THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 2018
The System Corporation
It’s
amazing that I have lived in Sweden for almost seven years without
writing about the curious phenomenon known as System Bolaget, or The
System Corporation. This topic is a staple of living-in-Sweden blogs,
and I guess that I’ve been waiting for a new angle before I cover the
subject myself. I don’t know that I have found such a fresh
perspective, but here’s my perspective:
System
Bolaget is the state-owned beer, wine, and liquor monopoly. While you
can buy “folk” beer with a very low alcohol content in the grocery
store, you can only obtain buzz-inducing beverages from Systemet. The
oddest manifestation of this phenomenon is that while you can go to a
brewery or cidery to taste their creations, you cannot buy their goods
to take home with you. Instead, you are directed to the nearest
Systemet in order to purchase the beverage that you just tried.
Strict
regulation of alcohol has a long history in Sweden, dating back at
least as far back as the Renaissance. In more recent history, Sweden
had a particularly strong sobriety movement, and in 1922, a general
prohibition was up for referendum vote. Prohibition was close, but
never came to pass as 51% voted against prohibition (but an unbelievable
49% voted for it!).
Alcohol
was in short supply during World War I, so it was rationed beginning in
1917. As a nod to the various sobriety societies, who had, after all,
strong support among the population, rationing was not repealed when
alcohol became more plentiful again. Alcohol was rationed all the way
until 1955!
Until
1955, the various local governments had created and maintained local
alcohol monopolies. When alcohol rationing was finally repealed, a
state monopoly was created to replace the various local entities. The
main argument for a state monopoly has always been the population’s
health and welfare. By keeping alcohol out of the free market, no one
was incentivized to sell more alcohol.
Indeed,
System Bolaget doesn’t exactly make it easy to buy alcohol. Locations
are somewhat limited, and opening hours are extremely limited. On
weekdays, Systemet closes at 7 p.m., and on Saturdays, it closes at 3
p.m. Systemet does not open at all on Sundays, meaning that you have to
plan well in advance if you plan to party hard over the weekend.
I
have to say, it does make you feel like a wino when you find yourself
getting off the couch and getting dressed at 2 p.m. on a Saturday
afternoon specifically to get to the liquor store before it closes.
System
Bolaget has even consciously marketed alcohol consumers away from more
the traditional vodka and toward “foreign” wines in an effort to lower
alcohol consumption. It worked! In 1955, wine consumption in Sweden
was pretty close to zero. After fifteen years of intense advertising,
wine sales surpassed liquor sales. Here are some sample ads:
“Offer modern – and with WINE instead of snaps”
“Wine – Cheaper, tastier, better than liquor”
“Offer
this so easily – tips for how one can create a festive, little
different dinner party for four, with entrée, desert, and wine for the
same price as you would pay just for liquor”
“Choose WINE – tastier, cheaper, nicer”
“’NO, I have stopped buying snaps...’ - Switch to wine”
(Images and liquor/wine advertising info from a local newspaper, Mitt i Solna, 19 maj 2015)
Each
System Bolaget has a different selection of wines, beers, and liquors,
tailored to its specific location and demographic. Fancier, more
expensive wines can only be found in the ritzier parts of town while
cheap, headache-inducing wines are more likely to be found in the
slummier districts. However, you can order anything in the standard
range for pickup at any store. In order to circumvent anti-monopoly
laws, you can even order anything in the world that’s not in the
standard assortment, but I’m assuming that it would be expensive.
Unlike
all of the other living-in-Sweden bloggers out there, I have to admit
that I don’t hate the idea of System Bolaget. I like that the liquor
stores are well lit, clean, spacious, and well organized. When I step
into a liquor store in Sweden, I don’t feel like I have to make it
snappy because the place is likely to get held up at gunpoint at any
moment. The staff is extremely knowledgeable and helpful and even the
check-out folks have extensive training (and even college degrees!) in
pairing. Every suggestion that I have received has been spot-on.
It
took me a while to realize that the top shelf/bottom shelf concept
doesn’t apply here. Wines are arranged first by country, then by grape,
and then by price, so a really good and expensive wine can end up on
the bottom shelf and cheap wines can end up on the top shelf.
Since
the 1990’s, everything from public schools to public health care and
from long distance rail roads to city buses and from public housing to
pharmacies have been privatized in Sweden. That is, private, for-profit
companies are contracted with public tax money to provide services
ranging from health care to public transportation. (The topic of
privatization in general is probably due its own post!)
A
movement to privatize the alcohol industry, however, has never really
gained momentum in Sweden—the alcohol monopoly is far too profitable for
the state to let go of such a steady income source. The argument, of
course, isn’t about money, but about public health. But if that’s the
case, why is it possible to buy cigarettes in every corner store as well
as at the grocery store? Why isn’t there a national monopoly on
tobacco? Or on saturated fats?
MONDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2017
A Swedish-American Christmas at Home |
| Candles, nuts, and wreaths! |
I
mention it every year, but the Christmas season is a very necessary
antidote to dark, dreary, grey, and rainy late-fall weather. We’ve
actually had a few snowfalls already this year, but nothing has stuck
longer than a day. Admittedly there have been a few sunny moments since
mid-November, but the pre-winter weather has for the most part been its
usual wet and bleak self for the last month or so.
 |
| Our guest bed, which is waiting to be built into a closet, is decorated with American Christmas stockings and little Swedish Christmas gnomes are sprinkled throughout our apartment. |
The
dismal weather in combination with extremely short days (it’s still
dark when I get to work, and it’s already dark by the time I drink my
afternoon cup of coffee) and the usual pre-Christmas deadline rush at
work is really quite depressing.
 |
| Red red apples in the kitchen and left-over boughs on the bedroom dresser. |
So
thank goodness for Christmas! Cheery music, beautiful lights, jovial
decorations, and the joy of Christmas vacation being right around the
corner is a much-needed pick-me-up at this time of year.
 |
| Tree and traditional Swedish Christmas goats made of straw. |
I’m
not usually one for nick-knacks but when it comes to Christmas, I love
decorations. We do restrain ourselves from going all-out tacky, but
when it comes to candles, I am truly a believer that more is better.
 |
| Traditional Swedish candles by our French balcony and reading chairs, and Mexican straw reindeer with amaryllis in the dining room window. |
We
bought a Christmas tree the first weekend of December. Since Swedes
tend to decorate for Christmas much later than Americans, many of the
neighborhood tree lots weren’t going yet, but our nearest tree lot was
setting up when we walked by.
We
asked if we could go ahead and buy a tree despite the fact that they
weren’t officially open, and for cash they were willing to please.
 |
| Traditional Swedish candles and Swedish-American tree! |
We
decorated our apartment and the tree immediately after bringing it
home, and we’ve been enjoying the coziness of Christmas all month long.
It doesn’t get much cozier than watching a show, eating dinner, and
reading by Christmas tree lights and the light of about 20 candles!
 |
| Amaryllis in the kitchen, traditional Swedish Christmas candles by the shower. |
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2017
Sweden is Expensive Part VII
I
bought one halogen light bulb at the hardware store today, and it cost
90 kr or nearly $11. Maybe if it had been a fancy LED light bulb I
could understand $11, but this particular light bulb is a relatively
low-tech affair. Ouch.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2017
Forn Fall
As
usual, Carl and I have spent several weekends this fall investigating
various prehistoric (forn, in Swedish) sites in the greater Stockholm
area. These day trips have been combined with mushroom picking—after a
very dry winter, spring, and summer, Carl was relieved when it finally
started to rain in early autumn and we picked kilos and kilos of
mushrooms throughout the fall.
My
mom visited us early in the season and we visited Gamla (“Old”)
Uppsala, a site with three huge grave mounds (plus hundreds of smaller
mounds) from around 500 A.D. The area was a religious cult center with a
very important temple that figures prominently in the region’s
pre-Christian lore.
 |
| The three "King's Mounds" at Gamla Uppsala |
One of the explanatory signs in the archeological museum gives an excellent summary of the site in relation to world events:
“The big world events affected Scandinavia. A new type of rule was formed. The Kings’ Mounds are a visible result.
It
began with battles at China’s border. The Chinese Wall kept out the
Mongol tribes who instead expanded to the west. Europe was invaded by
these Huns. The German tribal diaspora began, changing the world. At
the end of the 5th century A.D. the Western Roman Empire fell. Europe
was now ruled by a powerful German elite.
The
leading families of Scandinavia took after the German example. Warrior
and religious ideals became the new trends in Scandinavia. The
Scandinavian society became more hierarchical.
A
time of power struggles between the powerful families began. The
winners built up areas of influence and were tied to specific areas. To
assert their newly won power they had the large, stately mounds built.”
Gamla
Uppsala was the seat of one of Scandinavia’s most powerful and
influential dynasties, the Ynglingaätten. Many of Sweden’s early kings
were from this family.
 |
| Lots of large burial mounds at Gamla Uppsala. |
Just
like in Mesoamerica where the Catholic church attempted to erase pagan
religion by literally building on top of pagan temple pyramids, the
pagan temple at Gamla Uppsala was destroyed by early Christian
missionaries and a church was built on the site in the 1000’s. This
would have been one of the earliest churches in the region, and it even
became the first archbishopric in Sweden in 1164. The original stone
church was twice as large as the current church; it was diminished when
the archbishopric moved a few kilometers south to Uppsala a century
later.
 |
| Church at Gamla Uppsala. |
Even
pagan rune stones were “subjugated” at Gamla Uppsala. This rune stone
was removed from the earth, broken into the correct shape, and used as
the church’s altar table until it was eventually moved to reinforce the
exterior masonry.
Later
in the afternoon we drove about three kilometers upstream to Valsgärde,
a site with lots of burial mounds clustered on a single low hill rising
out of the agrarian landscape. The site is best known for its fifteen
boat burials, where prominent people were placed in boats with a range
of rich grave goods including textiles, bows and arrows, swords and
shields, helmets, gilded bridles, glass goblets, dice and playing
pieces, wooden tool boxes with tools, and kitchen implements. Even
horses, dogs, pigs, cows, and goats were placed in the boat with their
master. The entire thirty-foot long boat was then buried in the
ground. At some of these sites, only women were buried, but at
Valsgärde, only men were buried. Regardless of sex, only one person per
generation was honored with a boat burial. While we did pick a number
of mushrooms at Valsgärde, we didn’t take any photos.
 |
| Approach to Valsgärde and the parallel rows of boat burials. |
A
few weekends later we took the commuter train and a bus up to Gåsborg, a
prehistoric hilltop fortress on Lake Mälaren’s shore. The fortress
hasn’t been excavated, but it was probably built somewhere between 500
and 1050 A.D. This fortress was one of a series of hilltop fortresses
built overlooking the sea route between the Baltic and Gamla Uppsala.
