“Clas Berg's cat”, 1917, Sweden.
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TIARA ALERT: Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden wore the Cut Steel Tiara for the banquet during the state visit from Finland at Stockholm Palace on 17 May 2022.
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Suitor’s gift saga continues with:
Distaffs!
These were all used for holding material when spinning. Known as “rockhuvud/linfäste” extra fancy distaffs would be gifted to a young man’s intended, to sit at the top of her spinning wheel. The extra texture of the whittled distaff would make tying the material onto it easier, but usually it was still necessary to use a piece of string.
And then we have a special kind from Gästrikland:
Why a young man would gift that to a young woman, only he could tell you.
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Bergsjöns Kyrka (1967-74) in Göteborg, Sweden, by Bo Cederlöf
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On the evening of 17 August 1995, 14-year-old John Hron was camping with his friend, Christian, around lake Ingetorpssjön in Sweden, when a group of neo-Nazi skinheads approached them. John recognised 15-year-old Mikael Fjällholm from school, and he was one of the boys who bullied him. They were dressed in typical Nazi clothing and were playing White Power anthems from a boombox. One boy, 18-year-old Daniel Hansson, provoked John and Christian by throwing a can of beer at them. He then forced John to declare his love for Nazism. John was well-known, not just for his bright personality, but for being staunchly against racism. Refusing, the cowardly group brutally beat John.
For several minutes, the four continually kicked him in the head and threw cans of beer at him. They would occasionally take a break from the violence and suddenly act friendly, offering him beers, and apologizing for their behaviour. Moments later, they reverted back to beating him and this cycle went on for hours. As well as savagely beating the teenager, the group destroyed his belongings and set fire to his tent. John and Christian begged several times for the neo-Nazis to let them go but this only made their attackers more sadistic. John was struck across the head with a wooden stick, and his injuries were now so bad he could no longer stand up. The Nazis then pushed him into the lake where he made a desperate attempt to swim away. As he did so, the group held Christian hostage and threatened to kill him if John didn’t swim back. Though close to death, he swam back in order to save his friend’s life.
When he returned to shore, the beating only continued. This time the Neo-Nazis focused on stomping on his head, and they later told detectives "It felt so good that we couldn't stop". They then rolled his body back into the lake where the water filled his lungs and he drowned.
The group let Christian escape. The terrified boy hitchhiked to the nearest police station and alerted the authorities. In court, the 18-year-old Daniel Hansson, was sentenced to eight years in prison for murder. He was released in 2001. Mikael Fjällholm, a 15-year-old, also received a lengthy prison sentence, a rare occurrence in Sweden. The two others, John Billing, and an anonymous boy were sentenced to over a year in prison for assault and not alerting authorities to the crime.
The case made national news in Sweden and there was huge public outcry over such violence. A wave of huge anti-racist gatherings took place to honour John Hron's memory. Despite this, racism is still a massive issue in Sweden and John’s grave has since been desecrated several times.
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Alfred Bester, Tigermannen (The Stars My Destination) (Lindfors Förlag edition, 1973).
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“Dressed for waterskiing”, 1920s, Sweden.
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TIARA ALERT: Princess Sofia of Sweden wore her Pearl Palmette Tiara for the banquet during the state visit from Finland at Stockholm Palace on 17 May 2022.
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The two countries can't join unless current members, including Turkey, all agree to it.
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Fancy suitor’s gifts saga continues! Today:
Scotching knives!
A scotching knife (skäktträ/skäktkniv in Swedish) is used when scutching flax. Scutching is one step in the process of turning flax (the plant) into linen (the fabric). A fancy painted one like these was an appropriate suitor’s gift for a young woman. The gifted ones were rarely used for work though and would often be kept in pristine condition through the owners life. For showing off, basically.
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They took in some people from a clothing store next door too. The employees could have gone home but couldn’t bring themselves to kick the customers out into the snow because some of them had an impossible three hours drive home and would have gotten stuck on the road in their cars so the employees and their boss opted to stay.
The woman who reported on the incident trekked alone through piles of snow on foot. She couldn’t bring a cameraman so everything was filmed with a small handheld camera.
They ate food from the cafeteria (meatballs of course), watched a Christmas show and football before getting to pick any bed they wanted in the store. In the morning they were served cinnamon buns and coffee/tea.
Just a cute little story to brighten your day.
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Sometimes correlation does imply causation.
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Green woodpecker/gröngöling. Värmland, Sweden (July 15, 2021).
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