The most common birthday in Sweden is 22 March. Rewind the tape nine months and you’ll realise that these birthday celebrators were conceived around the time of Midsummer’s Eve. Link or coincidence? Well, this celebration of sunlight and summer is famed for its amorous undertones and is often portrayed as a night of sin and debauchery. After all, what is a Midsummer celebration without flirtation, phallic symbols, a healthy helping of hard liquor and pickled herring?
Guests:
Jonas Engman, ethnologist at the Nordic Museum in Stockholm, provides his expert view on Swedish traditions.
Lena Lundkvist, population expert at Statistics Sweden. Knows everything there is to know about births, deaths and the life that goes on in between.
Klara Arnberg is a doctor in economic history who specialises in Swedish sex life and sexual politics.
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The most common birthday in Sweden is 22 March. Rewind the tape nine months and you’ll realise that these birthday celebrators were conceived around the time of Midsummer’s Eve. Link or coincidence? Well, this celebration of sunlight and summer is famed for its amorous undertones and is often portrayed as a night of sin and debauchery. After all, what is a Midsummer celebration without flirtation, phallic symbols, a healthy helping of hard liquor and pickled herring?
Guests:
Jonas Engman, ethnologist at the Nordic Museum in Stockholm, provides his expert view on Swedish traditions.
Lena Lundkvist, population expert at Statistics Sweden. Knows everything there is to know about births, deaths and the life that goes on in between.
Klara Arnberg is a doctor in economic history who specialises in Swedish sex life and sexual politics.
In 1766, Sweden became the first country in the world to write freedom of the press into its constitution. Freedom of the press remains a cornerstone of Sweden’s freedom of speech and goes hand in hand with a very liberal freedom of information that makes public records accessible to both the public and the press. These are laws that have been fundamental to Swedish democratic development. But what is being done to defend these freedoms in the information age?
Guest:
Ola Larsmo, writer and critic who promotes freedom of expression in his role as president of Swedish PEN.
Swedishness
The most common birthday in Sweden is 22 March. Rewind the tape nine months and you’ll realise that these birthday celebrators were conceived around the time of Midsummer’s Eve. Link or coincidence? Well, this celebration of sunlight and summer is famed for its amorous undertones and is often portrayed as a night of sin and debauchery. After all, what is a Midsummer celebration without flirtation, phallic symbols, a healthy helping of hard liquor and pickled herring?
Guests:
Jonas Engman, ethnologist at the Nordic Museum in Stockholm, provides his expert view on Swedish traditions.
Lena Lundkvist, population expert at Statistics Sweden. Knows everything there is to know about births, deaths and the life that goes on in between.
Klara Arnberg is a doctor in economic history who specialises in Swedish sex life and sexual politics.