In an unsettled time of tribal skirmishes and piracy, these hilltop
fortresses were an important warning system protecting the seat of the
Ynglinga dynasty and cult temple.
 |
| Views from Gåsborg fornborg. |
Carl
and I have visited a lot of hilltop fortresses in the region, but
Gåsborg is one of the most impressive. Its double ring of stone walls
is still easily discernible today. The impressively high stone walls
were probably topped by a wooden palisade.
 |
| Crossing through the outer wall, and standing atop the inner wall looking down toward the outer wall and the water beyond. |
The interior of the fortress uses a natural depression in the granite outcropping for further protection.
 |
| The natural depression in the middle of Gåsborg hilltop fortress. |
On
our walk to and from the fortress, we collected several kilos of
mushrooms. In addition to the usual suspects we picked two new (to me)
varieties, blodriska or saffron milk caps and brunsopp or bay boletes. That evening we of course enjoyed delicious fried mushroom sandwiches.
 |
| blodriska or saffron milk caps and brunsopp or bay boletes |
In my post “Celebrating Fall on Gotland” I have already described a weekend filled with prehistoric sightseeing and mushroom picking. Walking atop Torsburgen’s wall
and picking Trattkantareller or Funnel Chanterelles in the center of the hilltop fortress were highlights of our autumn.
 |
| Trattkantareller or Funnel Chanterelles |
An
October weekend in the city found us at the park on Långholmen where
the autumn foliage was magnificent. No mushrooms or prehistoric sites,
though!
 |
| Foliage on Långholmen |
In
mid-October, we were on the way to another hilltop fortress but we
missed the bus which only goes once every few hours. Instead of waiting
for the next bus, we took a hike through nearby Gömmaren Nature
Reserve. It was a nice hike with some good fall foliage, but Gömmaren
isn’t going to be our new favorite nature reserve. Not only is it
lacking in prehistoric sites, but the forest is very young. The
ecosystem hasn’t recovered after centuries of logging so there were very
few mushrooms to be found.
 |
| Foliage at Gömmaren Nature Reserve |
Early November found us on Svartlöga with Carl’s aunt, see my post “Island Weekend.” Svartlöga has popped out of the sea too late for any prehistoric sites, but we sure did gather a lot of mushrooms!
 |
| Svartlöga |
We
finally did make it to the hilltop fortress at Männö in Bornsjön Nature
Reserve that we had been aiming for the weekend we ended up at
Gömmaren. While Männö was historically an island, today there is no
open water separating it from the mainland, just a swampy strip of
lowland. Luckily, there is a kilometer long bog bridge crossing the
swampy stretch.
 |
| Bog bridging on the way to Männö hilltop fortress. |
Männö’s
hilltop fortress is surrounded on three sides by extremely tall and
steep cliffs. The fourth side was protected by a stone wall. While the
better preserved fortresses have easily identifiable stone walls, they
tend to be collapsed, but at Männö, you can still see a bit of the
original stacked structure of the stonework. The remains of several
buildings inside the fortress have been excavated, but we couldn’t tell
where they were. We did, however, correctly identify an ancient
waterhole that was dug inside the fortress in prehistoric times to store
water.
 |
| Männö fornborg's wall from the top, and a section of still-stacked stone. |
As
it was November and well after the first frost, we were surprised to
find that there were still a good number of un-frost-damaged mushrooms
to be found. We filled a backpack with more Trattkantareller or
Funnel Chanterelles. Picking the mushrooms was cold business as it was
just around freezing and the mushrooms were wet, but it the picking is
too delicate work for gloves.
There’s
no view today from the top of the fortress, but we did go down to the
water’s edge for a chocolate snack. On the way back to the bus, we
trudged through a beautiful, not too wet bog.
 |
| Männö |
Männö was our last hike of the year, and now we’re hoping for a cold, snowy winter!
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 07, 2017
Winter Tires
On
my run home from work today I noticed that many of the cars passing me
had winter tires. It’s really easy to identify a car with winter tires
because the tires make a lot more noise against the pavement than
regular tires. Hearing winter tires in Stockholm is a sure sign that
winter is on its way.
Winter tires are not a choice in Sweden. Every vehicle out on the road is required
by law to have winter tires or studded tires from the first of December
to the 31st of March. Any snowy conditions earlier than December 1st
or later than March 31st also require winter tires by law.
Interestingly, winter tires are prohibited
by law from April 15th to the first of October. Reasons for this are
two-fold: to save gas and to save wear and tear on the roads. Since
winter tires make cars more inefficient and tear up the roads,
prohibiting their use during the summer months is both environmentally
friendly and beneficial for the roadworks budget.
Last year, there was an un-forecasted winter storm early in November (see my post Stockholm’s Best November Ever).
The entire city was in chaos, and not only because the snow plow corps
was caught unawares. Because the storm hit almost a month before the
required winter tire date at the beginning of December, very few cars or
taxis were legally allowed on the roads. Even the buses were out of
commission. It seems that this year, more people are being on the
cautious side and changing their tires early.
Changing
between winter and regular tires twice a year creates quite the
business opportunity. Since apartments are so tight and storage space
so minimal in Stockholm, many people rent space at specialized tire
storage facilities called, I’m not kidding, Tire Hotels. Yearly storage
of 4 tires costs in the neighborhood of $200, and you have to call
ahead when you want to retrieve your tires because they are likely to be
stored way in the back out of reach.
It’s
illegal to do car maintenance in street parking, and most parking
garages also prohibit maintenance activities in their parking space
rental contracts. Thus, most Stockholmers are forced to take their car
to the shop to have the tires changed—an expensive affair at about
$200. So in addition to high car taxes, sky-high parking rates, high
insurance rates, and bank-breaking gas prices, car owners also spend
about $600 per year just to store and change their tires. Yet another
reason I’m glad not to own a car!
Tire hotel photo from:
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 08, 2017
I
walked home from work the other day, and it was a gorgeous autumn
evening. Walking through my beautiful, scenic city, I was struck
(again) by the fact that this beauty is my everyday life.
