Oh So Swedish

Oh So Swedish Studio & Workshop – closed May 8- 9th and between the 15th – 22nd of May

Eva — Tue, 07 May 2013 18:59:21 +0000

The May Flower 2013 – All Childrens Flower since 1907

Eva — Thu, 02 May 2013 09:02:43 +0000

This year, 2013′s May Flower is light blue/light lilac.

Swedish children have been selling May Flowers in different colours since 1907. The May Flower charity founded by Beda Hallberg – Gothenburgh, has been fighting Child Poverty more than a century,

The proceedings from last years selling of the May Flower were 53 million SEK.

H.M.The Queen Silvia of Sweden buying the first May Flower 2013, (Photo: Karin Skoog)

May Day: A Red Bank Holiday Day in Sweden: 1890 – 2013 Demonstrations & Red Flags

Eva — Wed, 01 May 2013 10:01:13 +0000

Work – Equality – Welfare

The workers international day, celebrated in Sweden and internationally.

1890: The main topics in the 1890′s demonstration in Stockholm:

8 timmars Arbete *8 hours of work

8 timmars Fritid * 8 hours of leisure

8 timmars Hvila * 8 hours of sleep

2013: “Hot” topics in the present Swedish May Day Demonstrations:

6 hours of work

International Solidarity,

Against Racism, Xenophobia, Homophobia

Stop the pollution & global warming

Against privatisation of council flats.

Internationally there are many demonstrations; against oppression, dictatorships, unfairness, poverty and war.

see link: http://www.svt.se/nyheter/sverige/sa-foljer-du-1-maj-firandet-pa-webben

http://www.svt.se/nyheter/varlden/1-maj-varlden-over

Five senses of Swedish Valborg – *Walpurgis Bonfires welcomes spirit of Spring

Eva — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 08:59:21 +0000

Sweden tomorrow: (Valborgsmässoafton) 30th of April- Walpurgis Eve.

Five senses of A Swedish Tradition:

Sense of Smell: At dusk, if outdoors, you might smell the wooden smoke of the Walpurgis bonfires and fireworks.

Sense of Sight: Then, if outdoor you can watch the glowing flames of the bonfires *also called Majbrasa in Swedish*

Sense of Sound: Listen to fireworks, people singing Spring songs and to the crackling of burning twigs and scrap wood in the Bonfires, small or big, everywhere in Sweden. Big ones in Stockholm are Riddarholmen and Skansen.

Senses of Touch: Feel the warmth of holding hands whilst watching the flames, the hands and face getting warm in the Bonfire glow, in the Nordic cool night.

Sense of Taste: Have a Korv & Bröd (Hot Dog in a bun), a Coffee or hot Cocoa from the Korv-Kiosk or more often an Alcoholic drink from a Swedish Lager or the Hip flask.

Read more :Walpurgis at Skansen: http://www.skansen.se/en/artikel/walpurgis-night

*Östgöta Romance & Oh So Swedish Soaps from Nicoles, Söderköping & Lovely “Rabbit Crossing” Sculpture

Eva — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 09:33:11 +0000

Available at Oh So Swedish: Try Nicole’s lovely handmade soaps from Söderköping, a pretty Swedish town in County of *Östergötland. (County of Sweden).

Söderköping – A great place to visit with the Göta Canal, pretty wooden town houses and the famous sculptures, “Rabbit crossing” by Eva Fornåå, . The sculptures “Rabbit Crossing” are situated on both side of the canal.

Please be seated on Blue & Yellow! – Oh So Swedish Upcycled High Stool.

Eva — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 23:31:29 +0000

A stool not for the bar nor the kitchen worktop, just sit down on the stool,relax and dream of the Swedish Summer, Nordic blue sky and a soft yellow sun.

The rejected Wooden High Stool got a face-lift with a bit of sanding, painted in a softer shades of the Swedish Flag Colours, blue & yellow.

“The Blueberry Moose” – New DalaMoose design soon ready at OhSoSwedish!

Eva — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:03:23 +0000

Only one left of my sister Bibi’s Wooden Dala-Moose ” Water Lilies, the other 9 have found new homes all over the world.

New: A Blueberry Moose *Blåbärs Älg, soon ready to step out in the wide world.

