SwedishFreak, Author at Swedish Freak

The Dessert Sweden is Talking About

What do you get when you cross a princesstårt and a semla? Why, a Princess Semla of course! A bakery in the town of Nässjö, Sweden (south of Stockholm) has come up with the semla (plural is semlor) of the year. (Don’t know what a semla is? Check out our amazing semlor recipe!) Everyone seems to … Read more

Ice Hotel Now Year Round

by SwedishFreak

The famous ice hotel I’ve heard about ever since I’ve heard about Sweden, it seems like. The ICE Hotel is built ever year (since it was made out of ice) in the Swedish village of Jukkasjärvi. It features not only rooms guests can sleep in (yes, made out of ice), but also has a famous ‘ice bar’ where you can drink your liquor out of an ice glass.

Since November, though, you can now experience the ICE Hotel year round with a new ICEHOTEL 360. This will have saunas and bathrooms, a large ice bar and an ice gallery that will be cooled in the summers using solar panels.

Check out the awesome video above (which totally makes me miss Sweden!) or visit their website to learn more about the ICE Hotel.

Sankta Lucia Song

by SwedishFreak

I am surprised after all these years I haven’t found the whole Sankta Luica song, nor found the time to translate it!

Well, TG for YouTube. Easy enough to search for one, and I found this great channel that not only has the song, but includes the lyrics in Swedish! Enough for me 🙂

Here are the lyrics for you, with my attempt at a translation. I’m sure there will be some corrections in the comments soon (right Thomas?) 😀

[row]

[column size=’1/2′]Natten går tunga fjät
rund gård och stuva;
kring jord, som sol förlät*,
skuggorna ruva.
Då i vårt mörka hus,
stiger med tända ljus,
Sankta Lucia, Sankta Lucia.

Natten går stor och stum
nu hörs dess vingar
i alla tysta rum
sus som av vingar.
Se, på vår tröskel står
vitklädd med ljus i hår
Sankta Lucia, Sankta Lucia.

Mörkret ska flykta snart
ur jordens dalar
så hon ett underbart
ord till oss talar.
Dagen ska åter ny
stiga ur rosig sky
Sankta Lucia, Sankta Lucia.[/column]

[column size=’1/2′]The night treads heavily
around yards and dwellings;
in places unreached by sun,
the shadows brood.
Then in our dark house,
she walks in with ignited light,
Saint Lucia, Saint Lucia.

The night is large and quiet
now we can hear her wings
in all the silent room
whispers like wings.
See, on our doorstep she stands
white dressed with light in her hair
Saint Lucia, Saint Lucia.

The darkness will soon leave
out of the earths descends
so she wonderful
word for us to plead.
The day will again be new
rise up the rosy sky
Saint Lucia, Saint Lucia.[/column]

[/row]

Now you can sing this song on December 13th to celebrate Saint Lucia day!

Lucia for Dummies

by SwedishFreak

One thing I absolutely love about the Swedish government is how informative they are about Sweden! In researching a bit about St Lucia, I found a video that gives you the breakdown you need for Lucia in Sweden.

AKA, Lucia for Dummies! I’m glad I watched it too, because I was forgetting something important. What is needed for Lucia?

Saffron buns (or lussebullar)
Singing children on December 13th
Glögg!

I can’t believe I still don’t have a recipe for glögg! That is my mission this year. Find a good glögg recipe and don’t burn it! Do you have one you want me to try? Send it my way!

I will be doing more digging into Lucia, particularly I want to find some Lucia songs that we can all sing along to. In the meantime though, enjoy this video about Lucia in Sweden (for Dummies).

Lucia Morning in Sweden

by SwedishFreak

In our monthly newsletter, I usually feature a product of the month. I thought I would go into a little bit more detail this month and create a blog post out of it! This month we are looking at the children’s book “Lucia Morning in Sweden“. It tells the story of 3 children living in … Read more

Swedish Cheese Please!

by SwedishFreak

I love hearing from fellow Swedish Freaks! Jennifer writes: I am one of your subscribers and wondered if you knew about this cheese available on Amazon. My great grandparents and grandparents served this cheese when I was a child. There are different places to order it from but since you have an amazon food list … Read more

Gävle Goat Burns Again

by SwedishFreak

Gävle’s famous Christmas goat just celebrated it’s 50th anniversary. Sadly, overnight, it was burned down by arsonists over night. Watch the reaction of a Swedish news program as they report the breaking news (in Swedish! Time to practice your Swedish!)

This isn’t the first time either! Of the 50 years the Gävle goat has been built, it has burned down 35 times. It seems arsonists just can’t help to set fire to a giant goat made of straw.

Check out the fun festival that Gävle had in order to celebrate the Christmas goat.

They are discussing the option of building the goat again, at least until Lucia. There are costs involved in that though, and there are always risks that the arsonists will try to burn the goat down again.

What do you think? Should Gävle build the goat or let it rest in peace?

Black Friday Sale at Swedish Freak

by SwedishFreak

Excited to announce a black Friday sale at our online SwedishFreak.com store. I recently just created new God Jul items for this year. Use the coupon code “God Jul 2016” at check out and get 10% off your entire purchase! Sale ends on November 30th, 2016, which is the shipping date you want for the items … Read more

Found Bergman Script to be a Swedish Film

by SwedishFreak

Note to self. Do a post on Igmar Bergman, the “world-famous filmmaker, legendary theatre director and exceptional writer” from Sweden, who produced numerous amounts of films during the 50s, 60s and 70s. There is a whole foundation that talks about his work and life, but we won’t get into that now.

A script found in 2002 of Bergman’s is going to be adapted for film, reports Yahoo. “Sixty-four minutes with Rebecka” touches on sexual and social topics of the 1960s and was a project Bergman was planning on producing with two other directing giants. Unfortunately the project fell threw and was never realized. Bergman’s rough draft of the manuscript was found among items he donated to an institute in his name.

The story has recently been adapted for radio by Suzanne Osten, who knew and had a conflicting relationship with Bergman. Radio Sverige released the radio version on November 6th, where you can download or listen to for free in Swedish.

Or, if you want Swedish subtitles, check out the YouTube video above. The film is in pre-production and is set to release sometime in 2018.

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