Toward
the end of my walk I didn’t want to go inside, so I called Carl and we
met at a floating bar a couple blocks from our apartment for sunset
drinks.
MONDAY, AUGUST 28, 2017
Foraging: Moose Grass
During
high summer hikes in the forests around Stockholm, we frequently get
whiffs of . . . almond? The almond scent is distinct and overwhelming,
sometimes you really believe that you’re walking through an almond
grove. But as this is Sweden, and not Greece, you quickly realize that
that can’t possibly be the case. It turns out that älggräs, literally
translated as Moose Grass, commonly known in English as Meadowsweet, is
the source of the sweet almond scent.
Moose
Grass grows in damp, slightly boggy areas, and it grows in profusion.
Where there’s one Moose Grass plant, there’s often a whole field of it.
This proliferation makes foraging Moose Grass easy. Within ten
minutes, we collected enough blossoms and leaves for lots of
experimentation.
 |
| Part of the loot. Gordon was also drawn to the almond scent. |
We
used most of the blossoms to make a concentrated, sweet infusion which
is drunk cold like juice. The recipe we used also called for lemons
which give the concoction a decidedly fresh taste, but I think that the
almond flavor gets drowned out by the lemon. The infusion is good, but
next year I definitely want to try it without the lemon—I think the
almond flavor will be extra palpable and without the lemons, the
infusion would be delicious in various creamy desserts.
You
can also use the blossoms for hot tea, which we tried. With a bit of
sugar and milk, it was deliciously almondy. It’s amazing how strong and
distinct the almond flavor is.
The
leaves and blossoms can even be dried and used later for tea. I find
the dried versions to be slightly almondy, but no where near as strong
as with fresh leaves and blossoms.
Picking
Moose Grass has been on my to-do list for several years now, but
between out of town summer visitors (which we love) and summer vacation
(which we also love) and work deadlines right before summer vacation
(which we don’t love), we never quite made it. This year I decided to
make foraging Moose Grass our number one foraging priority, and we
finally managed to squeeze it in.
SUNDAY, JULY 09, 2017
Foraging: Meadow Flowers
The
pinecones weren’t a success, but we had much better luck with meadow
flowers. After eating lunch in a flower-strewn meadow on our weekend
jaunt to Bogesundslandet’s Nature Reserve,
Carl and I harvested some of the beauty. The meadow probably had five
or ten other flowers that are edible, but since we had left our flora
guide at home, we stuck to the easily identifiable primrose and purple
clover.
Once
at home, we made tea from the blooms. The primrose tea was fragrant
and rosy, but not overwhelmingly so. A bit of sugar really brought out
the perfumey taste.
The
purple clover tea tasted like sweet hay. That might sound like a
negative description, but it was quite tasty and was a bit like drinking
a nostalgic summer countryside night.
Neither
tea was terribly exciting once dried. The purple clover still tasted
like hay, but less strongly and the dried primroses were a bit perfumey,
but much blander than the fresh flowers. It seems that meadow beauty
is to be harvested for near-immediate enjoyment.
SATURDAY, JULY 08, 2017
Foraging: Pinecones
This spring, Carl bought a beautiful book on foraging in
Sweden, and we’ve been extra inspired to pick new-to-us edible plants. Unfortunately, our first experiment from the book didn’t
turn out so well. According to the book,
young, still green pine cones are delicious and fresh tasting, perfect for eating alone or on salads. After gathering and boiling them, we were
disappointed to find that they were in reality too bitter to eat. Not only were the pine cones too bitter, but
they were just too pine-y—it was like eating Pine-Sol floor cleaner. Perhaps we picked the pine cones just a
little too early or just a little too late, but we are not very encouraged to try
again next year.
 |
| Boiled and soft, but gross. |
MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2017
Bike Parking
Stockholm
might not be as bike-friendly of a city as, say, Copenhagen. But
compared to San Antonio? I don’t think I even need to explain.
One
of the city’s newest bike-friendly campaigns is to replace a street
parking spot on every block or so with much needed bike racks. But not
with just any bike rack, but bike racks in the shape of a car! Love
it!
MONDAY, JUNE 12, 2017
Pre-Historic Spring 
It
has been a long and drawn out Spring in Stockholm. When the winter was
so warm, folks started optimistically talking about an early spring.
But then the cold weather really descended, and instead of spring, we
got this:
 |
| As Carl and I waited for the ferry to make its way across the bay and pick us up, we could hear it breaking through the ice from far, far away. It was so cold that my phone died after taking four photos. |
The
ice didn’t last for long, and my co-workers were insistently optimistic
that spring was on its way. I insisted on being cautious. I mean, in
mid-march, it’s still two months until the trees even think about
getting leaves. And I should have heeded my own advice. One weekend in
mid-April, the forecast was for relatively warm temperatures and
sunshine, so Carl and I didn’t wear our usual long-johns or take extra
warm clothes on a day hike at a nature reserve. Instead of sunshine,
however, we got alternating sleet and snow all day long! It had taken
us an hour and half to get to the nature reserve, though, so we just
kept hiking. We enjoyed the hike but were very, very chilly when we
finally got home again!
By the spring celebration at Valborg (May 1st, see “Celebrating Spring on Öland”),
I
was ready to admit that spring was finally on its way. After all, the
trees were even starting to bud! Carl and I went out to a nursery,
bought tons of plants, and planted our balcony.
But
then the next day, we had to bring all of our plants inside because
freezing temperatures were in the forecast again. Even I was shocked
when we got a considerable snowfall on May 8th! Gordon wasn’t fooled,
though, he knew precisely what was coming and how to stay cozy.
