The Build The Lion of the North, Gustav II Adolf, is building Sweden into one of the most feared powers in Europe. In January 1625, the Swedish king signs a contract with the Dutch master shipwright Henrik Hybertsson and his business partner, Arendt de Groote. They are to build four […]
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The sagas of the Vikings Until this day I can vividly remember third grade in Sweden when we started the Vikings I was fascinated with the mythology the stories about how the world and the humans were created and the stories about the gods the Giants and all other beings […]
Background Today Sweden is looked upon as a peaceful neutral country, but it hasn’t always been that way. And today I want to talk about one of the historical events that I, as a kid was very fascinated about, and that is the Stockholm bloodbath, or as it’s also called […]
Today, I want to introduce you to some creatures from Swedish traditional folklore. Some of them are pretty harmless while others are violent and scary. So if you have young kids within hearing distance, or if you are easily scared yourself, you should proceed with caution beyond this point. Tomte […]
The king who became a pirate Today, I want to tell you the story of the king who became a pirate. This is a true story, but some of the facts can be questioned as it all took place in the late 14th century and the documentation was not that […]
Today, I want to introduce you to some famous Swedes. Some of them you might be familiar with, but I hope I will introduce you to some new names as well. This list will include both people from the present as well as from the past. When I started to […]
Being such a small country, Sweden has been the growing ground for many inventions. Some of them many of us use on a daily basis. Today I want to talk about some of these Swedish inventions, and I will divide this into five main groups; work-related, travel, medical, tech, and everyday […]
Easter in Sweden was until the 1970s observed as a religious holiday, but today it is largely secularized with a blend of Christian, folklore, and old Norse traditions. It is still an official holiday in Sweden with many people off from work on both Friday and Monday of the weekend. […]
How it started Sweden has always been at the forefront of technology and banking innovations. They introduced their first automated cash machine in July 1967. They got their first payment cards in the 1950s, digitalized bank accounts in the 1960s, and developed internet infrastructure and internet banking in the mid-90s. […]
Sweden’s Five Official Minorities In the year 2000 Sweden officially recognized five national minorities and their languages as official minority languages. Jews and Yiddish Roma and Roman Chib Sami and the Sami language Swedish Finns and Finnish Tornedalers and Meänkieli (sometimes known as Torne Valley Finnish or Tornedalsfinska Before I […]