Sexy Scandinavian history: The provocative style of Viking women

by Anna Brones on

If you think today’s Swedish women are hot, take a look at their ancestors. New research shows that Viking women did in fact dress in a provocative manner. The historic Scandinavian beauties combined Nordic with oriental styles, adorning themselves in bright colors, silk ribbons and small glittering mirrors.

Until recently, historians believed that Viking women dressed conservatively. The new findings are based on research headed up by archaeologist Annika Larsson, done in the Russian region of Pskov near Novgorod, an area that Swedish Vikings used as an Eastern trade route.

An exhibition on the new view of clothing and other cultural aspects of the Viking age is now on display at Uppsala University’s Gustavianum Museum, and running through September 14, 2008. If you’re planning on being in Sweden between now and September, it might be worth a stop; what could be hotter than Viking history?

Straight-up Scandinavia: Understanding the smörgåsbord

by Anna Brones on

Smorgasbord is a word commonly used in the English language. The Merriam Webster Dictionary describes it as “a luncheon or supper buffet offering a variety of foods and dishes (as hors d’oeuvres, hot and cold meats, smoked and pickled fish, cheeses, salads, and relishes).” You can even use the word to describe a random mixture of things. But let’s take a look at its real meaning.

In Swedish the word is spelled smörgåsbord and breaks down into two parts: smörgås and bord. Smörgås of course means “sandwich” and bord means “table.” Scandinavians are big on open faced sandwiches and it is no surprise that one of their contributions to the global culinary vocabulary has to do with exactly that. This means that a true Scandinavian smorgasbord will always have a good selection of bread, butter and cheese, the beginnings of an excellent open faced sandwich. The first smorgasbord in America was seen at the 1939 World’s Fair held in New York, when Sweden’s delegation served up a traditional buffet as part of the exhibition. The American’s loved it so much they got rid of the pesky dots and rings over the “o” and “a” and americanized the word into its current state.

Although American lovers of Nordic culture like to use the word liberally, Scandinavians rarely use the word smorgasbord to refer to their buffets, and it is certainly not a staple of everyday life. Instead, the fancy buffet normally consisting of various fish like herring and salmon, even surströmming, cold meats and pates is saved for large gatherings, festive parties and special occasions. The most common variant on the theme is the julbord, the standard Christmas buffet which is served everywhere from family dinners to classy restaurants during the holiday season.

IKEA accused of teasing Denmark

by Anna Brones on

I recently wrote about the language of IKEA and how the global furniture giant names all of its products. If you remember, many pieces of furniture, like sofas, wardrobes and bookshelves, are named after places in Norway and Sweden. Denmark on the other hand gets stuck with doormats and carpets. Apparently this has caused a recent Danish uproar, blaming IKEA for naming products of lesser value after places in Denmark as a way to spite it.

“It [IKEA’s naming system] is too systematic for this to be random because IKEA is a very professional company. This can only be a way of teasing Denmark,” stated Nyhedsavisen, a free daily Danish newspaper, on Valentine’s Day.

This may all seem like a joke, but some Danes are taking it very seriously, as pointed out by Assistant Political Communication Professor at the University of Copenhagen, Klaus Kjøller, “It seems to be an example of cultural imperialism. IKEA has chosen the objects with the lowest value and given them Danish names.”

Cultural imperialism you say? I didn’t realize IKEA could be such a touchy subject. But then again, would you want a carpet named after you when other countries get the flashier items like beds and coffee tables?

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Straight-up Scandinavia: Learning the language of IKEA

by Anna Brones on

I find that either you love IKEA or you hate it; you can probably ascertain my own leanings by the fact that I am writing this article. Coming from a Scandinavian family, we have friends who used to have stuff shipped from Sweden to the US before the store made its American debut — some people are just truly committed. But seriously, the company’s basic idea was pretty cutting edge back in the 50s when it started designing furniture. “Affordable solutions for comfortable living,” as the company’s motto goes, went along with flat pack and consumer assembled pieces. How intelligent to reduce costs by reducing the volume of a piece of furniture.

IKEA is a Scandinavian institution gone global, and despite whether you love it or hate it, you are bound to end up with one of its products at some point. I mean really, who can resist sleek Scandinavian design? And when you do find yourself with that Nordic sofa, bookcase, or lamp, you might be interested to know exactly what all of the funny names mean. Pyssla, Svala, Visdalen, Gök? Although it may seem like a jumble of Viking vowels, there is some method to the madness. IKEA’s founder Ingvar Kamprad was actually dyslexic, and he found that developing a system where products were named after places and things made it easier for him to remember them. Learning Swedish is great, but learning IKEA? Even better. A guide to deciphering the system that defines the IKEA language, thanks to a little help from the The Guardian:

Scandinavia unite:
Sofas, coffee tables, bookshelves, media storage and doorknobs — I agree, that last one is random — are named after places in Sweden; beds, wardrobes and hall furniture after places in Norway; and carpets after places in Denmark. And don’t think Finland gets left out; Finnish cities and places are the namesake for dining tables and chairs.
In the kitchen
Kitchens themselves — no, cooking in an all-Scandinavian setting does not require you to make meatballs — are normally named after Swedish grammatical terms. Going with the theme of cooking, kitchen utensils are named after spices, herbs, fish, fruit or berries. And just because Scandinavians are such believers in functional things, great words like Burken (meaning “the jar”) describe a line of spice jars.

Vad heter du? What’s your name?
Men’s names tend to go to chairs and desks while materials and curtains are women’s names. My mother has a nice set of place mats and chair pads named after her. I however, with a standard Scandinavian name like Anna, am far too common and get nothing.

Keeping the kids amused
IKEA’s great kids selection — I always get sucked in by the fun colors and random assortment of crazy stuffed animals — are named after mammals, birds and adjectives.

If you think you have all of that down, and have mastered the list of Scandinavian places and words, you can play the IKEA Game, where IKEA product names are picked at random out of a database and your job is to guess what the product is.

And if you are one of those IKEA-dreading individuals, you might want some help with IKEA survival during your next visit.

Cliff Barnes: Stockholm’s Nightlife Done Right

by Grant Martin on

Next time you find yourself in Stockholm, consider visiting one of my favorite bars in the world: Cliff Barnes.

Now, I’ve been to a lot of bars in my day and I’m generally a person who’s fonder of the the quieter, lounge types of establishments. Sure, I’ve been dragged to a few clubs, but dancing really isn’t my forte.

Cliff Barnes is set up as a ski-lodge-esque sort of of drinking hall, with large dark tables, wooden trim and exotic wallpaper. When we got there at about 10:30, the line had just started and we could see the happy Swedes dining about their business within. Declining to check our coats on the way in, we were told by the bouncers “No, really. It’ll get hot in there.”

And hot it got. Milling about and enjoying the landscape at 11PM, the lights suddenly dropped and Also Sprach Zarathustra came on over the speakers. Followed by a five second pause. Followed by In The Navy. You get the picture. Not your average dance music by far, and therefore, outstanding. As you can probably guess, it didn’t take long for the happy Swedes and Americans alike to get on the tables and start swinging things around.

We later learned that Cliff Barnes was a recurring member of the telly show Dallas. A perfect name for a perfect bar.

Norrtullsgatan 45, 11345 Stockholm.