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Sweden's national day
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True or false? The Swedish national day has been celerated for several hundred years and is one of the most important holidays in Sweden.
Do you celebrate your birthday? Maybe there's cake, balloons, and gifts, on the very day you were born? Many countries also celebrate their own day. Sweden for instance, celebrates its national day on June 6th. Sure, it's not Sweden's birthday exactly.
But some countries do celebrate something that is quite similar to a birthday. The United States for instance. On the 4th of July, 1776, they decided that they were no longer a part of Great Britain, but instead a country of their own. And since then, they celebrate the 4th of July as their Independence Day. In France they celebrate the 14th of July as their national day.
It's to commemorate the French Revolution, when they got rid of their king, the monarchy was abolished, and the French republic was born. In Finland, they celebrate their Independence day on the 6th of December. This is to commemorate that Finland became a country of its own, near the end of World War I, in 1917. Before that, Finland was part of Russia, and even earlier, Finland was part of Sweden. Most counties have some form of national day.
Some celebrate that they were free, or independent from some other country. Others celebrate a revolution, or a reunification. A few countries commemorate some other historical date. Australia celebrates when the Europeans arrived there. Japan celebrates its first emperor.
Spain celebrates that Columbus arrived in America. So what about Sweden? What is it that we celebrate, really? Well, June 6th is the National Day of Sweden. You might notice more Swedish flags than usual.
Maybe you'll be invited to a picnic, or a barbecue. Or you might run into someone wearing a traditional folk costume. Perhaps you'll hear the National Anthem: Or, you won't notice anything at all of the national day. Because, the National day differs a bit from other holidays in Sweden, in the sense that we don't have a lot of strong traditions tied to it. One reason we don't celebrate Sweden's national day as much as people do in many other countries, is simply that it hasn't been around for very long.
It was only in 2005 that the national day became a day off, a 'red day' in the calendar. And it's only since 1983 we've had the 6th of June as our National day. Before that it said, 'the Day of the Swedish Flag' in the calendar on that day. Another reason we don't celebrate it that much, is that most people don't have strong feelings about the historical events that happened on the 6th of June. Sweden was never occupied by another country.
And it's been some 200 years since we last had a war here. So why do we celebrate the 6th of June? There are two reasons, actually. The first has to do with Gustav Vasa, because it was on this date that he became King of Sweden, in 1523. And this ended the Kalmar Union, which used to hold all the Scandinavian countries together.
The second reason that we celebrate the 6th of June, happened in 1809. That was when Sweden got a new constitution, giving parliament more power; and the autocracy of Gustav the Third and the Fourth was over. Neither were the birth of the nation exactly, but they were two quite important events. Some people think we ought to celebrate the national day more, that we ought to be proud, raise flags, and sing the national anthem more. Others find this whole national day thing a bit too reminiscent of all the times that excessive nationalism has caused problems.
Such as racism. And war. What do you think? Should we celebrate the national day more than we do in Sweden? Or is it enough to have a day off from school, barbecue, and eat ice cream?