But
things warmed back up again, and we were able to celebrate the Derby
with mint juleps on our balcony. Wearing sweaters, of course! (As a
side note, no one in Sweden really seems to know what the Derby is. The
southerner in me is appalled.)
But now spring really is here. The trees are green. Rhododendrons are in full bloom.
I’ve
been working a tremendous amount this spring, and it feels like I
haven’t been doing much other than work. But now that I stop and
reflect, that’s not quite true. Aside from all of our spring travels,
Carl and I have prioritized getting out into nature on day hikes as much
as possible. And while we’re out there, we’ve been taking a look at
quite a few pre-historic sites. Around Stockholm, it’s not hard to
combine a nature hike with stops at various pre-historic sites. This
whole area has been inhabited for thousands of years, and the evidence
is still all around, if you pay attention.
Our sleety hike at Angarsjöängen Nature Reserve passed by a Bronze Age rock carving with horses and chariots and ships.
Later
on, we climbed up to an undated hilltop fort which could be from
anytime from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. It’s not
totally obvious if you’re not paying attention, but the defensive wall
is still discernable to some extent. We wandered over several extensive
Iron Age burial grounds comprised of small, rounded burial mounds. And
on our way out to the bus, we almost walked right by and missed the
most obvious pre-historic sight of the whole hike, a Viking Age rune
stone!
 |
| Left: Collapsed wall surrounding a hilltop fort. |
I’ve already written about the Viking long house foundation we saw on Öland, but I didn’t mention the Iron Age labyrinth that we randomly came across on Fårö (see “Gotland, Sweden's Provence").
In mid-May, we went on another day hike, this time through Hansta Nature Reserve.
 |
| Blackthorn berry blossoms |
No sooner had we walked a kilometer from the subway than we were confronted with a rune stone!
Just
a further bit into the nature reserve, we were walking through a
bronze-age cultural landscape. On the surface the forest looks natural,
but a forest of almost exclusively oak and hazelnut trees is hardly
natural—it was planted and tended to keep pigs fed in acorns and
hazelnuts. Even stone walls from the Bronze Age are still visible
today. Back then, the walls weren’t meant to keep livestock in pastures. Instead, the animals were free to roam and the walls were meant to keep livestock out of the small planted fields.
 |
| Hazel trees and oak trees on the left, a Bronze Age stone wall on the right. |
The
trail emerged from the forest onto a Viking Age road through a
historical farm landscape. At another Bronze Age settlement, we hiked
around a grave field and past more stone walls. There was even a large,
flat stone with a small, round depression where offerings were made.
The offer stone is from the Bronze Age, but such stones were often
continuously used throughout the middle ages despite the onset of
Christianity. This offer stone still seems to be in use today.
Toward
the end of our hike, Carl and I were bushwhacking and we came across
what we thought was an undiscovered rune stone! But when we got home
and looked it up, we learned that the rune stone had already been
documented, and that it was thought to be a fake carved in the 1800’s.
Recently,
Carl and I rented a car for the day to see Runriket, or “Rune Kingdom.”
It’s not any real kingdom, but the local museum has put together a
driving route through the rune-stone densest area in Scandinavia (and in
the world as the advertising proudly claims!) We added a few stops of
our own to the itinerary, and over the course of the day, we saw about
thirty rune stones.
 |
| Lilacs |
While
rune stones date at least back until around 800 A.D., most of them date
to around 1000 A.D. when Sweden was in the process of Christianizing.
Before churches were built and became the obvious symbol of
Christianity, rune stones became a popular way to advertise that you
were Christian. Clearly there must have been a big debate in the area
just north of Stockholm, “to be Christian or to be pagan,” because a
whole lot of people felt the need to broadcast their beliefs in the most
public way possible—a big cross on a big standing stone along a public
road.
Interestingly,
though, the snake/dragon imagery incorporated into nearly every rune
stone comes from Swedish mythology. An interesting mix of the old and
the new, carved right at the juncture in time when times were changing.
Rune
stones were almost always erected along roads and often proclaim that
XX built this road in memory of YY, or that XX owns all the land within
eyesight, or that XX erected the stone in memory of YY and may God save
his soul, or that XX built this bridge and may God save his soul. In
addition to proclaiming Christianity and honoring departed family
members, the stones often have an ulterior motive of defending XX’s
right to the land (maybe XX is the son of YY who died, or XX is the
widow of YY who died, or maybe YY died leaving no heirs so the land
reverted to YY’s cousin.)
In
the Viking times, most journeys were made by boat, not overland. The
road network was very local and generally only connected a couple of
farms. But the Christian society was based on going to churches, and in
order to get to church, you needed to travel along a road. Thus, the
earliest of Christian soul-saving deeds in Sweden was road and bridge
building: through building a road or a bridge, you could save your own
soul, or the soul of a loved one. Of course, a rune stone was erected
to notify the passer-by of who built the infrastructure and whose soul
was being saved.
 |
| Left: Originally three rune stones lined each side of the approach to a bridge. Right: This rune stone is carved into a creek embankment. |
Before
stone masons were imported from the continent to build stone churches,
Swedes did not have a stone building tradition and they didn’t possess
the technology to span with stone. Thus, bridge building was
difficult. Instead of spanning with stone, local bridge builders used
the traditional materials they knew, driving hundreds of wooden piles
into the muddy soil in and around streams and swampy areas. The piles
were then covered with wooden boards which were replaced through history
as needed. Many of these bridges survived into modern times and were
only replaced in the 50’s. Amazingly, the thousand-year-old wood piles
are still intact.
 |
| Left: Originally 300 meters long, this rune stone-lined “bridge” through a swampy area wasn’t replaced until the 1950’s. Right: This rune stone marks the entrance from a road to a lakeside harbor. |
This rune stone is the largest known rune stone and more or less proclaims the greatness of the local land owner.
 |
| It’s hard to see the whole carving at one time. The elaborate cross is at the top of the carving. |
This
rune stone, along a Viking age road that is still in use today, is
unusual in that it is two-sided. Actually, I’m surprised that more rune
stones aren’t two-sided since they were frequently erected along roads.
