6th June – National Day Celebrations

6th June is the National Day of Sweden, also known as Swedish Flag Day. The Flag Day has been celebrated for about a hundred years, but it wasn’t raised to the status of a national holiday until fairly recently (2005). Historic events related to this day go back to 1523, when Gustav Vasa was elected king of Sweden. In 1809, an important change of constitutional laws was also introduced on this date (something to do with the balance of power between King and Riksdag/Parliament).

Anyway, the public celebrations of the day seem to be growing. Here they include a special ceremony to welcome new citizens (inhabitants of our city who have been granted Swedish citizenship over the past year), and also a performance by the home guard music corps. When I arrived at the park around 3 p.m. it was absolutely crowded, I think probably the most people I’ve ever seen gathered there. It was hard even to find anywhere on the outskirts from where I could take photos showing the crowd! ; )

Against the odds I happened to meet a friend and together we joined the queue to the ice cream bar, and even more miraculously managed to find two free chairs in half-shadow outside that place when we came out. So we sat comforably for for a while and ate our ice cream, had a bit of a catch-up chat and listened to the music from a little distance.

In the evening, on TV at home, I watched some of the celebrations held in Stockholm, including the presence of the royal family.

Photo from my TV screen: The royal family outside the Royal Palace in Stockholm
The Queen and the princesses are wearing the official national costume ‘Sverigedräkten’
From left to right:
Crown Princess Victoria and her husband Prince Daniel
Queen Silvia and King Carl XVI Gustaf
Princess Sofia and Prince Carl Philip
Princess Madeleine and her husband Chris O’Neill

Postcard for the Weekend – Flag

A postcard of the Swedish flag.

I don’t have a special category for flags in my postcard collection. Can’t remember if I ever received any flag cards from other countries (and in that case, where to look for them).

In Sweden we celebrated our National Day / Flag Day this week, on 6th June. See my photo post from that day.

Postcards for the Weekend 41

6th June - Sweden's National Day

 

 

I didn't really properly "attend" the National Day / Flag Day celebrations this year - just passed by on the outskirts of the crowd gathered in the town park. The ceremonies include welcoming new citizens; and this year I think they also had more activities than usual for families going on in town during the day.
 

6th June/National Day of Sweden

The National Day of Sweden (Sveriges nationaldag) is a national holiday observed in Sweden on the 6th of June. Prior to 1983, the day was celebrated as Swedish flag day (Svenska flaggans dag).

The photos in this post are from today’s celebrations in our town park. We had the best possible weather for such outdoor festivities, except that there were such sharp contrasts between light and shadow that is was hard to get good pictures. (In my editing here I sort of chose the “if you can’t fix it, use it” approach...)

The Swedish National Anthem
”Du gamla, du fria’”– “Thou ancient, thou free…'’

In Memory Of…

Yesterday, 28 February, Sweden commemorated the death of our prime minister Olof Palme who was murdered 25 years ago in a street in central Stockholm. On his way home from the cinema late at night together with his wife, he was shot in the back at close range. The crime still remains unsolved.

Palme, born 1927, was the leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 until his assassination in 1986. He was prime minister between 1969-1976 and again from 1982 until his death. He also played a role in international politics. As politician he was praised by some while detested by others.

The red rose is the symbol of the Social Democratic Party, so through the years there have been many red roses laid down on the spot where he was murdered and on his grave.

… … …

I was 30 years old. I had been living less than two months in the town where I still live today. 28 February must have been a Friday; because I first heard the news of the murder on the radio in the morning of what must have been a Saturday; because I was going away/’home’ for the weekend to visit my parents (who then lived about 100 km away). My mother’s birthday was the 20th but we must have postponed the family celebration another week for some reason. What I do remember is the bus ride of two hours or so, looking out of the window and seeing all the flags on half-mast, and trying to take in the news I had just heard.

 
Photo from Wikipedia

That’s really all I remember. I can no longer recall what anyone had to say about it just afterwards. Neither in my family, nor at my place of work, nor among my friends. What has stayed with me is the visual memory of sitting on the bus, looking out of the window, and seeing all the flags on half-mast that morning, 1st March, 1986.