Slobbering and slurping Swedes

So, there were 7 of us. Three Englishmen, one Scot, one American, one Canadian and one South African. But, because we all live in Sweden, we all knew actually what to do.

You see, Sweden is usually associated with reserved behaviour and pleasant manners. However, on several occasions a year, such as tonight, this myth is busted wide open.

I am referring to a traditional get-together where where little food is actually eaten but alcohol consumption is high,where drinking songs are screeched out into the night sky and where audibly slurping and slobbering your food is considered proper etiquette. What event is this? The Swedish crayfish party.

The crayfish party is, as it sounds, a party where Swedes slurp and slobber crayfish. Now, eating crayfish is quite hard work. There isn't much meat on these crustaceans and the little blighters can be quite tricky to crack open. This small amount of food, coupled with copious amounts of beer and snaps usually leads to a rowdy and boistrous atmosphere.

Crayfish parties are generally held during August, a tradition that started because crayfish harvesting in Sweden was, for most of the 20th century, legally limited to late summer. Dining is traditionally outdoors, but in practice the party is often driven indoors by bad weather. Customary party accessories are comical paper hats, paper tablecloths, paper lanterns (often depicting the Man in the Moon), and bibs.

And believe me, those bibs are needed.....

Love kilos

The Swedish value of equality manifested itself recently in some interesting research.

Research released from Ohio State University has shown that in heterosexual marriages in the USA, women tend to put on a few kilos after marriage. Men, however, tend to put on weight after a divorce.

Apparently, this is not the case in Sweden. According to experts at Karolinska Institute, it isn't only women who increase in weight after a marriage. It is both men and women. There's equality for you!

In Swedish, these extra kilos even have a name - 'kärlekskilo' (love kilos) or 'trivselkilo' (satisfaction kilos).

So the extra weight deosn't sound that bad then does it?

No snoozin' with 'snus' in

Cultural researchers say that you can understand a culture by looking at the products of that culture. For example, the way the houses look, what kind of clothes people wear or the food they eat.

One cultural product to come out of Sweden is a substance called 'snus'. 'Snus' is brown, sticky and can cover your teeth in discoloured drool. Sound attractive? Then read on.

'Snus' is a moist tobacco powder, made in Sweden since the 19th century. 'Snusers' squeeze the moist substance into pellets or use pre-packed sachets that look like miniature teabags, placing them under their upper lip for up to an hour. In best case, you don't notice that the 'snus' is in the user's mouth. In worst case, the 'snuser' has a very swollen upper lip giving them a slightly retarded look. But where's the kick? Well, absorbed into the bloodstream through the lip, 'snus' has a softer but longer nicotine buzz than cigarettes. No snoozin' with 'snus' in.

Due to health reasons, within the EU, the sale of 'snus' is banned, which is odd since cigarettes and other forms of tobacco aren't. However, in the rest of the world, 'snus' is proving a hit, with sales booming in the US and Canada. North Americans are increasingly buying 'snus' as a way either to quit or to beat smoking bans.

Nobody knows when the use of tobacco as a stimulant started but Europeans first came into contact with it during the 1400's when Christopher Columbus landed on Haiti. The tobacco plant was quickly exported to Europe and put into products such as snuff, chewing tobacco and cigarettes.

It was believed at that time that tobacco cured cancer and syphilis.

But users of 'snus' don't have to worry about the latter. 'Snus' has a pungent smell making the user's breath very strong. The chances of catching a sexually transmitted disease are limited when nobody will even kiss you.

Swede Talk, Swede Talk

A few random notes from a blog by Nobel Prize Winner, Paul Krugman:

1. Stockholm isn’t perfect. Even in August, it can rain cats and dogs — which is why I’m still sitting in the lounge blogging over my coffee and herring.

