Posts under "Uncategorized"

The Swedish Christmas tree

Posted by jennie 2 Comments
Dec 23 2011

It’s the day before the dipping day, only one episode is left of the thrilling tv-advent calender “Tjuvarnas jul” and the countdown is down to hours, not days. Julafton awaits around the corner and today is the day when many families will bring in the mother of all Christmas decorations, the all important and wonderful Christmas tree.

The tradition with bringing in and decorating a Christmas tree can be traced back to the 18th century. Back then, the were mostly decorated with edible things, like sweets and fruits. And real candles, of course! The most imidiate fire hazard was prevented by hanging apples on the tip of the branches, this to make the branches heavier and the candles further apart. When the Christmas tree tradition spread beyond the upper class, home made decorations  from straw and paper became popular. Lots of tiny Swedish flags was also fashionable back in the days.

As we all know you can put pretty much anything you like in your Christmas tree. But in general, you will probably find the following in a Swedish Christmas tree:

Christmas tree (Julgran)
* A star to put in the top to symbolise the star of Bethlehem (Stjärna)
* Electric candles (Ljusslinga)
* Tinsel (Glitter)
* Glass baubles in any colour (Julgranskulor)

Quite often you can also find the following:
* Decorations made of straw, for exanple goats, hearts and stars
* Lollipops (Polkagrisar)
* Christmas crackers (Smällkarameller)

So what do you do then once your tree is there in its pride and glory? Well in Sweden, we dance around it. Hand in hand, like a big circle with the tree in the middle. There are certain dedicated dance-around-the-Christmas-tree-songs that you are supposed to sing while you are swinging away. To be fair, I’m not sure how many families who acctually do this on Christmas eve, but it’s certainly a tradition in nurseries and schools.

And finally, what do you do once you have gotten tired of your Christmas tree? Well, you throw it out with a big party of course. It’s tradition to throw it out on Twentieth Day Knut, that falls on January 13 and on this day you should have a party and dance around the Christmas tree for the last time before “plundering” it.

What have you got in your Christmas tree?

Julskinkan – the centerpiece of the Swedish julbord

Posted by jennie No Comments
Dec 8 2011

Warning: If you don’t like the look of meat being prepared, you should probably stop reading now!

I assume all you fellow Sweden lovers are familiar with our buffet style habit of eating. Our beloved smörgåsbord comes out at Easter, at Midsummer’s eve and most importantly – at Christmas. This time of the year, our julbord (Christmas table) is packed with köttbullar (meatballs), inlnagd sill (pickled herring), rökt och gravad lax (smoked and gravadlax), rödbetssallad (beetroot sallad), korv (sausages)… and most importantly, the ham. Julskinka. I think it’s safe to say that most of the non vegetarian julbord will have a piece of ham in the middle of the table and for most people (me!) this is definitely the most important part of the Christmas eating. It’s an ancient tradition to cook and eat ham in Sweden around Christmas and almost 7 000 tonnes are being sold every year. It’s best served with mustard, on a piece of knäckebröd (crisp bread) with a dollop of beetroot salad on the side – and this is exactly what I will stuff my face with tonight. My very own Christmas ham is calling me from the kitchen and this is how I did it:

1. A cured oncooked ham joint is left to soak in water over night to remove some of the salt from the curing. Is it just me or does this joint look like a pig’s face? Which I can assure you, it’s not…

2. Put it in a pot with carrots, a stick of celery, an onion, a few cloves and juniper berries. Cover it with water and then leave it to simmer until the internal temperature reaches 75 degrees C  (170 F). This takes about 20 minutes per 450 grams (1 lb).

3. Allow it to cool in the broth, take it out and put it in a rosting tin. Peel off the skin, leaving the fat underneath which can be scored into diamonds.  Spread the scored fat with a mix of egg and mustard and then sprinkle breadcrumbs on top of it. Put it in the oven for 20-30 minutes until the crumbs have got a nice colour.

4. Let it cool and then – eat!

PS: This is obviously just my personal take on it and in no way the “correct” way of doing it. Have you got another way – please share!

Snow in Swedish

Posted by Steve 4 Comments
Dec 7 2011

After living in Sweden for a few winters, you’ll notice that a not-so-uncommon phenomenon is: snow! Well, chances are that if you know anything about Sweden at all, you at least know that it snows a lot here. Contrary to popular believe in certain parts of the world, it only snows here during the winter and early spring (and sometimes parts of the autumn in the north). But wherever you are in Sweden, the winter is generally relatively long and can be a bit tiresome.

When it does snow, the Swedish communes are generally very good about keeping their roads safe for busses and other modes of transportation. Also, school is very rarely canceled during a heavy snow storm (although your teachers may not expect everyone to show up in such a case). Sweden is a nation (or in this reference a chunk of land with people on it) that has survived around 14,000 winters, so every year the Swedes are well-prepared!

So, for you with interest in the Swedish language, here’s now you conjugate the common-gender noun snö:

Swedish Pronunciation English equivalent
snö [´snø:] snow
snön [´snœn:] the snow

(Notice that the ‘snö’ is pronounced with a long ö and ‘snön’ is pronounced with a short ö and long n.)

And here is a conjugation table for the verb ‘to snow’, att snöa. It works [almost] just like in English!:

Swedish Pronunciation English equivalent
Det snöar. [`snø:ˌar] It is snowing. (Lit.: It snows.)
Det snöade. [`snø:ˌadɛ] It was snowing. (Lit.: It snowed.)
Det har snöat. [`snø:ˌat] It has been snowing. (Lit.: It has snowed.)
Det hade snöat. [`snø:ˌat] It had been snowing. (Lit.: It had snowed.)

(Remember that the English present/past progressive forms are non-existent in Swedish and are expressed instead with the simple present/past, etc.)

Hope this was helpful! And to those of you in Sweden for the first time this winter, good luck! ;)

The Swedish flag

Posted by Steve 5 Comments
Nov 12 2011

The Swedish flag looks like this:

For those of you who can’t see the image (for whatever reason), it’s a horizontally lying rectangle with a blue background and a yellow cross through it, with its vertical stroke panned to the left.

The Swedish flag is said to have been inspired by Dannebrogen, the Danish name for the flag of Denmark. You will notice that they look almost the same, except for their colors:

The rest of the Nordic (Norway, Finland, Iceland, Faroe Islands) flags have similar designs. The flag of England is also said to have been inspired by Dannebrogen. The Dannebrogen itself is believed by many to have been designed based on the cross emblem of the Crusades.

The colors of the Swedish flag are supposed to have come from Sweden’s Coat of Arms (riksvapnet), with a blue background of the same shade and a yellow cross through it. Here is a picture of Sweden’s Greater Coat of Arms:

These colors have become traditional for Sweden and are used on many occasions, both national and international.

The flag of Sweden is celebrated every year on Sveriges nationaldag, the national day of Sweden, otherwise known as svenska flaggans dag, the day of the Swedish flag. On this day, 6 June, you will see blue and yellow flags all over the country and especially all over the cities – even on the buses.

Hatkärlek for your hometown

Posted by Tibor 2 Comments
Nov 3 2011

Hatkärlek=Love-hate (when you both love and hate something at  the same time). Do you ever feel like leaving your hometown because you are sick of it? Think again! The Swedish singer and songwriter Maia Hirasawa means that one will always return at some point. Do you agree with the song?

She is originally from Stockholm (Sthlm) and not Gothenburg (Gbg) btw.

 

YouTube Preview Image
Back to the Top