I know what you are thinking;
“What?! Is the Swedish National Day only one day after the Danish National Day???
Oh yes, it is. And I will tell you a very Swedish perspective on this History:
So, Sweden was in a Union together with Denmark and Norway from year 1397. The Union was called the Kalmar Union after the Swedish city Kalmar (This is also my hometown. Picture of the Castle left). Even though all agreements where signed in a Swedish city it did not mean that we Swedes had any kind of larger leadership over the deal (a problem to start with, Sweden like to play big-bro in Scandinavia).
Very soon Denmark took power over the Union and Sweden felt more and more overdriven and used. The Swedish History books talk about the Danish King as “Christian Tyrann” and the Danish children learn to call their Ancestor “Christian the Good One”. You get the picture.
The big turningpoint came as Christian II decided to kill all the Familiy Heads* of the ca 100 most influential Swedish noble families. It was a pretty cruel happening where the Danish king invited to a 3 day November Party that ended with the so called Stockholm blood bath in 1520.
Remember that one next Halloween.
Ok, enough scary stories. Now to the happy ending:
Since all important Swedish Men where now dead it took almost 3 years for one of their sons to get his people together to fight the Danes. To make a very long story short the young Gustav Wasa skied the country and got all stubborn farmers together and succeeded to fight the Danish occupancy.
On June 6th 1523 Gustav Wasa was officially given the Swedish Crown in Stockholm. And this day we are still celebrating.
Guess what the Danes are celebrating? Ok, I must admit that I do not have a source on this, but I do like to think that they are celebrating their last day as a Superpower.
* Vad heter Familjeöverhuvud in English? Att kalla dem „Head“ blir så brutalt i den här historien.
3 Comments on “Today is the Swedish National Day.”
Informative & Entertaining
You are a good storyteller too.
I’m glad that I found your web-page. Originally I saw a photo of your bicycle on google images, and I liked it, so I came to your web-page to find baking, my hobby. I work from home, so while I take phone calls or have people over for meetings, I bake at the same time. :-)
Happy Sweden day! I certainly learned something new. I have no recollection of learning about these gruesome acts in school in Denmark. Surely it’s centuries old Swedish propaganda :-)
:) Hehe.. Solana, I think everything I was taught about Denmark in school was some kind of propaganda. But I do believe that this is the worst one.