Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2022 i Faces People, Places, and World Culture for Kids and Children

1 In northern Sweden, in the 12 weeks surrounding the winter solstice, people enjoy only a few hours of light, or if they live above the Arctic Circle, none at all. In the six months between winter and summer solstice, northern Swedes gain 20 to 24 hours of light—between 50 minutes and an hour of light per week. 2 Sweden has a long tradition of equality for women. In Viking times, marriage laws guaranteed it, and in the 13th century, royal advisor Birger Jarl wrote laws protecting women. Modern women can apply for and get any type of work, and new mothers are allowed a year of leave with 90% pay. 3 Sweden recycles nearly 50% of what it throws away. But what about the other half? This is what…

Slightly larger than California, Sweden is a long, narrow, heavily forested country. Although the Scandinavian mountain range lies to the west, most of the country has an altitude of less than 1,000 feet. Sweden is part of the Scandinavian Peninsula. About half of Sweden’s boundaries are on water—the Baltic Sea to the east and the North Sea to the southwest. North of the Arctic Circle is an area with a unique culture. Often referred to as “the Land of the Midnight Sun,” it is home to the Sámi, a people once called Lapps. They have lived there since prehistoric times, and although many are no longer nomadic, they have retained their own language and customs and much of their traditional way of life. The Swedes have a long history as…

It is 9 a.m., and 14-year-old Noah heaves his backpack into the backseat of the car. Noah and his family are about to leave their summer house near Halmstad in Sweden. But before they go, he must sort out the packaging and empty cartons for recycling. Noah and his little brother Oscar take the items down the road to the recycling station. This has become routine. “There is always a place where I can recycle my garbage,” says Noah. “This makes it easy not to litter.” Sweden produces around 4.4 million tons of waste a year, but only 1% makes its way to the garbage dump. When it comes to waste management, Sweden is ahead of its time. Recycling Made Easy How has Sweden done it? Children are taught to…

Like many other Swedish festivals, Saint Lucia’s Day, also known as the Festival of Light, has religious origins. Lucia lived in the latter part of the third century. Born into a wealthy Sicilian family, she never married. Instead, she devoted her entire life to God. Lucia lived at a time of Christian persecution, and legend says that she once wore a crown of candles to take food to starving Christians who were hiding in dark underground tunnels. She was eventually martyred for her religious beliefs. No one is quite sure why the Swedes gave such importance to a little-known saint. However, “Lucia” means “light,” and for the Swedes, who experience extremely dark winters, the idea of someone bringing light to a dark place was very important. Before the 16th century,…

OFFICIAL NAME: Kingdom of Sweden LOCATION: Sweden is part of the Scandinavian Peninsula in northern Europe. About 15% of Sweden lies above the Arctic Circle. Sweden is between Norway and Finland. The North Sea forms the country’s western boundary; the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Bothnia lie to the east; and two narrow arms of the North Sea called Skagerrak and Kattegat separate the Scandinavian Peninsula from Denmark. TERRAIN: The northern two-thirds is mountainous. Southern Sweden is the most low-lying with fertile land. CLIMATE: Winters in the north are cold and severe. The southern regions experience less severe winters and warm summers. AREA: 173,860 square miles (450,295 square kilometers) CAPITAL: Stockholm POPULATION: 10.48 million (2022 estimate) GOVERNMENT: Constitutional monarchy OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Swedish OFFICIAL RELIGION: Church of Sweden (Lutheran) ETHNIC GROUPS:…

Hur många språk kan du (HEUR MOHN-ga sprohk kahnn deu)? How many languages do you know? Have you ever been unable to learn about something because you speak only English? Do not feel limited because English is a great foundation for learning Swedish. Learning a bit of Swedish will help you discover more about Sweden’s rich culture, fascinating history, and beautiful land. Du kan tala Svenska (DEU KAHN TAH-la SVEN-skah). You can speak Swedish. Many words sound the same in Swedish and English. Even without a single lesson, you already know several Swedish words. For example, “man” and “person” are the same in both languages. Not only are there many similar words, but some words are so close that you can recognize them. For example, “fish” in Swedish is only…

