FLAG-FLYING
The most obvious expression of national pride is flying the flag. Swedish houses are traditionally built with flagpoles! Lots of people keep the flag flying all year round. This is perfectly acceptable. Flags are also flown on birthdays and holidays.
In England, flying the English flag is (unfortunately) often seen as a mark of the extreme right. It instantly conjures images of Nazi skinheads and football hooligans.
CELEBRATION
Swedes love to celebrate and mark occasions. They celebrate something most months of the year and they always know how to make their events feel special.
Midsummer is one of the most important times of year in Sweden. It celebrates the return of the sun after the dark, cold Winter. At the Midsummer meal everyone sings traditional Swedish songs
from home-made 'song-booklets'. Children dance round the Midsummer maypole. Here it is:
What do the hoops symbolise? Umm....testes, actually. So, moving swiftly on...
During weddings Swedes love to make speeches: by the end most of the people in the room will have said something! These speeches tend to be good-natured and joyfully irreverent. I advise any Englishman invited to a Swedish wedding to willingly take part. Don't be bashful! And don't play the 'I'm-too-cool-for-school' card and politely decline whilst secretly thinking "well, we English can surely refrain from this exuberant but rather unseemly activity...". You'll just come off as a nob! And be prepared for the speeches to take a long time (sometimes 2 hours!). During 'speech-time' you'll have to keep quiet. This means you'll only be using your gob to imbibe plonk. So drink slowly else you'll get rat-arsed before the party's begun! So I hear, ahum...
AFFECTION
There's an innocent affection that Swedes have for their traditions. It's completely unaffected and unconscious. I'm always very touched to witness it. For instance, everyone likes books written by Astrid Lindgren (generations of Swedes have 'grown-up' with Astrid Lindgren and she's a central part of Swedish heritage). If you start talking to a Swede about Astrid Lindgren they often become really enthusiastic and perhaps a touch wistful. The nearest parallel the English have is Roald Dahl. I love Dahl, but I dont think he receives the same kind of veneration in England as Lindgren does here.
KNOWING WHAT IS SWEDISH
Everyone in Sweden is very clear about what is Swedish. They have a lot of national pride yet remain the most liberal and democratically-minded people I've ever met. In England 'nationalism' and 'national pride' are dirty words. Most liberally-minded people seem to think discussing national pride invokes a magic branding-iron that will burn the words 'I am a racist' onto their foreheads! Beyond this political-correctness most people just don't give a toss. National pride is often viewed as thuggish and undesirable, but more importantly, as simply irrelevant and unnecessary. I personally believe that we all need to feel a sense of belonging to something. Most people in England will get this sense of belonging elsewhere. Because, let's face it, when we look at popular English traditions what do we actually have that we can celebrate and feel a part of?
May Day is just a bank holiday and an excuse to get pissed on a Sunday: a mere shadow of the pagan Midsummar festival in Sweden. The whole world does Christmas, so nothing special there. Noone cares about Saint George's Day (only soldiers who want to get trashed). Our national day isn't even a holiday! Easter in England is a shameless chocolate egg promotion (Sweden thankfully hasn't bought into the chocolate). Only a handful of diehards will cook a roast dinner every Sunday. The Swedes believe we still take cream tea, but this is largely a tourist trade in the west country. The pub is the only cultural symbol left with any real power.
So I have a problem. I'm getting the celebration bug from these Swedes. I'd like to carry it over to England when I go back. But what the hell would I celebrate?! Should I take a day off on Saint George's Day and sit in an empty pub, munching roast dinner and chips whilst singing Jerusalem to myself? I've even started looking through my English diary for inspiration. Let's have a look at today. It's the 2nd of October. Right, got it:
Neil Kinnock elected leader of the Labour party 1983.
Yay? It's Neil Kinnock Day!? Sigh...
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