2. More seriously, I wouldn’t want to live here — because I’m not Swedish! Culturally I’m very much an American, Northeast Corridor edition, and even the Swedes tell me that their society can feel a bit claustrophobic. Fundamentally, my home is in the real real America — the multicultural, multiracial, freewheeling society that is built around the American idea. Of course, the “patriots” of the right hate that America.

3. Of course the point is not that Sweden is perfect, it’s the fact that it works and thrives despite high taxes and a strong welfare state — which isn’t supposed to be possible according to conservative dogma.

An anecdote here: Robin and I were talking yesterday with an eminent American financial economist, and said something about tax levels here. He said, “Well, that’s why all the young people are leaving.” Except, you know, they aren’t. But never mind — that’s what’s supposed to be happening, and it must be happening.

The Swedish summer shut-down

Summertime, and the living is easy.

Swedish culture and lifestyle is very much structured around having long vacations during the summer (and preferably also in the winter). Foreign companies who work with Swedish companies are often dismayed by the 'Swedsih shutdown' from the end of June to the middle of August when everybody seems to be on holiday. To the outsider, this seems very inefficient.

Swedes love their long vactions. In fact, it is legislated that an employer has to allow an employee four weeks holiday in a row, unless something else is otherwise contracted between the parties. It's hardy surprising with the deep, cold winters, that Swedes want to make the most of the long, light and hopefully warm days. It provides an opportunity to totally relax, to stay at the country house, to go out in the boat, or to travel.

But is it effective or even good for us to be off work for so long? Well, if we are to believe some recent research, the answer is no. This research out of Holland shows that the benefits of being on holiday radically reduce after the first week. What this leads them to conclude is that there is no apparent benefit on our health to being off work for longer than 1-2 weeks at a time.

So let's see if the Swedish government considers these findings. Will we see a change in holiday legislation? My guess is that any party that wants to be re-elected will stay away from this particular hot potato.

Politics week Swedish style

Once a year, at the beginning of August, there is a politics week in Sweden. The week takes place in an open-air park called Almedalen on the Baltic island of Gotland, and attracts heavy media coverage. Every day of the week belongs to a specific party that has a seat in the parliament. Quite conveniently there are 7 parties.

The Alemdalen politics week all started 40 years ago when legendary Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme spoke publicly. It was at the end of the 60s and the Social Democrats on the island took the initiative and asked Olof Palme to make a speech in Almedalen. Palme and his family had spent their summer holidays on the neighbouring island of Fårö for many years. The stage was a lorry platform at Kruttornet and there was an audience of a few hundred people.

Now Almedalen politics week attracts thousands of participants and is intended to involve the man on the street in politics and to protect the strong Swedish value of democracy. However, the concept of democracy has never been so strongly challenged as it is this year. Right wing, national socialist party Sweden Democrats won seats in the the Swedish parliament last year. This entitles them to their day at Almedalen. Despite strong criticism and outcry, today is their day.

Although giving a free platform to racists is a difficult thing to stomach, the act strongly reflects the Swedish belief in democracy. Although we don't all agree with each other, we have to defend the right for each other to think differently. If we don't do that, what's left? What kind of a society do we have then? I am sure it would be a society that we wouldn't want to live in.

At Almedalen politics week, we meet each other in debate. And in debate and discussion, we influence each other and our environment. And it is then, and only then, we can possibly change our society.

Defining Swedish

Back in June, I participated in a citizenship ceremony. Yes, I became Swedish. But does a Swedish passport really make me a Swede? The ceremony was attended by hundreds of people from all walks of life and all parts of the world. Africans, Asians, Middle Easterns, Europeans, Americans, Australians were participating to receive their Swedish acknowledgements and to drink coffee and eat cinnamon buns. But are we Swedish? And what is a Swede anyway?

A radio program the other day was discussing this issue. They were talking about the Swedish soul. The essence that makes all Swedes Swedish. One member of the panel was disturbed. She claimed that such discussions were bordering on racist. She suggested that Swedishness needed a new definition.

What is a Swede then? Well, it's simply those who live here.