The world’s largest and first Ice Hotel is in Jukkasjarvi in northern Sweden. First constructed in 1989, it is built each winter season. It is open for four months, from December to April, and more than 15,000 people stay at least one night, with around 45,000 to 50,000-day-trippers visiting this amazing ice structure. The Ice Hotel is called one of the Seven Wonders of Sweden. It is also called the Biggest Igloo in the World. It starts with ice from the nearby Torne River, where depths reach to 60 feet. A section of the river is selected, and snow is not allowed to accumulate there to make sure the ice gets thick and forms without cracks or bubbles. Harvested ice blocks weighing about two tons each are stored in warehouses…

Characters Narrator Mother Father Peggy Peter NARRATOR: Once upon a time, there was a well-to-do couple who had only one foolish daughter named Peggy. She had passed the age when most women marry, and still no suitor would look at her. FATHER: I don’t understand. Why don’t those crack-brained lads in the parish marry my daughter? They know I have a fine farm and hundreds of dollars and could give a worthy dowry of oxen, cows, goats, and sheep. NARRATOR: Just at the that moment, one of the best and smartest lads in the parish came strolling up the hill. FATHER: Mother! Come look! I think he is coming at last. MOTHER: Why, if it isn’t Peter South-farm! Peggy, look out the window. Your sweetheart is coming. PEGGY: My sweetheart?…

CRITTER CORNER Alone arctic fox trots across a white, treeless tundra in northern Sweden, hungry for a meal. She can’t see her prey, a lemming (a small rodent) that nests under the snow, but she can hear it. She sniffs the ground, leaps several feet straight into the air, and dives into the snow, nose first. For a moment, her upside-down body is frozen in mid-air. Then she rights herself, her prey captured. Until spring arrives, this arctic fox will rely on many cold-weather strategies to survive in the frozen tundra. Description and Adaptations People use the phrase “sly as a fox” for a reason. Foxes are smart, storing extra food under rocks for later or following polar bears to eat the leftover scraps from their kill. They are fast,…

In northern Sweden, it means that in the 12 weeks surrounding the winter solstice, kids have only a few hours of light, or if they live above the Arctic Circle, none at all. People who live in Umeå, wake up in the dark, walk to school in the dark, and have the first few hours of class in the dark. A bit before lunch, the sun rises, and by 2 p.m., it is twilight. Parents do not say, “Come inside when it gets dark,” because kids would be inside all the time. Because they spend so much time in the dark, ice, and snow, Swedes have a different way of seeing and being seen. Day care playgrounds, school grounds, and community parks are lighted with high-powered spotlights. Most schools have…

The Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes are five separate awards give every year to individuals whose contribution has resulted in “the greatest benefit o humankind.” The award was inspired by Alfred Nobel, a Swedish chemist, engineer, and industrialist, and was firs given in 1901. Malala Yousafzai is the youngest Nobel Prize winner to date, having won the Peace Prize in 2014 when she was 17 years old. She won it along with Kailash Satyarthi for her fight for every child o receive an education. Alfred Nobel made his fortune largely due to his invention of dynamite. When he read an obituary of himself that had been published by mistake, he decided to donate most of his fortune ($265 million) to fund the awards to leave a better legacy than as…

The Dala horse is one of Sweden’s most famous symbols. Horses have always been important in Swedish history. They were a form of transportation. They could carry heavy things and they were an important part of farming. A good horse was a status symbol and a sign of wealth. Sometime around the 15th century, people near the village of Nusnas started carving horses from scrap wood as toys for children. Originally, they were left in raw wood form, but with the opening of the Falum Copper Mine nearby, artists began to make their own paints. Red was the most popular color to paint a Dala horse. Dala horses became so popular that they were used as a symbol for the country during the 1939 New York World’s Fair. It has…