Tag Archives: Swedish

1. Julmust: A Crucial Part of a Swedish Christmas

Nationality: Swedish
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 04/20/18
Primary Language: Swedish
Language: English

Background information:

Julmust is very easy to find in grocery stores all around Sweden from November to January, as it is in high demand and often replaces the original Coca-Cola. At any other point of time during the year, however, it is very difficult to find as it is not Christmas season during the months outside the range of November to January. Therefore, as this drink is not always available, it makes the drink much more appealing to people because many enjoy the taste, feel that they can better celebrate Christmas with it, and feel that they will miss out if they do not drink it when it is available during the Christmas season, as they will need to wait until the next year to drink it if they choose not to drink it that Christmas.

 

Main Piece:

In Swedish Christmas traditions, food is an extremely important part of the celebration. Usually the array of Christmas foods or “julbord”, literally translated to “Christmas table”, does not vary much from family to family. The “julbord” usually always contains the Christmas ham among many other Christmas foods typically found around the world. A specific Christmas food that is significantly different from others around the world, however, is the Swedish “Julmust”. Anyone who has celebrated Christmas in Sweden knows about the importance of Julmust at the Christmas table, as a Christmas meal is not complete without Julmust. Julmust is a staple for many Swedish families, including mine, around Christmas time as it is basically a more festive version of Coca-Cola. It is seen as festive because it tastes very similar to regular Coca-Cola but also has a blend of spices mixed into the drink that give the flavor more of a holiday feeling. For this reason, many, including my family, feel that Julmust is essential to celebrating Christmas because they have the perfect Christmas drink to complement the Christmas foods at the julbord. Because I was raised with Julmust being an integral part of my Christmas celebrations, I cannot imagine Christmas without it. Julmust not only tastes good, but also is a drink that everyone in my family enjoys and therefore brings us together around the holiday season.

When we moved from Sweden to California when I was almost six years old, however, it was very difficult to find Julmust in grocery stores because American grocery stores do not know what Julmust is and therefore do not carry the drink. As a result, through searching online forums, visiting special Scandinavian grocery stores that were hours away, and going to IKEA, we were able to locate Julmust at IKEA and the Scandinavian markets and were thus able to celebrate Christmas in the United States with this drink every year thereafter.

 

Personal thoughts:

I am a huge fan of Julmust and cannot imagine my Christmas experience without it. Even though I have lived in the United States since I was almost six years old, I will never forget my Swedish roots and will continue to practice even the most trivial Swedish traditions such as drinking Julmust when celebrating Christmas.

MacGyver scavenger hunt tradition

Nationality: Swedish
Age: 74
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 04/23/18
Primary Language: Swedish
Language: English

Background information:

My grandmother was born in the suburbs of Stockholm, Sweden, and has three sisters who are roughly the same age as her. Together, they have always been best friends and have supported each other through everything. My grandmother and her sisters all have grandchildren, and us grandchildren go out to our collectively shared summerhouse in the Swedish archipelago every summer. This summerhouse was built by my grandmother’s parents and has been in the family for a while, giving it immense sentimental value. The shared summerhouse is located roughly two hours outside of Stockholm, Sweden by a boat ride and is very peaceful as it is located on an island called Södra Träskö that is completely without cars or internet connection.

 

Main piece:

Among other fantasies and games that my grandmother and her sisters created for the children visiting the summerhouse in the archipelago every summer, I vividly remember my grandmother’s creation of the MacGyver annual scavenger hunt. My grandmother and her sisters are amazing with children and therefore try to do everything to get their grandchildren to enjoy themselves when they are at the summerhouse. The MacGyver annual scavenger hunt around the summerhouse property was created by my grandmother as a way for the grandchildren to follow a scavenger hunt to ultimately attain a small toy prize in the end. She organized this scavenger hunt by placing various notes in different locations throughout the summerhouse property on the island of Södra Träskö with each note leading to the next. The final note therefore led to the small toy prize for the grandchildren, with my grandmother saying that MacGyver had created this scavenger hunt for the children which we all believed until we became older and realized that it was my grandmother all along.

 

Personal thoughts:

Ever since I was young, I looked forward to the MacGyver scavenger hunt which was held at our shared summerhouse every summer. This is a very informal event, with my grandmother organizing this for her grandchildren as well as her sister’s grandchildren. It is a very simple event but has a tremendously happy impact on the children and their feeling about the summerhouse.

Midsommar flowers under the pillow

Nationality: Swedish
Age: 74
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 04/23/18
Primary Language: Swedish
Language: English

Background information:

My grandmother was born in the suburbs of Stockholm, Sweden, and has three sisters who are roughly the same age as her. Together, they have always been best friends and have supported each other through everything. My grandmother and her sisters all have grandchildren, and us grandchildren go out to our collectively shared summerhouse in the Swedish archipelago every summer. This summerhouse was built by my grandmother’s parents and has been in the family for a while, giving it immense sentimental value. The shared summerhouse is located roughly two hours outside of Stockholm, Sweden by a boat ride and is very peaceful as it is located on an island called Södra Träskö that is completely without cars or internet connection.

