North: How to Live Scandinavian

242 Pages·2017·45.75 MB·English

by  Bronte Aurell

NØRTH
How to Live Scandinavian
Brontë Aurell
Contents
WHAT IS SCANDINAVIA?
STYLE
AT THE TABLE
LIFE OUTSIDE
FAMILY LIFE
CULTURE
CELEBRATIONS
What is Scandinavia?
Scandinavia is a geographical definition, based on the Scandinavian peninsula,
and includes Sweden, Norway and Denmark – even though it’s not really on the
peninsula – but not Finland, even thought it borders Sweden and Norway.
Confused yet?
Most Scandinavians would include Finland when talking about Scandinavia,
although Finns don’t always include themselves in Scandinavia. Some do, but
not all. This sometimes causes awkward situations where nobody wants to ask so
we stare at the ground and wonder what else to talk about. Then we remember
that as long as Finland loves ice hockey, saunas and Eurovision as much as the
rest of us, then we’re all friends. Who cares what others call us? But, officially,
Finland is Nordic, not Scandinavian.
If you talk about Nordic countries (as a cultural union) and the Nordic Council
(a geo-political inter-parliamentary forum for co-operation between the Nordic
countries formed in 1952 to promote co-operation between the main Nordic
countries), then it is made up of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland,
the Faroe Islands and Greenland and the Åland Islands. Here, we’re all united
again – even if we are not near each other geographically.
Whether you call us Scandinavian or Nordic, we’re all friends and, in one way
or another, we’re united. This book is about Scandinavia, though, and focuses on
Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
Our geographical Scandinavia is made up of three very large places. Actually,
two large places (Sweden and Norway) and a teeny one (Denmark). With a
landmass more than three times the size of the whole of the UK, we are as
different culturally as we are separated lengthways – especially when you think
there are only nineteen million people to fill the space, compared to sixty-five
million in the UK. The landscape in the north of Norway bears as much
resemblance to the landscape in the southern part of Denmark as Scotland does
to Portugal; it’s an absolutely huge place.
At the end of it all, we are united by the similarities in our main languages, the
rich history of our Viking heritage, Norse mythology, all the times we have
fought, traded countries, fought again and made up, and eventually ended up as
one of the most forward-thinking, top-of-the-happiness-league-table places on
the planet. The harsh environment that we live in also unites us – in the snow, in
the darkness, in the amazing light and in green nature. We are so very different
and we are so very similar, that the delineation between nations becomes blurry.
This book is an attempt to untangle some of the smaller things that separate us
and to illustrate the big stuff that makes us so very proud to be Scandinavians.

Style
How Scandinavians see each other
From the outside looking in, other nations see the Scandinavian countries as one
big place. They don’t see Norway, Sweden and Denmark – only fjords, snow,
blonde people and meatballs – with some ABBA thrown into the mix. To the
outside world, ‘Scandinavia’ is the brand by which we define ourselves once we
leave our shores and travel out into the big world.
If you ask a Scandinavian person how they see themselves, you will –
guaranteed – never get the reply ‘Scandinavian’. Nobody in Denmark, Sweden
or Norway identifies with a collective nationality. Just because it is a
geographical definition doesn’t mean it is a national one. People in England may
well identify both as British and English, but a Dane will always be a Dane
unless the talk is of geography – in which case he can be Scandinavian. Or
Nordic, if the talk is about the Nordic union. It will never be any Scandinavian’s
first choice to identify as Scandinavian and we have a tough time trying to
understand why the outside world doesn’t understand this.
For centuries we have lived side by side and we have been through a lot
together. There have been wars, lots of wars. Times of peace and calm and times
when we traded parts of our countries to each other willy-nilly. We have, over
time, grown to have a loving relationship and deep understanding with our
neighbours. This relationship is based on trust, respect and mutual cultural
understanding – despite our massive landmass, our cultures have many
similarities (both cultural and linguistically) and, to an outsider, perhaps this is
why we are often seen as one big nation. On the other hand, despite being so
close, we are also far apart and we view each other very differently to how we
are viewed by outsiders.