Which Scandinavian winners of the Eurovision Song Contest do you remember? Bobbysocks? Olsen Brothers? Surely, you remember ABBA?
Denmark and Norway have chosen the winners of this year’s national Eurovision song contests and Sweden will pick theirs next Saturday. I figured I would celebrate this by looking back at all the Scandinavian winners of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Abba won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974
The last Scandinavian winner was Sweden’s Måns Zelmerlöv with Heroes in 2015
Two years before, in 2013, Denmark’s Emmelie de Forest won with Only Teardrops
Just one year earlier, in 2012, Sweden won with Loreen’s Euphoria
In 2009 Norway won with Alexander Rybak’s Fairytale
Four winners in six years – impressive! But before Alexander Rybak we have to all the way back to 2000 to find another Scandinavian winner.
Every Norwegian over 30 remembers the Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer. Norwegians under 30 wish they did. The Lillehammer-Olympic games were important for the national soul of Norway. And these days we celebrate the 25th anniversary.
The Kristin-doll from the Olympic Games in Lillehammer, is everywhere in the streets of Lillehammer.
The Olympic games in Lillehammer were important. I remember being there, enjoying the athmosphere, the pride over the games being fairly well organized and how everyone felt connected to one another.
It was 25 years ago the “floka”
One thing I remember very fondly is the Olympic Games “floka” which was a special dance everyone did when we were cold (it was minus 25 C) while watching the skiiers, skijumpers and biathletes.
The music was typical Scandinavia mid-90s. And if you’re wondering why the beginning is much older than 1994, then it’s because the lyrics are referring to the Winter Olympics in Oslo in 1953.
Kristin, Håkon and the Northern Lights
The designers behind the Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer really dived into the national pride of Norway when they made the logo and the mascots. Kristian and Håkon were two semi-Viking children.
Håkon was one of the two Viking children you could meet at the Winter Olympic Games at Lillehammer. Now you can meet him outside shops in the main street of Lillehammer.
You could buy them as dolls but you could also meet them in person. A number of kids were hired to act as Kristin and Håkon, meeting celebrities and being young ambassadors for the Olympic Games.
Kristin and Håkon outside a shop in Lillehammer
The Northern Lights were an important part of the design as well. The Northern Lights were featured in the logo even though it’s fairly rare to see the Nothern Lights in Lillehammer, as the city is situated way too south for that.
A 25th anniversary celebration in Lillehammer. The Northern lights were the logo and a modern remake of the old “helleristninger” (petroglyphs) were illustrations
They also used a modern version of the old “helleristninger” (petroglyphs) that can be found several places in Scandinavia. The petroglyphs were used to illustrate all the different sports.
Watch a full reminder of the Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer.
Is Scandinavian politics just about free education, free healthcare, long maternity/paternity leave and high taxes to pay for all of this? Lately many non-Scandinavians have pointed to Scandinavia–either as a political system to copy or something to scare people with … because, you know, socialism.
The Norwegian parliament, built in LEGO, can be seen inside the Norwegian parliament. Notice the protesters in front of the parliament – they’re an important part of our democracy.
So are the Scandinavian Social Democracies (we do not call them socialist democracies, for the record) just about a lot of free stuff and high taxes? Definitely not. The Scandinavian Social Democracies are complicated systems that depend on a number of small parts to make them work. I’ll run through those small parts here.
These points come from a lecture I heard a while back by Yngvar Åsholt from the Norwegian employment- and welfareorganization NAV.I use Norway as my example but Sweden and Denmark have the same system, with minor differences.
Well organized work force based on negotiations
In many countries unions are seen as a bad thing. Not so in Scandinavia. I’m an employer myself and I love the unions because they give me a well organized opportunity to discuss and negotiate big changes with the employees, which again gives me and the company happier employees. Happy employees are an asset so even if you’re just thinking with your wallet, you should welcome anything that makes your employees happier. You might also consider thinking with your heart and not just your wallet.
Did the Vikings have unions? Were they happy with their Earl?
Unions are not just important locally but also on state level. The Scandinavian countries practice something called the three-party-cooperation where the unions, the employer organizations and the government negotiate big changes to pensions, wages, maternity/paternity leaves, vacations etc. The unions speak for the employees, the employer organizations speak for the employers and the businesses and the state tries to keep spending low and satisfaction high. These yearly or bi-yearly negotiations are incredibly important and there’s a system surrounding them to make sure it’s a give and take on all three parties.
Finally, the moment is here! The anthology I’m a part of, will go live on March 8th – and the book is ready for pre-order!
Love in Bloom is a collection of great stories
Love in Bloom is a collection of nine romances and I can promise you the anthology holds something for everyone. You get steampunk, vampires, dog handlers–and in my story you get two cosplayers who’ve been online friends for years but are now meeting up for the first time.
How well do you know your online friend?
This is the blurb to Cosplay, my story in the anthology:
Charlotte has one close friend. Unfortunately, that close friend lives in Norway, and Charlotte has never seen her before. A cosplay convention in Oslo is Charlotte’s chance at finally meeting her online BFF, but when the masks come off, Charlotte is in for a big surprise.
Today is Mother’s Day in Norway. Why do Norwegians celebrate Mother’s Day the second Sunday of February?
Flowers from my daughter on Mother’s Day
I had a great surprise waiting for me this morning. My daughter, who lives at home, woke me up with eggs and bacon, presents and some very pretty tulips. My son, who is currently in Japan with his school, FaceTimed me with hugs and kisses.
The reason? It’s Mother’s Day in Norway today.
