Advent Calendar Dec 4: Julkalendern

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Every day, I will open a window containing a Swedish word that has something to do with Christmas and the festive season.

Today’s word is ‘Julkalendern‘ which translates as ‘Christmas Calendar’

Julkalendern is a television series broadcast on Swedish TV every day in December leading up to Christmas Eve. It is a popular and heavily-anticipated program that children and adults traditionally watch at 7.15 in the morning (or on line). Typically each episode is 15 minutes long, and every year there is a new story.

The first Julkalendern was broadcast in 1960 and was called ‘Titteliture’. In 2016, a competition was held to vote for the all-time favourite Julkalendern. It was won by a series called ‘Sune’s Christmas’ (1991) followed by ‘The Mystery at Greveholm’ (1996), ‘Time of the Trolls’ (1979) and ‘The old woman who shrunk to the size of a teaspoon’ (1967).

This year, the series is called ‘Snödrömmar’ – Snow Dreams

Advent Calendar Dec 3: Gävlebocken

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Every day, I will open a window containing a Swedish word that has something to do with the festive season.

Today’s word is ‘Gävlebocken‘ which translates as ‘The Gävle Goat’.

This strange tradition takes place in the Swedish town of Gävle. Every year, since 1966, a giant handcrafted straw goat is built up. And almost every year, it gets burned to the ground by a pyromaniac.

One year, it was even burned down before its inauguration. Consequently, the local authority have increased security and have managed to prevent the burning for the last three years.

The symbol of the goat is a traditional Christmas decoration in Sweden, called a ‘julbock’ – a Christmas goat. Usually made of straw, a goat is placed under the Christmas tree or small goats are hung from the branches. The symbol of the goat has ancestry in Scandinavia far back in Nordic mythology and, up to the 1800’s, it was the goat who brought presents during the festive season. A kind of precursor to Santa Claus.

So although the Christmas goat has endured for centuries, it remains to be seen if the Gävle goat survives until the New Year.

You can see a live feed of the goat on https://www.visitgavle.se/sv/gavlebocken

Its inauguration ceremony takes place today.

Advent Calender Dec 2 – Pepparkaka

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Every day leading up to Christmas, I will open a window containing a Swedish word that has something to do with the festive season.

Today’s word is ‘pepparkaka‘, which translates as gingerbread.

Other than glögg, nothing else is more synonymous with the Swedish festive season than pepparkaka (gingerbread).

The Swedish version of gingerbread comes in the form of thin crispy biscuits flavoured with cinnamon, cardamon, ginger and cloves. Formed in different shapes such as hearts, trees, and stars, gingerbread is eaten plain or decorated with icing. Many people buy squeezy blue cheese in a tube and squirt it onto the biscuit before consumption. Some people build gingerbread houses as part of their Christmas decorations.

Making your own pepparkaka is a cosy a Christmas tradition – here is a typical recipe. However, most people buy their gingerbread ready-made.

Pepparkaka has been associated with Christmas in Sweden since the 1800’s but was eaten much earlier than that. The first documented record of pepparkaka in Sweden is from 1335 for a royal wedding. In a recipe from the 1400’s, gingerbread included pepper, which could be why it has the name pepparkaka. But nobody is really sure.

Ever wondered why Swedish people are so nice? Well, the answer lies in an old myth – apparently the very eating of pepparkaka is what makes you nice.

Advent Calendar Dec 1 – Glögg

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Welcome to the Watching the Swedes Advent Calendar 2024

Every day before Christmas, I will open a window containing a Swedish word that has something to do with the festive season. Today’s word is the fantastic-to-say ‘glögg‘. (Pronounced ‘glugg’)

Glögg is festive Swedish mulled wine: heated wine, most commonly red, with spices. It is drunk together with almonds and raisins added in. And it is delicious!

Glögg is very popular, having been drunk in Sweden around Christmas since the 1890’s. However, the earliest record of drinking heated wine dates back to the 1500’s.

The word glögg comes from the Old Swedish word ‘glödg’, and the verb ‘glögda’ – to heat up. This, in turn, has its origins in the verb glöder (to glow).

Some make their own glögg, here is a typical recipe. Glögg can be with, or without, alcohol.

