A Canadian in Sweden

Swedish stag parties

Last night I went to a stag party organized for Jörgen. Jörgen is the guy I wrote about in the fall for taking me up to his experimental site on the mires. Jörgen is getting married the 31st, he defended his Ph.D. last month, and his first baby arrived a few weeks ago.

It will have been a big year for him.

Anyhow, the stag party in Sweden does not involve the kind of stupidity that one typically thinks is normal during a Canadian stag party. The majority of the time was spent in an amazing rustic sauna with a sod roof and a wood burning stove. No electricity, of course, so it is lit with candles. Very, very cool. I wanted to take pictures, but 1) they never would have turned out because the light was so dim. 2) taking my camera into an environment of 75 degrees C and 100 % humidity is not a smart thing to do, and 3) any pics that did turn out would have been of a bunch of naked, sweaty dudes holding beer cans. Inte bra.

Towards the end of the evening (after a fair amount of beer had been consumed) a conversation began in the sauna about the tomte (little people) who are never seen but can either cause mischief or help you out depending on various factors - like, if you are nice to them, or if you accidentally build your house over one of their paths. I don't think tomte can be translated, but it would be close to elves or leprechauns, I think. It was a serious conversation, about how they are slowly disappearing because they have nowhere to go nowadays. This fits with an article I read a while back (I can't find it now of course) which claims that a significant percentage of the adult population in Sweden and Norway believes in these little people. Moreso in the rural areas. It could be argued that Umeå is as close to a rural area as an urban area can be, though.

One more thing for a North American to digest. But again, something I find quite charming.

posted by Jeff @ 11:59 PM