“Blåbär- Godast på Jorden” (Blueberries- the most tasty on Earth”) – The sign of Cafe Blåbär/Odenplan, Stockholm superdelicious Blueberry Muffins and more.

FÅK & ÖLAND- Weather words and Swedish regional dialects

Eva — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 10:24:09 +0000

The infamous “Ölands*fåken” (Fåk=Blizzard)

http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://kund.sprakradet.imcms.net/12259&prev=/search%3Fq%3Df%25C3%25A5k%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1366

“When the people of the house were on matins on Christmas morning, so there was a terrible storm with Fåk, so that it could take your breath away., It snowed so that you could barely see his hands .) This quote from Öland Institute dialect collections clearly show the meaning of the dialect word Fåk on Öland, ‘blizzard’. It’s about the infamous Öland fåken, when the wind is blowing so it seems snowing horizontally and you become infatuated; everything is just white. On the roads and in villages formed huge snow drifts of hard packed snow while the ground can be almost bar out on the field and limestone. Many stories are about people who are lost and frozen to death. Horse Carriages is said to have driven straight out on the ice instead of inland … It is best to stay inside when fåken will, everyone knows Ölanders, even today!

Is the word Fåk just in Öland accent? If you take a look in the National Encyclopedia (www.ne.se) states: “Fåk, on Öland common name in a very strong snowstorm.” But a search of the institute dialect collections show that the word appears in a number of provinces. From south to north, we find evidence of Skåne, Blekinge, Halland, Småland, Öland, Gotland, wa, Jämtland and Ångermanland. The composition fåksnö are also in Norrbotten.

The word is pronounced in different ways, such as birds, Fok, fuk, jib, FAK. What is interesting is that although the significance varies. In Blekinge, it is about ‘rain’ and Gotland about ‘dust’, ‘smoke’ or ‘somewhat easy flying in the air’. In Narke, Kentucky and Norrbotten, these are indeed the snow, but ‘thin, light, sparse, fluff-like snow’. In Skåne, Halland and Jamtland we approach so Öland sense, here means Fåk ‘snowstorm’. In Småland, the word simply Öland snowstorms.

Word origin explains this variation in the use of FAK. According SAOB is incorporated into the verb fyka ‘of snow, dust, sand, etc. (more temporary if the amount of other light objects): violently driven by the wind, rave, smoke’ which corresponds to the ancient Swedish fiuka ‘danger suddenly in the air’. What is it then that blows around in fåken has over time come to be partly differ in the dialects where the word survived” (Svenska Språkrådet)

Text: Lovisa Alvtörn
Photo: Klardrommar

Twiglight Flight tonight: The *Easter Witches take off for **Blåkulla

Eva — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 11:46:41 +0000

A Swedish tradition – Lots of kids dress up as *Easter Witches (Swedish – Påskkärringar) with destination Blåkulla which is the Island **Blå Jungfun (The Blue Virgin Island) on the south-east coast of Sweden.

I enjoyed that tradition a lot as kid in the late 50′s *(see picture of me and a friend at Trollvägen (The Troll Road), ready for departure.

Påskmust – A must for Easter

Eva — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 08:42:43 +0000

A very Swedish Easter fizzy drink – Påskmust. Similar to Julmust (Christmas drink).

From Wikipedia: Must was created by Harry Roberts and his father Robert Roberts in 1910 as a non-alcoholic alternative to beer. The syrup is still made exclusively by Roberts AB in Örebro. The original recipe is said to be locked up in a safe with only two persons knowing the full recipe.^[2] The syrup is sold to different soft drink manufacturers that then makes the final product in their own way. This means that the must from two different companies doesn’t taste the same, even though they are made of the same syrup.

Must is made of carbonated water, sugar, hop extract, malt extract, spices, caramel colouring, citric acid, and preservatives. The hops and malt extracts give the must a somewhat root beer-like taste, but much sweeter. It can be aged provided it is stored in a glass bottle. Some people buy Julmust in December only to store it a year before drinking it.^[3] The European Union may ban julmust since they banned the selling of malt beverages containing caramel colouring.^[4] But it may be saved as while it originally was made with malt and hops it nowadays is done with malt aroma.

GLAD PÅSK – HAPPY EASTER