The carnival of the Swedish students

This year, I stayed away from the carnival in Copenhagen, and I crossed the Øresundbro as I often do, to see how it was in the country of our dear neighbors. Because at Lund, a university town located about twenty kilometers from Malmö, is holded every four years a completely delirious carnival organized by the students. Luckily, it fell this year, I couldn't miss that. I had already visited Lund several times, it is a cute medieval town, but a little bit tiny. And that day, it seemed that all the inhabitants of the region had an appointment here, the streets were tremendously crowded. Having showed up a little late, I missed the beginning of the parade, but I saw things that din't make me regret the trip:

I saw dancers...

other dancers...

musicians...

a pirate boat...

a truck full with anarchists inside...

some alternative culture...

the float of the medical students...

a float to make fun of the SJ trains (Swedish national railway company), 

with the sign "The Upsala of 1:65 PM never comes"...

some guys sliding on an Icelandic volcano...

But my favorite was unquestionably the Svensson float, filled out of blonds

All around, were jumping around typical elements of the Swedish folklore, the opportunity to review together the basics of the culture:

the true Swedish girl

the IKEA shelf

the moose, the animal emblem of Sweden

 more difficult: this guy is dressed in Dalahästen (Dala horse), a traditional figurine

 no, this is not toothpaste, but kaviar (infamous mixture to spread)

and this is a köttbulle (meatball), a basic of Swedish cuisine

(They are consumed in Denmark as well, where they are called frikadeller)

Personally, I would have completed the picture with a potato (present in absolutely ALL Swedish meals) and with some knäckebröd (Wasa crackers) ... Have a good carnival!

I've tested for you: the Julefrokost

Anyway, I could not escape to it. And I was told since months, that it was The Unmissable Party, and bla bla bla ... For those who don't know what it is, basically, the Julefrokost is the traditional Christmas party, and I'm talking specifically about the one organized by the company. It consists of a dressed-up party with a dinner, and all Danish companies organize their own, I mean absolutely all of them. That's why in Denmark all the restaurants and banquet halls are almost fully booked every Friday night located between November 20 and December 20.

Mine took place in the suburbs of Copenhagen in a vast hall filled with candles. After an open bar cocktails phase, people started to dine. Not worth fantasizing over the food, it was just a buffet, interrupted by speeches, jokes (a stage and a microphone had been provided for this purpose), and the screening of a short funny film about the company.

After the meal, people head gradually towards the dance floor. Then, that was the time when it began spinning out of control. And it was still open bar. To give you an idea of how it looked like, imagine an student party with in the role of students, your fellow workmates, from 20 to 60 years old. Actually, the Julefrokost is the only day of the year when people allow themselves to crack down in public, with the rallying cry "Skål!" (*) And I can assure you that it's weird to see these Danes losing control of themselves while they usually are quite self-contained.

And another funny thing, on Monday morning, all the people who went there greeted me solemnly by adding the ritual formula, "Tak for sisdt!" which means "Thank you for the last time" although of course I didn't do anything for them personally. Yes, the Danes still have not yet invented the "please" (**) in Danish, but forget your "tak for sisdt" and you will pass as a lout.

(*) Cheers!
(**) This word just doesn't have any equivalent in Danish

Who said that politics was a serious issue?

Next week, the Danes are voting for the municipal and regional elections. And of course, right now, all the poles of Copenhagen are covered with election posters.

Among the clutter, some weird posters are hidden, and that caught my eye. That's why I went biking today to hunt for the most bizarre of them. And I didn't come back empty-handed.

Here is a totally serious party, but with a little bit of humor, I love this

I just don't understand

The Progress Party (WTF?!)

Another bike-lover-weirdo

Is it really to support someone?
"veldfærd" means welfare

Is this to make fun of the politicians and their stonewalling?
"enhed" means "unity"

Mmmmh, I can smell the spirit of Christiania there

But for the big nonsense matter, nobody does better than the Nihilistisk Folkeparti. It is a political party "just for fun", but which does exist for real. Their motto is "Det hele er alligevel ligegyldigt - Spild din stemme på os!" and that's means approximatively "Nothing matters anyway - Waste your vote for us!" I presume that their name is a parody of the extreme-right wing party, the Dansk Folkeparti.

Here is an anthology of their achievements:

"For psychedelic colors in the metro
Stop the grey brainwashing!"

"Nothing matters
except the cute little animals"

"Because an asshole can be as good as another one"

The one on the left made me smile (note the little mermaids at the bottom)
But I burst into laughter when I read the one on the right:
"Stop the church bell! - Fuck our salvation - we are hung over!"

"At have tømmermænd" is an expression which means "to be hung over". "Tømmer" is "timber" in my dictionary and "mænd" means "men". And to finish subtly, this is how must look like a "tømmermand ":

"More vomit in the streets!"

What do you think of all this? I personally find that they are quite fearless ... But I realize that I probably lack some cultural references to understand everything. And to be quite honest with you, I'm not really interested at all in Danish politics.

By the way, did you know that Denmark is one of the less corrupted countries in the world? (according to the NGO Transparency International, sources here)

The Danes and their flag

Since I love the anecdotes about cultural differences, today I inaugurate a new category of posts pompously entitled, um ... Cultural differences. Well, sure, Denmark is not really an exotic country, but nonetheless, there are funny things to tell.

Like the frenzied passion the Danes have for their flag.

They put flags everywhere (particularly during special occasions): in their living room, in their garden, on their birthday cake ...

Don't consider that as misplaced patriotism. For them it is simply a symbol of celebration. Thus, in each Danish supermarket, there is a section devoted to the essential accessories of the respectable party-man, mostly composed of flags that you in can plant on the cake, or wave proudly.

I have even seen in the supermarket small poles about 50 cm high, with the flag that you have to hoist on top with a string!

The Danes are proud of it because of its history and the powerful symbol it represents. This is probably the oldest flag in the world. They gave him the name of the Dannebrog (red flag, and by extension, the Danish flag). According to the legend, the flag has its origin in 1219 in Estonia, at the battle of Lyndanisse, where the Danish King Valdemar II saw that cross appearing in the sky and miraculously gave the victory to the Danes. Nothing less as a gift of God !

Christian August Lorentzen, 1809,

Statens Museum for Kunst

This characteristic cross, wrongly called "Scandinavian cross", was afterwards cheerfully copied by all northern neighbors!

(Finlande, Islande, Norvège, Suède, Danemark)

In the next episode we will talk about another Danish passion: the candles!