We
ventured pretty far off the Runriket path to visit three large burial
mounds near Vada Church. This large of a burial mound is usually
associated with the Vendel period before the Viking Age, but according
to the sign at the site, these mounds are Viking era.
Back on the Runriket itinerary, this rune stone marks a ting
or court. We don’t know exactly how they were used or what the
protocol was, but markets, celebrations, and court hearings were
combined into one festive occasion which took place at regular
intervals. The ting or court was a defined area, and we believe
that only the judge, who was often the “big farmer” or most powerful
person in the area, the accused, and the defendant was allowed into the
arena. Whatever judgement was decreed inside the ting was upheld outside of the ting boundaries. It is possible that corporal punishment was meted out inside the ting.
Eventually,
churches were built and the importance of rune stones faded.
Ironically given that they had been such an obvious Christian symbol,
rune stones and rune letters were eventually looked upon as “pagan” as
the church sought to squash anything locally unique in an effort to make
everyone perfect, uniform Christians. Like the Spanish using the
stones from razed pyramids to build cathedrals in Latin America, so the
Germans and English used rune stone fragments as church building
material in Sweden.
Täby
Church was built in the middle of the 1200’s, but it is best known for
its beautifully preserved wall and ceiling frescoes from the 1400’s.
Another
stop along Runriket was Vallentuna Church which was built in the late
1100’s. The church tower was originally built as a defensive tower; it
wasn’t until the 1800’s that it began to be used as a bell tower. Here,
the stone mason signed his name into the church’s stones using rune
letters. While the educated quickly switched to the Latin alphabet,
peasants and craftsmen stuck with the runic alphabet, in some areas of
rural Sweden through the 19th century.
Here,
several rune stones have been found in the churchyard walls and as
paving stones for the church’s floor. One of these paving stones is
remarkable in that its inscription from the 1100’s is the first known
example of a rhyming verse in Swedish.
Now
it’s almost Midsummer, and time for new summertime adventures. And
maybe a few more pre-historic sites? As I wrote a while ago, Carl and I
really are Rune Stone Junkies (see below) and we just can’t get
enough!
SUNDAY, JUNE 11, 2017
Join the Military...To Protect Gay Rights!
Can
you imagine a day when Uncle Sam will recruit teenagers into the U.S.
military in order to specifically help protect gay rights?
The
Swedish military has an advertising campaign in the subway, and they’re
not trying to entice with a steady paycheck, a paid college education,
or even with big muscles and exciting weapons.
Instead, the posters read:
“Do
you also want to defend extreme values? Many of the freedoms that make
Sweden Sweden are seen as extreme in others’ eyes. For us, they are
extremely important to defend. Apply...”
And
“A
country that is easy to defend. In the military, you stand up for
everything that makes Sweden Sweden, here and now. For example
democracy, freedom, and the right to love whom you please. Read more
about a job that is hard, but not hard to defend...”
One more reason to love this country.
SATURDAY, JUNE 10, 2017
Stockholm is Just So Darn Pretty (Reprise)
TUESDAY, MAY 30, 2017
Sunrise Sunset
I
just looked at the weather forecast and actually, it’s not the weather
that caught my eye, but the fact that the sun rose today at 3:46 a.m.!
And it’s still nearly a month before the summer solstice and the longest
day of the year!
MONDAY, MAY 15, 2017
Sweden is Expensive Part VI
I
bought two chickens and a bottle of cheap red cooking wine the other
day. The total was about $100. The chickens were even store brand, the
cheapest ones on the shelf. Of course, they were free-range and
organic. But that’s the only kind available!
FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 2017
Terror in Stockholm
Stockholm
and Sweden as a whole has now joined the rest of the “real” world where
terrorism is a fact that will forever color daily life. Last last
Friday afternoon, my office was about half full when we first heard
about the incident downtown—a delivery truck had been hijacked, driven
at breakneck speed down Stockholm’s main pedestrian shopping street
killing several people, and crashed into Stockholm’s busiest department
store. I was fascinated to gauge the reactions of my fellow co-workers
who were very shaken and devastated that the unthinkable had now
happened in their own city. I, on the other hand, was saddened but not
very shocked or unusually distressed. Carl felt similarly. It’s sad
how accustomed one becomes to such things in the US—for us it was just
another “unfortunate event” where “only” four people had died while for
most Stockholmers it seems that the event was a major tragic incident
that will be talked about and remembered for a generation or more, a bit
like JFK or 9-11 in the US.
Carl
and I had planned a weekend trip last weekend and had tickets for a
train leaving around 5 p.m. All public transportation was halted by
order of the police, so there were no subways, busses, or commuter
trains running. Online, our train was only about 10 minutes delayed, so
we walked, rolling our suitcases, from our offices to the train station
only to find out that all train traffic in and out of Stockholm had
also been cancelled. The train company was willing to rebook our trip
but we wouldn’t have reached our destination till Saturday evening, and
considering that we’d be turning around and coming home on Sunday
afternoon, we decided to just call off the whole trip and have a quiet
weekend at home instead.
