Saturday, June 6, 2009
Today is Sweden's National Day!
But what exactly is it supposed to celebrate?
I just found out about this national day this year while studding in Sweden, I had no idea one existed and well come to find out many Swedes don't know either and what is even funnier is that no one celebrates it, they wait until Midsommer!! So I looked up some info about this day on a website that gives me Swedish news in English and this is what it told me!
What exactly does this day celebrate? "A more difficult question to answer than you might expect. Unlike other countries, which have anniversaries of independence or revolutions to commemorate, Sweden has never been occupied and has never got rid of its monarchy.
If you ask a Swede, they'll probably mumble something vague about Gustav Vasa.
The day does indeed coincide with the anniversary of Gustav Vasa's election as Sweden's king in 1523, marking the end of the union with Denmark and the start of a new period of closer unity within Sweden. This day was celebrated from the 19th century as a national day of commemoration.
June 6th was also the day in 1809 on which Sweden adopted a new constitution, something it did again on the same date in 1974. From the 1890s, the Skansen open air museum in Stockholm started organizing patriotic celebrations on June 6th. In 1916, the day became The Swedish Flag Day."
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