we have is ‘Are you an Extreme Swede?’. We held a lecture on the subject which was well-visited and popular and we also have a quiz card with 4 simple questions to help people analyse if they are an extreme Swede.

So the question is…..are you an Extreme Swede?

Here are the questions, answer ‘yes’, ‘maybe’ or ‘no’:

1. It is ok to call the boss by his/her first name
2. I have the right to give my opinion on matters that affect me
3. Religion should always be considered in government decisions and policies
4. I am irritated if people are late without letting me know

If you answered 1. Yes, 2. Yes, 3. No, 4. Yes – then you are, according to research and Extreme Swede!

Congratulations!

Swedish legends by the motorway

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Sweden is a country full of myths and legends. Like other rural countries, many of these myths and legends are based around the dark woods, or rugged hilltops or deep lakes. These legends are passed on verbally down through the generations, and some are considered so important that the region builds a statue or another kind of monument in its honour.

One such statue, built in 1969, can be seen from the motorway just outside of Jönköping, in the town of Huskvarna. At this point, the motorway separates the town from the vast lake Vättern. On the town side, on the grass verge, a giant is standing. This giant is clutching a clump of grass in his arms and gazing beyond the motorway to the other side of the lake.

Of all the people who have driven past this place, I wonder how many have seen this giant? And I wonder how many know of the legend surrounding him?

The giant’s name is Vist. And the story goes like this. Long ago in the area of lake Vättern lived the giant Vist and his wife. Every day, they would wander around the lake looking for food. It wasn’t unusual that on their walks, they would end up on the opossite side of the lake from their home. But this wasn’t a problem for Vist. With one giant step, he could stride across the lake and be home in no time. His wife, however, who had smaller steps than him, couldn’t manage this and had to walk back home around the shore’s edge.

One day, Vist was at home and his wife was wandering the countryside. She ended up on the opposite side of the huge lake. Hungry and weary, she realised she was too tired to walk all the way home so she shouted out to Vist across the lake. She told him to grap a clump of earth and throw it into the lake so she could use it as a stepping stone to get home quicker. Vist grabbed the earth and threw it into the lake and his wife came home.

We know this story to be true because the piece of earth remains today in Lake Vättern in the form of an island. The island of Visingsö – Vis’s island.

An announcement that shook Sweden

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Recently, the winners of the Nobel prize for Literature was officially announced. This sombre occassion is avidly followed by the media from around the world. Who will win? A Swede? A European? The favourite….?

Yesterday, another announcement was made in Swedish media. Not quite of the same calibre as the Nobel prize for Literature, and not as interesting for international media, but none-the-less it was an announcement that created a lot of reaction in many Swedish households.

Who will lead 2012’s Melodifestivalen? Who will indeed be the host for the Swedish version of the Eurovision Song Contest qualifiers?

Late yesterday, the announcement came. Film actress Helena Bergström, singer Sarah Dawn Finer and blogger Ana Gina were the ‘lucky’ winners. Not many people reacted to Sarah Dawn or Ana, but the choice of Helena Bergström caused a storm on websites, in coffee rooms and on social media networks.

According to one net survey, 32% were angry at the choice of Helena Bergström. Others wrote acidic comments such as ‘She’s just going to cry all the time’, ‘she has no business being there’ and ‘she’s probably going to get her tits out like she always does.’

Think how powerful it would be if people could channel all this energy into something meaningful and positive instead of focusing on who hosts a music competition to select a bad Swedish song that never wins the international competition anyway?