On
Sunday after the incident, thousands of people gathered downtown to
grieve together, and also to demonstrate that Stockholm isn’t about to
stop living its life and give in to terror. We didn’t join in but I was
downtown running errands several days later and crowds of people were
still actively leaving flowers, notes, teddy bears, and lit candles
where the hijacked truck had crashed into the Åhléns department store.
Even the shopping street’s concrete lions, which are placed at
intersections to prevent vehicles from entering the pedestrian shopping
street, were decorated with garlands and flowers, despite the fact that
the lions ultimately didn’t prevent or check the attack. Seeing this
outpouring of grief and sympathy and solidarity made me a little teary.
 |
| Hundreds of post-it notes cover the plywood covering where the truck crashed into the department store. Most of the notes are messages of love and support to the victims' families. Even the nearby advertising had been changed out with the message that Stockholm is Love. |
Now,
two weeks after the attack, life in Stockholm continues. Life will
never be quite the same here, but many of the things that I love about
Stockholm and Sweden have only been reinforced. Tolerance. Love.
Solidarity.
They say that there’s nothing you can count on except for death and taxes. There’s always a lot of talk in the U.S. about the “Death Tax.” Here in Sweden, there really is a death tax, although unlike in the U.S., it is payed by everyone, every year of your working life. Like Medicare, this death tax isn’t part of your regular income tax, although that’s exactly what it is. Instead, it’s called a begravningsavgift or a Burial fee. It’s no set fee but everyone pays the same percentage of their income (although the percentage varies by city). Last year, I paid 0.11% of my income and a total of about $44 in death taxes.
The burial fee that is added to your taxes every year is like a small pre-payment for your own death and burial costs. It covers:
-transport of corpse from time of death to funeral
-storage of the corpse until the funeral
-cremation
-a locale for a viewing
-a locale without religious symbols for funeral service
-gravesite for 25 years (I don’t think you or your survivors get to choose the gravesite, and getting buried
in a “fancy” area of a cemetery is definitely extra)
-digging of grave, burial, filling of the grave, and putting the gravesite in order after the burial
-general maintenance of graveyards
The tax does not cover:
-coffins
-gravestones
-maintenance of the individual’s gravesite
-religious funeral services (although if you are a member of the Church of Sweden and pay the church tax,
your religious funeral service is free)
-ceremonial pallbearers
I find this last stipulation a bit funny. If regulations specify that pallbearers are not included, why not specify that professional wailers are not provided, either?
Interestingly, while the tax does specifically cover cremation, there is no mention of embalmnment. I am assuming that embalmnment is extra. And an urn, is that included in the cremation?
I am curious to what extent the inclusion of cremation has affected the Swedish individual’s choice to be cremated instead of embalmed. If 9 of 10 Stockholmers choose to be cremated today, how many of those 9 would actually have chosen embalmnment if it didn’t cost extra?
As usual with taxes, the line of what is and is not covered by Sweden’s death tax is a bit random. But while certain costs like a gravestone are still a burden on the survivors, it seems that the bulk of funeral costs are covered by taxes instead of landing in the laps of the already overwhelmed bereaved.
My information on what is and is not covered came from:
Our
cat Gordon has discovered the joy of radiators, and he has practically
abandoned our laps for them. If he’s not warming his paws on the dining
room radiator, he’s snoozing on top of the living room radiator. This
is particularly cute because the radiator’s only about 4 inches wide, so
he oozes over both sides, kind of like he’s straddling a horse.
Despite the narrow fit he manages to sleep for hours without falling
off.
A couple of weeks ago, Carl and I went to a friend’s commencement ceremony. It’s the kind of thing that you end up doing within an expatriate community—being stand-ins for the best friends and family relations that live too far away to make it to such events.
The commencement ceremony was for all the master’s programs at Stockholm University. My friend was getting her second masters in education because as an immigrant teacher in Sweden, your teaching degree from your home country doesn’t make you eligible to be a teacher in Sweden. Thank goodness I didn’t have to redo my masters of architecture in order to be recognized as an architect here! (Although a short program focusing on the practice of architecture might not have been terrible considering how different the architecture and construction industries are here—my first year practicing architecture in Sweden was a little rough to say the least!)
Other disciplines participating in the graduation ceremony ranged from mathematics to law to the social sciences. Interestingly, about half of the students did not have Swedish names.
The basics of the commencement ceremony weren’t unfamiliar to me—lots of officialdom, droning speeches, lots of names called out as graduates cross the stage and receive their diplomas, and lots of polite clapping. But there were several fundamental differences compared with American graduation ceremonies.
First of all, the ceremony was in October despite the fact that my friend had actually graduated in the spring. It seems pretty anti-climatic but efficient since the university gathers up as many graduates as possible into its one yearly ceremony.
Secondly, the graduates wore regular “nice” clothes but no robes, and no mortar boards or tassels. The feeling of a sea of graduates was completely absent, and the ceremony seemed so informal without the robes and hats which impart a certain gravity to the occasion. As the graduates weren’t wearing tassels, there was no one special moment when the group had officially graduated and switched the tassels to the other side.
Like American graduations, the students were grouped by discipline, but here in Sweden there was a somewhat amusing touch as the various groups were led up on stage and back to their seats by escorts, all of whom were young women wearing sashes as if it were a beauty pageant and not a university graduation. After a student’s moment in the spotlight was over and they had received their diploma and shaken the dean’s hand, they all remained on stage. After everyone in the group had received their diploma, the group, ushered by the escorts, walked up to the front of the stage to receive the audience’s applause. They held their diplomas up in front of them so that everyone could see the proof of their graduation. Then they were then escorted back to their seats by their beauty pageant usher.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 01, 2016
Death and TaxesThey say that there’s nothing you can count on except for death and taxes. There’s always a lot of talk in the U.S. about the “Death Tax.” Here in Sweden, there really is a death tax, although unlike in the U.S., it is payed by everyone, every year of your working life. Like Medicare, this death tax isn’t part of your regular income tax, although that’s exactly what it is. Instead, it’s called a begravningsavgift or a Burial fee. It’s no set fee but everyone pays the same percentage of their income (although the percentage varies by city). Last year, I paid 0.11% of my income and a total of about $44 in death taxes.
