Sankta Lucia and Fire Hazards Posted by Marcus Cederström on Dec 10, 2009
On December 13th, Swedes will celebrate Saint Lucia, an Italian saint and martyr from the fourth century. Santa Lucia, as both the Saint and the day are known here in Sweden, will be venerated by a stereotypically blonde Swedish girl walking around with live candles on her head. She will be followed by girls in…
Liseberg Posted by Tibor on Dec 9, 2009
The biggest amusement park (nöjespark) in the Nordic countries called Liseberg in Gothenburg. Liseberg has been a “must” (ett måste) for a lot of people during Christmas time. This park is not only for amusement, but they have a treffic theater ( en teater), a hotel and even an ice ring (en isbana) and also a several…
Swedish Christmas words, Part 1 Posted by Gabriel on Dec 8, 2009
Men dog eleven? Posted by jennie on Dec 7, 2009
In these Google Translation times, the language missunderstandings are probably more and bigger than ever. A friend experienced this when he tried to translate a restaurant meny from Swedish to English and got the not very tempting result “dandruff fish” meaning “mjäll fisk” in Swedish, as in a fish that is very tender. NOT a fish served with flakes from the…
Friday cosiness Posted by jennie on Dec 5, 2009
There is a Swedish expression that completely has taken over TV-commercials, ads, magazines and people’s Facebook statuses around 4pm on Friday afternoon. Fredagsmys. Friday cosiness. This fredagsmys pretty much sums up everthing the Swedes want in a Friday night (fredagskväll) and I will make a brave statement here and claim that today, fredagsmys is more Swedish than a night out on the town getting…
“The one who doesn’t remove the lint will die!” Posted by Tibor on Dec 4, 2009
Different cultures different food. Different countries, different way of thinking. Have you ever thought about how you can contribute to your own country’s cultural life? Well, the Swedish comedian David Batra, actually has. He had collected post-its for many years, from Swedish laundry rooms (tvättstuga) all across Sweden, which later led him publishing this fantastic…
Julbocken – Sweden’s Christmas Goat Posted by Marcus Cederström on Dec 3, 2009
I have lived in Sweden for over two years now as an adult. I speak the language fluently. I work here. I even have Swedish citizenship. That doesn’t help; I am still not used to the idea of Julbocken. The Christmas Goat. Julbocken is known in two forms. The first being the large straw version…