On this page you can read about Swedes in Finland and their traditions. Click on product list in the menu to find swedish products associated to this page.
History
After the last Ice Age, about 11 000 years ago, various immigration streams from different directions entered this sparsely settled, vast northern country. The oldest traces of inhabitation what became Finland date from about 7000 B.C. Little is known about the language of the early settlers, but at the dawn of the modern era, in the middle of the twelfth century A.D., the country had a population which spoke Finnish.
At this time, an influx of colonists from central Sweden began, originating mainly in the Mälardalen area, which had become overpopulated. This immigration appears to have been entirely spontaneous, although it was certainly encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church and, later, by the Swedish Crown, both of which saw this as an opportunity to extend their influence eastwards. The Swedish immigrants settled in the Åland islands and on narrow strips along the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Bothnia, which were uninhabited at the time. This wave of largely peaceful colonization ebbed at the beginning of the 14th century. Ever since then, Finnish and Swedish speakers have lived side by side in Finland.
Would you like to know which Finnish charms appeal to which nationalities? Well, Swedes go for a romantic and exotic Finland that they find on the sea crossing aboard the luxury ferries that sail between Finland and Sweden every day of the year.
In Finland the swedish speaking population more and more pick up other Nordic holiday traditions, because they can understand each others language and watch their television and listen to their radio canals.
For
example families and friends gather to decorate the maypole with birch leaves
and wildflowers, make flower crowns for women and girls, dance around the maypole, sing
summer songs and feast on pickled herring, new potatoes, and aquavit. 
In addition, many families have their own special foods that they traditionally serve to round out the Midsummer meal. These are usually dishes that can be prepared ahead of time and easily served outdoors, such as vegetable quiche, vegetable terrine, meatballs, or prinskorv, tiny smoked sausages, often accompanied by a wedge of cheese, bread and a green salad.
Midsummer would not be Midsummer without
strawberries, preferably Swedish strawberries. The smultron, wild strawberry, is native to
Sweden but the jordgubbe, the larger cultivated strawberryó a hybrid developed 250
years ago by a Frenchman who crossed two American breedsó was not grown on a widespread
scale in Sweden until the mid-20th century. Whether served alone with sugar and whipped
cream; with vanilla ice cream; on top of a meringue; or in the form of jorbgubbstårta,
the Swedish version of strawberry shortcake, the strawberry has become the quintessential
Midsummer dessert
The Christmas smorgasbord, like all smorgasbords, begins with fish, especially herring. Herring in cream sauce, herring in dill, herring in mustard sauce, herring in sherry, herring that is first fried and then pickled. Accompanying the herring are boiled potatoes and rye crisps. Other fish dishes include smoked salmon and my favorite, gravlax, salmon cured in sugar, salt and dill. And then there is lutfisk, cod or stockfish dried and then cured in a bath of water, soda and slaked lime (calcium hydroxide), a process which breaks down all of the proteins in the fish. Served blanketed in white sauce and accompanied by boiled potatoes and peas, lutfisk is bland and gelatinousó a taste I have not yet acquired.
The centerpiece of the Julbord is the Julskinka, the Christmas ham, which takes days to prepare. Traditionally, the ham is first cured in salt. On the 23rd of December, the ham is boiled for several hours with the Christmas sausage; the ham is then left in the broth overnight in a cold place. The next morning, on December 24th, the ham is removed from the broth, dried, painted with a coating of egg and mustard, sprinkled with bread crums and baked at a high temperature for a short time. The ham emerges with a golden brown crust, a complex, aromatic flavor and firm, meaty texture.
The protein-rich feast also include leverpastej, a delicious pate made with liver and a few anchovies; köttbullar, meatballs; revbenspjäll, oven-roasted pork ribs; and Janssons Frestelse, Janssonís Temptation, a briny potato, anchovy and cream casserole; along with side dishes such as red beet salad, red cabbage, and more boiled potatoes.
Famous Swede-Finns
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studied painting and drawing in Stockholm 1930-1933, Helsinki 1934-1936 and Paris 1938 public works of art include frescoes for the City of Helsinki 1947, mural for the Kotka vocational school 1951, mural for Hamina town hall 1952, altarpiece for Teuva church 1954, mural for kindergarten in Pori 1984 Moomin books from 1945; subsequently translated into more than 30 languages Decorations: Pro Finlandia medal 1976 H.C. Andersen Medal 1966; Swedish Academy prize 1972; Topelius Prize 1978; Finnish state prize for literature 1963, 1971, 1982; Helsinki Prize 1980; honorary title of professor 1995 etc.
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born 3.4.1935 Helsinki
These introductory lines of a poem from The Love Story of the Century are eloquent proof of what it is that makes Märta Tikkanen (b. 1935) one of the most read and translated contemporary writers in the Nordic countries. In Århundradets kärlekssaga (The Love Story of the Century) and Män kan inte våldtas (Manrape), which have both been translated into about twenty languages, she lends expression to experiences common to all women of all nationalities and all times. Women's helplessness and frustration in the face of violence and oppression is, in itself, no new subject, but in these two books, Tikkanen gives the wife of an alcoholic and rape victim a voice - a voice raised in protest. |
LINUS TORVALDS
master programmer
The story of Linux is one
of the great fables of computing yet it begins as recently as 1991. That was when Linus
Torvalds, a 21-year-old student at Helsinki University, decided to write his own computer
operating system. Only a nerd would try; most folk buy their computers with the operating
system already installed. And only a master nerd would succeed
Tove Jansson
Märtha Tikkanen