Country meme, questions 11-15
Feb. 15th, 2018 01:01 pmQuestions 11-15 as asked by ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
verdande_mi, xspike4evax, florianschild, motordraconis, feliciacraft,
debris4spike and dariaw
11. Favourite native writer/poet?
Favourite authors are Inger Edelfeldt and Anna-Karin Palm. Both are great, but sadly not translated to English. As for favourite poets, Karin Boye. I’ve written about here at some length here.
12. What do you think about English translations of your favourite native prose/poem?
We go back to Karin Boye here, and I think the translations is very good.
Spellbound
When you are away, my soul hungers wildly.
When you are close, I long for you just as much -
in despair I see,
numb, secluded,
how empty and futile
is the minute which goes by.
Your essence of proud and regal perfumes fine
I secretly wanted to drink, a sacred wine -
but I stand heavy as death
as in dreams,
with a thirst like Tantalos
in clear streams.
In times of solitude my tongue has burned
to tell you of the beautiful thing I have dreamt and felt
but when I am near you
my thoughts slumber,
my door is closed,
and my heart is numb.
13. Does your country (or family) have any specific superstitions or traditions that might seem strange to outsiders?
I think all families have their own traditions, but I don’t know if they are particularly strange. I mean, for me they are perfectly normal. Our family always have Easter dinner at our summer house, which marks the beginning of time spent there, more or less. We don’t always spend Christmas, or other holidays, together, so Easter is the true family holiday for us. Which means that apart from my parents, sister, our spouses and children, it also includes Mims, My Ex and his wife, and as long as he was alive, my Ex’s father.
As a country I suppose Lucia is a bit strange. On the morning of December 13 Lucia arrives with her entourage. There are always her maids, but there can also be star singers, and, if it’s a children’s Lucia celebration, also “tomtenissar” and gingerbread men. Lucia is dressed in a long white smock with a red sash and a crown with candles. Her maids have the same smock, but sash and headband of evergreens or tinsel, and carrying candlers, and the star singers the smock and a paper cone hat decorated with golden stars. They sing Christmas songs, but also songs which only refers to Lucia, and how her arrival is a harbinger of the return of light, and that Christmas is almost here. Today’s peaceful Lucia is a rather new tradition, with a bunch of older stuff mixed in. The modern Lucia formed during the 19th century, taking bits from various parts of Sweden and making it into one.
Up until the early 18th century, Mid-winter in Sweden was just on December 13, and though the calendar was adjusted, it was still believed to be the darkest, and most dangerous, night of the year. It was a night to stay awake, but also to keep indoors, because on this night Lusse, or Lussi was around. Probably a remnant of a pagan entity symbolising the day, Lusse could be either male or female, but alway up to no good.
14. Do you enjoy your country’s cinema and/or TV?
Not really. Nothing wrong with the scripts and the photograph, but for some reason Swedish actors are taught to speak in a very deliberate and unnatural way, which grates on my nerves. It became glaringly obvious in an episode of American Horror Story where two Swedish actresses had dialogue both in English and Swedish, and they changed the way they spoke when they switched languages. The only movies I really enjoy are directed by Suzanne Osten and Colin Nutley (an he isn’t Swedish).
15. A saying, joke, or hermetic meme that only people from your country will get?
Hmm, how can I know what other people will be able to get? But I always liked this sentence consisting of only vocals; “I åa e ö”. It means “In the river there is an island.”
verdande_mi, xspike4evax, florianschild, motordraconis, feliciacraft, debris4spike and dariaw 11. Favourite native writer/poet?
Favourite authors are Inger Edelfeldt and Anna-Karin Palm. Both are great, but sadly not translated to English. As for favourite poets, Karin Boye. I’ve written about here at some length here.
12. What do you think about English translations of your favourite native prose/poem?
We go back to Karin Boye here, and I think the translations is very good.
Spellbound
When you are away, my soul hungers wildly.
When you are close, I long for you just as much -
in despair I see,
numb, secluded,
how empty and futile
is the minute which goes by.
Your essence of proud and regal perfumes fine
I secretly wanted to drink, a sacred wine -
but I stand heavy as death
as in dreams,
with a thirst like Tantalos
in clear streams.
In times of solitude my tongue has burned
to tell you of the beautiful thing I have dreamt and felt
but when I am near you
my thoughts slumber,
my door is closed,
and my heart is numb.
13. Does your country (or family) have any specific superstitions or traditions that might seem strange to outsiders?
I think all families have their own traditions, but I don’t know if they are particularly strange. I mean, for me they are perfectly normal. Our family always have Easter dinner at our summer house, which marks the beginning of time spent there, more or less. We don’t always spend Christmas, or other holidays, together, so Easter is the true family holiday for us. Which means that apart from my parents, sister, our spouses and children, it also includes Mims, My Ex and his wife, and as long as he was alive, my Ex’s father.
As a country I suppose Lucia is a bit strange. On the morning of December 13 Lucia arrives with her entourage. There are always her maids, but there can also be star singers, and, if it’s a children’s Lucia celebration, also “tomtenissar” and gingerbread men. Lucia is dressed in a long white smock with a red sash and a crown with candles. Her maids have the same smock, but sash and headband of evergreens or tinsel, and carrying candlers, and the star singers the smock and a paper cone hat decorated with golden stars. They sing Christmas songs, but also songs which only refers to Lucia, and how her arrival is a harbinger of the return of light, and that Christmas is almost here. Today’s peaceful Lucia is a rather new tradition, with a bunch of older stuff mixed in. The modern Lucia formed during the 19th century, taking bits from various parts of Sweden and making it into one.
Up until the early 18th century, Mid-winter in Sweden was just on December 13, and though the calendar was adjusted, it was still believed to be the darkest, and most dangerous, night of the year. It was a night to stay awake, but also to keep indoors, because on this night Lusse, or Lussi was around. Probably a remnant of a pagan entity symbolising the day, Lusse could be either male or female, but alway up to no good.
14. Do you enjoy your country’s cinema and/or TV?
Not really. Nothing wrong with the scripts and the photograph, but for some reason Swedish actors are taught to speak in a very deliberate and unnatural way, which grates on my nerves. It became glaringly obvious in an episode of American Horror Story where two Swedish actresses had dialogue both in English and Swedish, and they changed the way they spoke when they switched languages. The only movies I really enjoy are directed by Suzanne Osten and Colin Nutley (an he isn’t Swedish).
15. A saying, joke, or hermetic meme that only people from your country will get?
Hmm, how can I know what other people will be able to get? But I always liked this sentence consisting of only vocals; “I åa e ö”. It means “In the river there is an island.”
