Swedish Advent

Posted on December 1, 2024December 1, 2024 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 November 30, 2024 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 October 4, 2024October 4, 2024 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 Americans and American Swedes

Posted on August 7, 2024 by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

When Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis won the Olympic Gold and broke the world record in the pole vault, he did it representing Sweden. Although he grew up in the USA, his mother is Swedish, and he has Swedish citizenship.

According to Statistics Sweden, Mondo is one of approximately 40,000 American citizens living in Sweden. Sweden and America have a long political relationship, with Sweden being the second country, after France, to officially acknowledge America’s independence in the 1700’s. Since then, the relationship has been smooth, with a couple of hiccups during the presidencies of Olof Palme and later Donald Trump. Today, the USA is Sweden’s third largest trade partner, and American-owned companies make up the largest number of foreign companies in Sweden.

Many Americans have family ties to Sweden due to the mass emigration of Swedes to the USA in 1885-1912. In fact, this is such a significant part of Sweden’s history that there is a tv program called ‘Allt för Sverige’ which helps Americans trace their Swedish Ancestry.

At the end of the 19th century 1.3 million Swedes fled famine and persecution in Sweden for a new life in the USA. This was a third of the population at the time. These Swedish Americans were mostly of Lutheran faith and settled primarily in the Mid West.

Prior to this, in 1638, the first Swedish settlers founded New Sweden, around Delaware. It only lasted 17 years before being absorbed into New Netherland and ceased to be a Swedish colony.

In 1639, Swedish settler Jonas Bronck settled a colony around the area of today’s New York. The settlement grew and flourished, and today is called The Bronx – after its original Swedish founder.

According the American Community survey, Swedish Americans and descendants make up around 2% of the US population today. Around 56,000 people still speak Swedish in their homes.

Some famous Americans of Swedish descent include: Taylor Swift, Emma Stone, Jake Gyllenhaal, Scarlet Johansson, Candice Bergen, Kirsten Dunst, Val Kilmer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Julia Roberts, Uma Thurman, Peggy Lee, Steven Soderbergh and George W Bush.

The ABC of Swedish town planning

Posted on August 4, 2024 by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

ABC is a concept in Swedish town planning, said to have been minted by Stockholm city planner Sven Markelius around 1952. ABC refers to the approach of building a suburb where modern families have easy access to work, dwelling and services, such as shops. A stands for ‘arbete’ (work), B stands for ‘bostad’ (accommodation) and C stands for ‘centrum’ (center for services and shops).

ABC city planning was introduced mid 1950’s and it expanded suburban Stockholm to the north and south. This growth was spurred on by the influx of people to the capital after the Second World War, and the severe shortage of accommodation.

In the original development plan from 1952, Markelius suggests that blocks of flats should be constructed within 450m of the centre, small houses should be built within 900m of the centre and light industry 600m from the centre. Everything should be built compactly in order to facilitate daily life for its 16000 residents. An underground system would connect the ABC suburb to the rest of the city and Stockholm’s downtown.

If you’d like to visit an ABC suburb, the two that are mostly still in tact are Vällingby to the north of Stockholm, and Farsta to the south.

Why does Sweden still need Pride?

Posted on August 1, 2024 by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

This week is Stockholm Pride. It culminates on Saturday with a huge parade. The event has gone on for over 25 years, and some people question if it is still needed or relevant.

The answer, unfortunately, is more than ever.

But we’ll come to that later.

Currently there are 73 Pride festivals in Sweden during the year. From Arctic Pride way up in the north to Malmö Pride in the south, it is possible to celebrate throughout the year.

This indicates that many Swedes seem to have embraced the concept of Pride with open arms. There is, of course, a commercial benefit but the main reason seems to be that LGBTQI+ Pride resonates well with the societal Swedish values of equality, tolerance and acceptance.

However, like everything, it has its opponents.

Sweden’s current conservative government is in power, solely with the support of a right-wing populistic party. This party has consistently attacked LGBTQI+ people and the Pride movement.

This leads to aggressive counter demonstrations, homophobic, anti-Pride propaganda and personal physical attacks. LGBTQI+ people are still regularly abused, discriminated against and attacked in Sweden. It happened to a person I know in Stockholm just last week.