 

Main piece:

My grandmother and her sisters routinely told me when I was growing up that I needed to put seven different types of flowers under my pillow on the day of Midsommar’s eve. They said that by putting seven different types of flowers under my pillow before I went to bed on Midsommar’s eve, I would have a vivid and colorful dream about my future husband. In order for the dream to be as accurate as possible, they stated that the steps in this ritual needed to be completed correctly, and therefore there needed to be seven flowers, each of a different kind, and they needed to be completely under my pillow before I fell asleep in order for this dream to project the most realistic and accurate image of my future husband. This was a ritual that had been taught to my grandmother and her sisters by their mother.

Personal thoughts:

I always thought this was a weird tradition, because I never believed that this was realistic and felt that there was no possible correlation between placing flowers under a pillow and dreaming about my future partner. My sister, who is much more of a romantic and dreamer than me, however, did this ritual every year and claimed that she got a sense of who she was going to marry. This, therefore, fueled her excitement and made her very happy for the future.

Trolls in Scandinavian Folklore

Nationality: Swedish
Age: 50
Occupation: Business Leader
Residence: Palo Alto, California
Performance Date: 04/23/18
Primary Language: Swedish
Language: English

Background information:

My dad, Anders, has been working in the realm of business since he was in his early twenties. He started working in Sweden at a tech company and then moved on to work at Hewlett-Packard when we moved to Silicon Valley in Palo Alto. Aside from his very serious and demanding job, he absolutely loves trolls and what they represent in Scandinavian culture. I grew up having numerous trolls around the house, as he loved to decorate the house with tiny statues and décor.

 

Main piece:

When discussing my dad’s love for trolls, I asked him where he developed this high regard for trolls. He said that his grandmother, who lived in a country-town in Småland, Sweden, always told him that they were safe and doing well in life because the trolls around them always had their eyes open for danger and would therefore protect them from bad things that could happen. He added onto this, saying that he had a fantastic fantasy and creative mind growing up, and felt that these trolls that his grandmother had talked to him about were like his imaginary friends and were friendly spirits who just wanted everything to go well in the world and protect those living on their land. Therefore, my dad has really enjoyed collecting little statues of trolls throughout his life because he feels that he wants to pay a tribute to everything that the trolls do to make our daily lives better and also has these trolls around the house to protect our house from danger and to boost the positive energy in the house.

 

Personal thoughts:

Because I have grown up with my dad, I learned from a young age that trolls were very friendly creatures and were there to simply spread positivity and help. Thus, I never understood why some people regarded trolls as being evil or scary, but rather saw trolls as doing what they could to make the world a better place and felt relieved to have the support of the trolls when life took wrong turns. I thought it was funny how the movie, Frozen, included trolls because the film is set to be in Scandinavia and also showed the trolls to be helpful beings who were very knowledgeable about nature and cures, just as I have imagined them as well. I was therefore glad that a movie that has been shown all around the world was able to show trolls as being positive influences in the world instead of showing them as being evil or violent, as some often regard them.

 

For a version of how trolls are portrayed in the movie, Frozen, see the information about trolls listed on the Disney Wikia page:

 

“Trolls (Frozen).” Disney Wiki, disney.wikia.com/wiki/Trolls_(Frozen).

Blåkulla

Nationality: Swedish
Age: 49 and 50
Occupation: N/A and Business Leader
Residence: Palo Alto, California
Performance Date: 04/23/18
Primary Language: Swedish
Language: English

Background information:

My mother and father introduced me to this piece of folklore when I was younger. They were both born in the suburbs of Stockholm, Sweden and have been raised in the city suburbs by parents that were all from the inner city of Stockholm.

 

Main piece:

Literally translated, “Blåkulla” means “blue hill” in Swedish. This piece of folklore is about the location of Blåkulla and witches, and how these two are in relation to one another. Blåkulla is a place in Sweden where all of the witches in Sweden supposedly meet up to celebrate the Sabbath of the witches. To get to Blåkulla, these witches traveled on broomsticks, so in order for the witches to be unable to travel to Blåkulla, people often hide their broomsticks and all of the supplies that can make broomsticks. Essentially, my parents explained that the witches travel to Blåkulla three days prior to Easter, on the Thursday, and therefore, everyone does what they can to stop the witches from going to Blåkulla on this day. In addition to hiding brooms and supplies, Swedes traditionally create fires or make loud noises outside to scare the witches and prevent them from engaging in the witches’ Sabbath at Blåkulla.

 

Personal thoughts:

My family has never been religious so my parents taught me this tradition in regards to it being just that: a tradition and not an event that was celebrated in respect to Christianity and Easter. When I was younger, I was very interested in witchcraft and thought this was a very exciting time of the year, and therefore associated Blåkulla with Easter instead of focusing on Easter in regard to Christianity.