The burial fee that is added to your taxes every year is like a small pre-payment for your own death and burial costs. It covers:
-transport of corpse from time of death to funeral
-storage of the corpse until the funeral
-cremation
-a locale for a viewing
-a locale without religious symbols for funeral service
-gravesite for 25 years (I don’t think you or your survivors get to choose the gravesite, and getting buried
in a “fancy” area of a cemetery is definitely extra)
-digging of grave, burial, filling of the grave, and putting the gravesite in order after the burial
-general maintenance of graveyards
The tax does not cover:
-coffins
-gravestones
-maintenance of the individual’s gravesite
-religious funeral services (although if you are a member of the Church of Sweden and pay the church tax,
your religious funeral service is free)
-ceremonial pallbearers
I find this last stipulation a bit funny. If regulations specify that pallbearers are not included, why not specify that professional wailers are not provided, either?
Interestingly, while the tax does specifically cover cremation, there is no mention of embalmnment. I am assuming that embalmnment is extra. And an urn, is that included in the cremation?
I am curious to what extent the inclusion of cremation has affected the Swedish individual’s choice to be cremated instead of embalmed. If 9 of 10 Stockholmers choose to be cremated today, how many of those 9 would actually have chosen embalmnment if it didn’t cost extra?
As usual with taxes, the line of what is and is not covered by Sweden’s death tax is a bit random. But while certain costs like a gravestone are still a burden on the survivors, it seems that the bulk of funeral costs are covered by taxes instead of landing in the laps of the already overwhelmed bereaved.
My information on what is and is not covered came from:
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2016
Radiator Love
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2016
Swedish CommencementA couple of weeks ago, Carl and I went to a friend’s commencement ceremony. It’s the kind of thing that you end up doing within an expatriate community—being stand-ins for the best friends and family relations that live too far away to make it to such events.
The commencement ceremony was for all the master’s programs at Stockholm University. My friend was getting her second masters in education because as an immigrant teacher in Sweden, your teaching degree from your home country doesn’t make you eligible to be a teacher in Sweden. Thank goodness I didn’t have to redo my masters of architecture in order to be recognized as an architect here! (Although a short program focusing on the practice of architecture might not have been terrible considering how different the architecture and construction industries are here—my first year practicing architecture in Sweden was a little rough to say the least!)
Other disciplines participating in the graduation ceremony ranged from mathematics to law to the social sciences. Interestingly, about half of the students did not have Swedish names.
The basics of the commencement ceremony weren’t unfamiliar to me—lots of officialdom, droning speeches, lots of names called out as graduates cross the stage and receive their diplomas, and lots of polite clapping. But there were several fundamental differences compared with American graduation ceremonies.
First of all, the ceremony was in October despite the fact that my friend had actually graduated in the spring. It seems pretty anti-climatic but efficient since the university gathers up as many graduates as possible into its one yearly ceremony.
Secondly, the graduates wore regular “nice” clothes but no robes, and no mortar boards or tassels. The feeling of a sea of graduates was completely absent, and the ceremony seemed so informal without the robes and hats which impart a certain gravity to the occasion. As the graduates weren’t wearing tassels, there was no one special moment when the group had officially graduated and switched the tassels to the other side.
Like American graduations, the students were grouped by discipline, but here in Sweden there was a somewhat amusing touch as the various groups were led up on stage and back to their seats by escorts, all of whom were young women wearing sashes as if it were a beauty pageant and not a university graduation. After a student’s moment in the spotlight was over and they had received their diploma and shaken the dean’s hand, they all remained on stage. After everyone in the group had received their diploma, the group, ushered by the escorts, walked up to the front of the stage to receive the audience’s applause. They held their diplomas up in front of them so that everyone could see the proof of their graduation. Then they were then escorted back to their seats by their beauty pageant usher.
Each
discipline at the university has its own herald tune, and the small
orchestra played each piece before each group was ushered onto the
stage. An a Capella group provided a mid-graduation break and sang a
few ditties. Otherwise, there was no music, and disappointingly no
“Pomp and Circumstance.”
After the ceremony, there was an understated celebration for the graduates and their guests with a swing band, champagne, and finger sandwiches. I should have had a second glass of champagne considering that my tax dollars paid for it! (As I’ve mentioned before, university is free in Sweden.)
Another difference was that the students receive their actual diploma instead of a placeholder. You just have to be careful not to spill champagne on it...
I was happy for my friend and it was fun to celebrate with her, but I couldn’t help missing the literal and figural pomp and circumstance of American ceremonies. Without the music and without the robes, mortar boards, and tassels, it didn’t really feel like a graduation.
After the ceremony, there was an understated celebration for the graduates and their guests with a swing band, champagne, and finger sandwiches. I should have had a second glass of champagne considering that my tax dollars paid for it! (As I’ve mentioned before, university is free in Sweden.)
Another difference was that the students receive their actual diploma instead of a placeholder. You just have to be careful not to spill champagne on it...
I was happy for my friend and it was fun to celebrate with her, but I couldn’t help missing the literal and figural pomp and circumstance of American ceremonies. Without the music and without the robes, mortar boards, and tassels, it didn’t really feel like a graduation.
 |
| Archi-dork at work: the auditorium was quite beautiful. |
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