And if we lift our eyes to the broader world, we see examples of LGBTQI+ rights being restricted or removed, and same sex relations being criminalized and punishable with the death penalty. Human rights are under attack all throughout Europe, USA and many other countries.

At Stockholm Pride’s opening ceremony yesterday, we heard from a lesbian who is being deported to Uganda, just because she cannot prove she is ‘lesbian enough’ to stay in Sweden with her Swedish wife. She is being returned to imprisonment and possible death. If you’d like to know more about this specific case, see the petition here: https://www.mittskifte.org/petitions/urgent-appeal-to-stop-the-deportation-of-davita-nassuna-facing-lifetime-or-death-row-in-uganda

This is one of the many reasons why Pride is still needed, not only as a celebration, but as a political manifestation of human rights.

If you’d like to know where a Pride is near you, go to http://www.svenskapride.se which collects all the Swedish events in one place.

The Swedish sandwich cake

Posted on July 29, 2024July 29, 2024 by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

You’ve probably heard of the word smorgasbord. It is a Swedish word that we borrow in English for a plentiful buffet of food. It stems from the Swedish word for sandwich – ‘smörgås’.

So while smorgasbord might be known to you, I am doubting that ’smörgåstårta’ is as familiar. The ’smörgåstårta’ translates as ‘sandwich cake’, and it is a dish served at celebratory events such as birthdays, anniversaries, weddings and even funerals. It has an almost iconic status in Sweden.

The Swedish sandwich cake is not a sweet dish. It is a cake-shaped dish built in layers of bread. Between each layer of bread is a variety of fillings, for example ham, beef, shrimps, salmon, vegetables. It is full of egg and mayonnaise and is garnished with various vegetables or herbs such as dill, caviar, cucumber and radishes. It looks like a layered cream cake and is sliced and served cold like a cake.

The smörgåstårta first was mentioned in a newspaper in 1934, and quickly grew in popularity through the decades. It easily took hold as Sweden had a tradition of eating open sandwiches, and of considering a sandwich a meal in itself. The sandwich cake became an elevated version of this and was considered to be luxurious – and it still is today. It even has its own day of celebration – 13 November is smörgåstårta’s day!

The sandwich cake has been imported from Sweden and become popular in other countries in the north – being a festive sight in Finland, Estonia and Iceland.

As you can imagine, a slice of sandwich cake is very filling. Its creamy consistency and rich ingredients make it difficult to stomach more than two servings for most people. This usually results in smörgåstårta being eaten for lunch for several days afterwards.

If you’re interested in making one, here’s a recipe in English: Swedish sandwich cake

Sweden at the Olympics

Posted on July 28, 2024 by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Yesterday, Sweden won its first medal at the Paris Olympics – a bronze in Judo.

For a relatively small country, Sweden often does quite well at the Olympics. In the 2020 Tokyo games, 9 medals were won. The most medals Sweden has ever won was in 1912 in Stockholm and 1920 in Antwerp where the athletes won a staggering 64 medals, each time. In London in 1944, a neat 44 medals were won.

Sweden is one of the 14 original countries to participate in the modern Olympics since its beginning in 1896, and has participated every time since then. The one exception is 1904 in St Louis.

The most successful Swedish summer Olympian of all time is Gert Fredriksson, a canoeist who has won 6 gold medals. In the world, the most gold medals have gone to swimmer Michael Phelps who has won a staggering 23 golds! The next best are Russian gymnast Larisa Latynina, Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi and Americans Carl Lewis and Mark Spitz, each with 9 gold medals.

From a historical country perspective, the USA has the most gold medals: a total of 1,179, according to the Olympic Foundation. Following is the now-disbanded Soviet Union, with 473 gold medals. Germany takes third, with 342 gold medals.

Great Britain, France, Italy, China, Sweden and Norway have all won more than 200 gold medals apiece, according to the Olympic Foundation.

This year in Paris, Sweden is realistically hoping to bring home 12 medals, in disciplines such as pole vault, discus, swimming, dressage, volleyball, handball, and sailing.

The judo bronze was unexpected – so let’s see what other surprises Paris might bring.

The top 5 most disgusting Swedish foods

Posted on July 27, 2024 by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Like everything, food is a very personal preference. Swedish food in general is great, I think. That said, here is my list of the 5 most revolting foods that Sweden has produced.