Why does Norway celebrate Mother’s Day in February?
Mother’s Day started in the USA over a hundred years ago. In the USA, and in large parts of the world, Mother’s Day is celebrated in May.
But if Norway had chosen the second Sunday of May as Mother’s Day it might have collided with another great day in this country: The 17th of May, Norway’s National Day.
So Norway ended up, as the only country in the world, with celebrating Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of February.
I wanted to make a list of the best contemporary Scandinavian music but quickly realized that I hadn’t been paying attention. Luckily, I have a daughter who spends quite a few hours every day listening to music and luckily she doesn’t mind teaching her stone age-based mother a thing or two about what I should be listening to.
Here is her list. Check it out and see if you find something you like!
I am an immigrant. I’ve been an immigrant to several countries and for the last 30 years (as of today, actually) I’ve been an immigrant to Norway. I came to Norway to work for a few months because I was broke after having lived in California for some time, and my own country–Denmark–could offer me nothing. Most of my friends were unemployed and I did not want to go down that road.
So I came to Norway with two empty hands and a desire to work. I did what immigrants often do, I took the jobs the locals didn’t want. I worked in housekeeping and as a dishwasher at a hotel, I worked as a waiter and I had a job making open-faced sandwiches in a cafeteria. Later on I grabbed the offer of free education from the Norwegian state and the rest is history. I’ve been working and paying taxes for 25 years now. I’m fairly sure I’ve been a good investment for the state of Norway, even if she did pay for six years of university education. Less so for my birth country, Denmark, who paid for 12 years of school and only received pennies (well, øre) back in taxes from me.
Not exactly what my open face sandwiches looked like…
Me – a parasite
Before I came to Norway, I lived in California. I was probably not a good investment for California. Yes, I did spend money there but I also had a job without paying any taxes. Yes, I was a selfish kid who applied for, and got a job at a cafe, without having a work permit. I would have gladly paid my taxes if it had been possible, but it wasn’t. I wasn’t an illegal immigrant as such–I had a visa to live there–but I definitely worked there illegally. Sorry, California.
Walnut Creek – my home many years ago
The same goes for Greece and Italy, because I’ve lived and worked in both countries for short periods of time. It was perfectly legal for me to live there, but I did not have permission to work (I have to remind you that this was before Schengen and you had to have a work permit even inside the EU). Sorry, Greece and Italy.
There are plenty of ways to die here in Scandinavia. Most of them are the same ways people die in other countries but the Scandinavian edition of Mother Nature does have something special in store for those of us living in – or visiting – this cold corner of the world.
Warning: Do not read this if any of your loved ones died in Scandinavia or if you’re not comfortable with death as a part of life. I am not going to treat death with any kind of respect in this blog post.
How can you die in Scandinavia?
Animals that kill
Some countries have sharks, alligators and crocodiles, venomous snakes and spiders (yikes) and even jellyfish that can kill you (yes, I’m looking at you, Australia).
Luckily it’s too cold for any of those animals to live in Scandinavia. Yes, we do have sharks but they’re about the size of a dachshund and not really very scary. Yes, we also have venomous snakes but they can probably, maybe, if you’re really unlucky, kill said dachshund if your vet is more than 24 hours away. Humans are safe.
So what kind of animals kill people here in Scandinavia?
Is it this guy?
Wolves don’t kill people.
Nope. Wolves may kill sheep–and may be killed by angry sheep farmers–but they do not kill people. Not even tourists.
Is it this girl?
Bears do not kill people – at least not very often.
Nope. Bears also like to snack on sheep and they can kill people. But it’s been a long-long time since they killed anyone in Scandinavia. If you’re not between a mother bear and her cubs, you’re probably safe. Polar bears are very dangerous but the only place in Scandinavia where you’ll find polar bears is on Svalbard. On Svalbard it’s mandatory to carry a rifle because of potential polar bear attacks.
Svalbard is pretty far to the north and far from mainland Scandinavia so polar bears are not really a danger to most Scandinavians
So which mammal (apart from homo sapiens) kills most people in Scandinavia? Any guesses?
It’s this guy:
Moose don’t kill people. People in cars kill moose … and themselves
Hundreds, if not thousands, of Swedes and Norwegians are hurt or killed every year because they drive into a moose. Danes are safe because there are no moose in Denmark.
A moose is a very heavy animal with very thin legs. This means that if a car hits the poor moose, its huge body will land on the windshield or on top of the car and the passengers of the car will be crushed by the weight of it.
After 6-10 months of snow, sleet and rain, something strange makes Scandinavians stare at the sky. A big yellow ball not only brightens up the day (and night) – it sends heat to our cold corner of the world.
What is that weird ball in the sky?
So what do we do when we’re no longer the place where the sun doesn’t shine?
1, We go outside
Scandinavians tend to be at our most creative when the sun shines and we really should be at work or school. We’ll work at home (= sit outside with the laptop and do absolutely nothing work-related), take long lunches (= sit outside with some food and try to chew as slowly as possible to avoid going back inside) and study for our exams at the local park (= fall asleep at the park while hoping we’ll somehow manage to remember everything we read in the cold winter months).
Everyone wants to be outside when the sun shines
In July nobody works. Do not call a Scandinavian work place and expect people to actually help you out. They may have one person on duty but he or she can only tell you to call back in August. It’s summer – you expect us to work?!?
Some of us – actually 60-70% of us – are lucky enough to have a cabin in the family. We’ll go to that cabin every weekend when the weather is nice. Which results in the roads out of our cities looking like this on Friday afternoon:
