Celebrations of Sweden
Recently I have experienced a number of celebrations in Sweden which include the national day (6th June), graduation as the school year comes to an end, and finally, a pride festival which took place in Luleå. On top of this, I also gave my host family a taste of Australia as they tasted vegemite for the first time, and recorded my host sister's reaction to it! So then, now to tell you about how everything went.
Let's start with the national day of Sweden. I have to say it is quite funny here because this day is almost forgotten by thr majority of people. It is actually the nordic's least celebrated holidays of the year! This is quite different to Australia Day (26th January). We may not be as big as the Americans, but we know how to make good use of the holiday. This includes outdoor activties like community barbecues, festivals, evening fireworks, or if you are part of my family and friends, ride-on mower races! It is a day to wear the colours of Australia and have a lovely day outside rain or shine in the heat of Australia's Summer. Here in Sweden there was a small kids section set up with some traditional music and activities to play. Other than that, life seemed to run as usual in town with people running the usual weekend errands.
Next up was graduation! Now Sweden does know how to celebrate this part of the year. Everyone can't seem to wait for the much anticipated summerbreak. I guess after about 6 months of winter up here in the north, the warmth must feel like something magical which cannot be wasted. The younger grades end their school year with a small celebration which took place at a church. Here they sang a few pieces of music, had some quick speeches, and then the kids were off on summerbreak with their report cards handed to them as they left. Congratulations to my host brother for his excellent grades, particularly in english where he received an A! The swedes will never stop surprising me with their ability to speak english so well. I hopw my Swedish can get to the same level one day. Anwyay, the major celebration as school ends is obviously graduation from high school. In Sweden the students usually end at 19 years old, whereas students in Queensland Australia end at the age of 17.
At my school, thousands of parents and friends stood on the oval, waiting for their graduate to pass through the school exit for one last time. Each class is called out sepearately with a personal song chosen by each group, and the class has a chance to dance and celebrate on stage, while their parents wait patiently on the oval, holding a sign with a baby photo of them. The graduates also receive something like a necklace with roses, wine bottles and even stuffed toys. I honestly still have no idea why. The girls wear short white dresses while the boys are dressed in suits, all of which are finished off with a black and white graduation cap.
The graduation doesn't finish here though. After each class has been called out and had the chance for some photos and talking with their family and friends, the graduates have to share their success with the rest of the town. How do they do this? With the biggest vehicles they can hire of course! Each class organises a truck to transport them through the streets with music pumping, teenagers cheering and whistling, and dancing. The trucks are decorated with trees on each corner with yellow and blue balloons. Then the sides of the truck has a banner on them which the students have decorated themselves with funny quotes, pictures or whatever else they choose. For example, the dancing students had written 'If you are dating a dancing student, congratulations. If not, raise your standards!'. Others made jokes about fun memories they had from their schooling years or whatever else came to mind. It was hard to read them all since it was in Swedish. Here is a video to really show the mood!
I was also lucky enough to be invited to a graduation dinner with my friend Linus! His family invited over about 20 or so people to celebrate both Linus and his twin brother, Jesper, as they move on from high school and into the real world. Us kids put on a little bit of a performance for thee adults, playing a few songs for them which turned out to be really fun! We also played some card games and headed out for a bike ride to town. The food was also absolutely delicious, however, I was so full from my lunch which had been a sandwich cake! When I first heard of this, I thought it sounded quite unusual, but I can tell you that it is actually really good. The cake itself is known as a 'smörgåstårta' and is big enough to feed aproximately 20 people. Of course I absolutely had to snap a picture of it so I could show you all!
Finally, I would also like to mention the pride festival which was in Luleå just a few days ago. Sweden was ranked the world's most gay-friendly country in the world in 2013, and being very focused on equality, there is practically no signs of discrimination anywhere. Luleå had decorated a park with rainbows covering every corner and little stalls which taught the visitors different things about all sorts of relationships. They were handing out lots of free items too, so I now have 2 new tops, some badges, lollies and articles. I also got some crazy eyeshadow done from one of the makeup artists there, and participated in the parade which travelled through the streets of Luleå city. From Piteå, my friends Marcus, Ida and Malin were also there to join in with the festivities and wave a flag in the parade. We also met up with Jaymie and her friends from Luleå after the parade, and I received some items back that I had left at her house a while ago. So glad to have my camera back!! The festival also had live music throughout the day, and was just generally fun! We even got a moment of fame on the stage, waving a flag while some musicians played which was pretty cool! Definitely worthwhile spending the day there and checking it all out. I personally had never been to a pride festival before this one, but now look forward to taking part in them when I return back to Australia.
Let's start with the national day of Sweden. I have to say it is quite funny here because this day is almost forgotten by thr majority of people. It is actually the nordic's least celebrated holidays of the year! This is quite different to Australia Day (26th January). We may not be as big as the Americans, but we know how to make good use of the holiday. This includes outdoor activties like community barbecues, festivals, evening fireworks, or if you are part of my family and friends, ride-on mower races! It is a day to wear the colours of Australia and have a lovely day outside rain or shine in the heat of Australia's Summer. Here in Sweden there was a small kids section set up with some traditional music and activities to play. Other than that, life seemed to run as usual in town with people running the usual weekend errands.
Next up was graduation! Now Sweden does know how to celebrate this part of the year. Everyone can't seem to wait for the much anticipated summerbreak. I guess after about 6 months of winter up here in the north, the warmth must feel like something magical which cannot be wasted. The younger grades end their school year with a small celebration which took place at a church. Here they sang a few pieces of music, had some quick speeches, and then the kids were off on summerbreak with their report cards handed to them as they left. Congratulations to my host brother for his excellent grades, particularly in english where he received an A! The swedes will never stop surprising me with their ability to speak english so well. I hopw my Swedish can get to the same level one day. Anwyay, the major celebration as school ends is obviously graduation from high school. In Sweden the students usually end at 19 years old, whereas students in Queensland Australia end at the age of 17.
The graduation doesn't finish here though. After each class has been called out and had the chance for some photos and talking with their family and friends, the graduates have to share their success with the rest of the town. How do they do this? With the biggest vehicles they can hire of course! Each class organises a truck to transport them through the streets with music pumping, teenagers cheering and whistling, and dancing. The trucks are decorated with trees on each corner with yellow and blue balloons. Then the sides of the truck has a banner on them which the students have decorated themselves with funny quotes, pictures or whatever else they choose. For example, the dancing students had written 'If you are dating a dancing student, congratulations. If not, raise your standards!'. Others made jokes about fun memories they had from their schooling years or whatever else came to mind. It was hard to read them all since it was in Swedish. Here is a video to really show the mood!
I was also lucky enough to be invited to a graduation dinner with my friend Linus! His family invited over about 20 or so people to celebrate both Linus and his twin brother, Jesper, as they move on from high school and into the real world. Us kids put on a little bit of a performance for thee adults, playing a few songs for them which turned out to be really fun! We also played some card games and headed out for a bike ride to town. The food was also absolutely delicious, however, I was so full from my lunch which had been a sandwich cake! When I first heard of this, I thought it sounded quite unusual, but I can tell you that it is actually really good. The cake itself is known as a 'smörgåstårta' and is big enough to feed aproximately 20 people. Of course I absolutely had to snap a picture of it so I could show you all! |
| Fitting the rainbow theme with our coloured hair, eyeshadow and clothes! |
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