However, most Swedes buy their glögg ready-made in a bottle. In addition to the traditional flavours, each year a new flavour of the nectar is released and there’s always a debate regarding its success. This year’s glögg (2024) is called Edinburgh and is an infusion of dried fruit, cinnamon, orange, vanilla and whisky. raspberry and hops. Yummy!

Swedish Advent

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

 

It’s the first of Advent today, which is an atmospheric and almost romantic time in Sweden.

Swedes decorate their houses, apartments and windows with lights. From ceilings, illuminated stars are hung. On window ledges, electric advent candles are placed. On tables, four candles are positioned and one is lit every Sunday up until Christmas. Small candles, often red, are dotted about the home. People eat gingerbread and drink mulled wine.

Some years, there is already deepish snow at the first of Advent. But this year in Stockholm, it is unseasonably warm, so there isn’t any. Instead, it is very dark. The collective advent decoration is a definite reprieve from this darkness as light is spread into these murky places.

The word ‘advent’ comes from the Latin ‘adventus’ which means ‘arrival’ and is traditionally the start of the period where we wait for the arrival of nativity, or Christmas. Some religions also see it as waiting for the second coming of Christ. But in this secular society that is Sweden, the waiting is probably for the snow to come, the cold to hit, the water to freeze to ice and for winter to clasp its fingers firmly around us.

Swedish saying: ’morgonstund har guld i mund’

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

A saying you might hear early risers in Sweden use is ‘morgonstund har guld i mund’ which means the same as the English ‘the early bird catches the worm’. In other words, people who get up early, get a lot acheived.

It is borrowed from the German saying with the same meaning and exists in many other languages.

There is some disagreement on what the saying actually refers to. According to various sources, it translates as ’early morning has gold in its hand’ with ‘mund’ being an old word for ‘hand’. Others say that ‘mund’ refers to ‘mouth’ – making the saying ‘early morning has gold in its mouth’.

The Swedish word for ‘mouth’ is ‘mun’ and one theory is that it was changed to ‘mund’ to simply rhyme with ‘morgonstund’.

We will probably never know the actually origin. like many sayings, the real explanation is lost in the mists of time.

Swedish cinnamon bun day

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Today, Oct 4, is the day that Swedes up and down the country celebrate that most Swedish of foods – the cinnamon bun.

The cinnamon bun – kanelbulle- was invented in Sweden in the 1920’s and sold in bakeries. In the 1950’s, as ingredients, such as sugar and cinnamon, became more affordable, people started to bake them at home.

In 1999, Oct 4 was crowned as National Cinnamon Bun Day. At least 9,000,000 buns are consumed during the day.

Swedish cinnamon bun day

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Today, Oct 4, is the day that Swedes up and down the country celebrate that most Swedish of foods – the cinnamon bun.

The cinnamon bun – kanelbulle- was invented in Sweden in the 1920’s and sold in bakeries. In the 1950’s, as ingredients, such as sugar and cinnamon, became more affordable, people started to bake them at home.

In 1999, Oct 4 was crowned as National Cinnamon Bun Day. At least 9,000,000 buns are consumed during the day.

‘Pingis’ in Sweden

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Yesterday, Sweden qualified for the final in team table tennis at the Paris Olympics. This is following the unexpected silver won by Truls Möregård in table tennis singles. And table tennis fans up and down Sweden are going crazy!

Table Tennis, or Ping Pong as it is also called – a name originating from the Mandarin Ping Pang Qiu – has the nickname ‘pingis’ in Swedish. It is a very popular sport in Sweden, with the first game played in the 1890’s, and the first Swedish championship organised in 1925.

Although elite table tennis is generally dominated by the Chinese, Sweden has had some success over the years. Probably the best Swedish player through history is Jan-Ove Waldner. Known as ‘The Evergreen Tree’ in China, Waldner had an extraordinary successful and long career. He won a total of 20 Gold, 17 Silver and 9 Bronze medals in the Olympics, World and European Championships. Jörgen Persson, Kjell Johansson, Marie Svensson and Stellan Bengtsson are other successful ping pong athletes.

On a non-elite level, the game of ‘rundpingis’ is popular in Sweden. This is knock-out ping pong played in large groups where people run around the table and hit one shot each. Another popular pastime is outdoors table tennis, with many parks building tables and nets out of weather-proof iron.

So, if you feel inspired by the current Olympic successes, grab a racket and go play a round of table tennis. Who knows, maybe you’ll be the next pingis star in pingis heaven!