Messmör – Soft whey butter

Translated as soft whey butter, this disgusting sandwich topping and comes in two delightful choices: goat milk-based and cow milk-based. Whey is pressed out from cheese and then boiled until it caramlises and gets an unappetising brown colour. It looks nasty and tastes revolting.

Svartsoppa – Black soup

Black soup is a soup made of goose blood which is thickened and flavoured with stock, syrup, wine, cognac, vinegar, cloves, ginger and pepper. It is traditionally eaten with a roast goose dinner and it dates back to the Renaissance period. Historically, it was a useful source of iron.

Palt

Palt is a kind of potato dumpling stuffed with boiled pork. The dumpling is boiled in very salty water. It is normally eaten with butter and lingonberry jam and some Swedes drink milk when they eat it to help it slink down the throat.

Surströmming – fermented Baltic herring

This offensive dish consists of herring that is caught just prior to spawning and packed into a tin of brine to ferment. The fermentation starts from an enzyme in the spine of the fish, together with bacteria. Hydrogen sulphide is produced in the tin. Sounds appetizing? The salt in the brine allows the bacteria responsible for rotting to thrive. This bacteria prospers and decomposes the fish, making it sour. When the tin is opened, the contents release a strong and sometimes overwhelming odour which smells like human excrement. The dish is ordinarily eaten outdoors as the reek will fill out an entire building if eaten indoors. The fish is usually eaten on crispbread, or rolled in thin bread, with potatoes and sour cream. This way of preparing food was historically a process of preserving food in order to survive through the winter. But in modern-day Sweden, it is so unnecessary – now we have fridges!!!

Lutfisk – Sodium Hydroxide fish

Imagine your mouth full of jelly. Wobbly, quivering jelly. Now add a creamy sauce to that consistency. Slush it round in the mouth. Now add the flavour of fish! And there you have it! Lutfisk! This revolting food is a dish consisting of dried whitefish prepared with lye (deadly sodium hydroxide) and a sequence of particular treatments. The first treatment is to soak the dried stockfish in cold water for five to six days. The saturated stockfish is then soaked in cold water and lye for an additional two days. The fish swells during this soaking, and produces a jelly-like consistency. When this treatment is finished, the fish (saturated with lye) is caustic and therefore poisonous. To make the fish edible, a final treatment of yet another four to six days of soaking in cold water is needed. Eventually, the lutfisk is ready to be boiled and then served with a creamy spiced white sauce and potatoes. This has to be the most vile thing I have ever eaten, it is truly repugnant. The good news is however that Lutfisk is a Christmas dish, so it only ever gets dumped infront of you once a year! Thank Santa for small mercies!

Other food in Sweden that is definitely an acquired taste: Kalles kaviar (fish roe paste), inlagd sill (pickled herring), grisfötter i gelé (pig trotters in jelly), fiskbullar (fish quenelles in sauce), hamburger kött (horse meat), falukorv (a processed-meat sausage), långfil (fermented, coagulated milk).

Any others you can think of?

Swedish Monsters: 9) Skogsrå

Posted on July 11, 2024 by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

When I was at the open-air museum Skansen, I heard a story about trolls. This got me thinking about other mythological creatures and monsters that inhabit Sweden. And a new series was born!

Today – Skogsrå

Another Swedish creature is the Skogsrå. A forest spirit, she is often depicted as a fair-haired beautiful woman, with the skill of seduction as her most prominent weapon. Using her skills, she lures men deep into the woods, to their peril.

The Skogsrå have hollowed-out backs, concealed from view. They also have a long cow’s tail. Of course, they have to also hide this from sight if their seduction is to work. The only way for a Skogsrå to lose her tail is if she gets married inside a church, when her tail will drop off, and she’ll transform into a human.

Similar to the legend of the sea-based Sirens, these forest nymphs lure men into the woods with their beautiful singing or harp-playing. They are also hypnotic dancers. It is said that if a human male has sex with a Skogsrå, he becomes sick and dies.

There are several ways to break the spell if you become bewitched by a Skogsrå. These include burning her with an ignited log and throwing tar in her face. To protect yourself, wear your clothes inside out and, under no circumstances give her your real name. If you do you will never break the enchantment.