I’ve begun writing an alternate WW1 history book where the world wasn’t so lopsidedly supportive of the entente, with Japan, Italy, Brazil, and Sweden joining the central powers. All of which make significant differences in how the war plays out except, Sweden, who has always had Prussian sympathies. They were very sympathetic to the central powers just never directly joining the alliance. But with a small army and relative weak economy in comparison to pretty much all other European nations it’s hard to see how even if they did it would make much of a difference.
So, one way or another unite the Nordic countries while not changing too much of the other countries. I.e. don’t have them annex Russia or Britain or anything major.
Did any small pre Swedish Finnish kingdoms or chiefdoms exist? Can't find any info about it on Wikipedia.
Yesterday we had a very honest and open conversation about racism that all in all was quite constructive. I want to build on that by discussing a point that came up often: social rules and antisocial behavior, the "unspoken rules" that foreigners may not be privy to. Especially the little things that are not usually discussed (ex: things like stand in queue and don't talk on the phone on public transportation are discussed often, but "don't wear strong/excessive perfume" started an interesting discussion yesterday.) Things like dining etiquette, topics of conversation at work, etc...
I also want to be clear: the thinking that "we are racist against foreigners because they don't follow our social norms" is not right. The "first fit in, and then we'll treat you right" was expressed a lot yesterday. This attitude is so harmful and wrong and needs to change. It's NOT okay to be racist. Point blank. Period. Whether it's prejudice based on someone's race or based on their ethnic group (because someone is Russian, Romani, etc.) It is not okay. Racism in itself is antisocial behavior that should be frowned upon.
The "this is how we are and if you don't like it get out" thinking is so messed up. People move to Finland because they love Finland, not to be mistreated or discriminated against. "Integration is on the immigrant, not the country" is also not true. There's only so much that a foreigner can do to integrate, after that it is up to the country and it's citizens to do their part. The fact that second or third generation immigrants are finding difficulty integrating despite being Finnish to their core shows a problem.
Keep the discussion open. Don't get disheartened by negative comments. The fact that a discussion is happening shows there is progress being made.
Edit: here's the thread from yesterday.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Finland/comments/rr39g9/a_healthy_and_honest_discussion_of/
With such a long period of being ruled by Sweden, Finland should be speaking a Germanic language by now but it didn’t. While the first 300 years of Swedish rule in Finland 1300-1600 were based on the southern portion of Finland, while the later 200 years from 1600-1800 encompassed the entirety of the country, most of Finland’s population was and still is based on the southern portion of Finland.
Finland at the time was only a land of Ugric tribes who didn’t form kingdoms while Sweden was a centralized kingdom who held great influences in its region.
How did the Finnish language survive being under Swedish rule for half a millennium?
Two redditors argued whether Estonia should or could be considered a Nordic country over at r/MapPorn. Labels aside, how much influence have Sweden and other Nordic countries had on Estonian culture and history? How does it compare to Swedish/Nordic influence in Finland or say, the other Baltic countries?
Redditor 1: >Estonia is not nordic or "Nordic". End of story. Estonia lacks the Swedish influence that Finland has from being a part of Sweden for 600-700 years.
Redditor 2: >Estonia doesn’t lack Swedish influence and has itself been part of the Swedish empire, although for a shorter period of time than Finland. Add in the trade (e.g. Hanseatic League) and cultural exchange around the Baltic Sea and there’s a case for Estonia being more Nordic than some parts of Finland.
Redditor 1: > I'm not sure Estonia's 5%-of-the-population-speaking-Swedish level Swedish. People in even rural Finland have Swedish surnames, Swedish foods are eaten on a regular basis, Finland has had very very close relations with Sweden for most of history, Åland, the elite historically spoke Swedish until recently, thousands of words are loaned from Swedish, etc... I think you severely underestimate how much Sweden has influenced Finland, especially compared to Estonia.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/r38nbg/scandinavian_nordic_or_baltic/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
I recently came across a song in Swedish that I am trying to research further. I have found out some information about it - see below - but would still like to know additional info like the title, composer/author, date of origin, if it is printed in any song books, other recordings of it.
The song is sung by Barbara Koski on Episode 1056 of the TV show Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. The song starts at the 12:48 minute mark during the episode. Here is a link to where the episode can be viewed.
https://misterrogers.org/episode.../batch-72-1056-1060/
A very helpful person named Markus Miekk-oja was able to help me with the following information:
"This artist is not from Sweden, altho' she does sing in Swedish. She is a Finland-Swede, whose repertoire contained a lot of Finland-Swedish poetry and music. The narrative about her learning it from a Swedish neighbour probably is just because explaining the complexity of being from Finland but speaking Swedish was awkward enough for whomever wrote the manuscript.
Swedes from Sweden are often rather ignorant about this extension of their culture, and it's unlikely to find much help among regular Swedes. A few details in the syntax suggest to me that this fairly certainly was written by a Finland-Swede.
I've been trying to find the lyrics online but to no avail, but here they are as they would be written in Swedish:
Nu sjunger sommarn* sin sista visa,
nu faller gulnande löv mot jord,
nu börjar sångarens vän att frysa,
nu vissnar blomman uppå hans bord
Han skulle plockat så många blommor,
han skulle bundit så många kransar,
han skulle skrivit så många visor
|: fly inte fåglar
gulna ej björk
vissna ej blommor
dag bliv ej mörk
gråter du min lilla vän, för sommaren som gått? : |
A quick and dirty translation, trying to catch the poetry without being too literal:
Now summer sings its last verse
now yellow leaves fall to earth
the singer's friend is freezing,
the flower upon his table wilting
He would have picked so many flowers,
he would have woven so many wreaths,
he would have composed so many songs
oh birds, don't fly away,
oh birch, don't turn yellow
oh flowers, don't wilt
oh day, don't turn dark
are you crying, little friend, for the summer that has passed?
["Sommarn" is somewhat archaic, and may be (hyper)corrected in written f
So i was reminiscing about the Swedish Empire and something clicked, since Queen Elizabeth I I is the monarch and figurehead over the commonwealth countries i figured that i lt could be possible to have a similar system when it comes to Finland and possibly Estonia (that is if they want it of course) but i was thinking with our countries shared history such a thing could have a possibility of happening.
