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Sweden – Land of the Midnight Sun
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June 2020 Vol 91:05 $5.95
05 2020
Kiruna: How to Move a City World’s Oldest Flag Midsummer Livefika
Sweden, Land of The Midnight Sun By Peter Berlin
I
magine yourself taking a stroll in Kiruna around noon in midDecember. The temperature is minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 deg F). When you inhale, you feel the cold air burning down your windpipe, and a cloud of white vapour exits from your mouth when you exhale. Even though the sky is clear there is no sunshine, only an eerie blue twilight which is reflected by the snow on the ground. By two o’clock in the afternoon it is getting dark. If you have only just arrived, your body clock may tell you that it is time for bed, or at least for supper. Staying awake takes a bit of effort but is worth it – and here is why.
is Latin for mother-of-pearl) and are formed by ice crystals at altitudes far higher than ordinary clouds. Because they are so high up, they are able to “see” the winter sun and reflect the sunlight down to Earth.
Light Pillars Later in the afternoon the streetlights come on. If it is one of those days when an icy mist descends on the city, you may see strange light pillars rise straight up into the sky like neon lights. The pillars are created by the reflection of the street lights from tiny ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere.
Nacreous Clouds Look up into the dark sky, and you might see a few lens-shaped clouds the colour of mother-of-pearl, like giant flying saucers hovering above the city as if looking for a place to land. They are known as nacreous clouds (nacrum
Light pillars in Kiruna. Photo: Mia Stålnacke
Northern lights in Abisko. Photo: Ted Logardt Top banner: Photo: Fredrik Broman/Swedish Lapland
is a region of space surrounding the Earth in which charged particles from the sun are trapped by the Earth’s magnetic field.) The physical process of the Aurora is extremely complex. and trying to figure it out has kept scientists in Kiruna busy for decades. Auroras can be monochrome or multicoloured, stationary or moving across the sky like searchlights. Many people think that the Aurora only exists on cold winter nights. That is not true, for it occurs all year round. It is just that you can only see it when the sky is dark, i.e. in the winter when it is also very cold outside.
Aurora Borealis
The mother-of-pearl clouds. Photo: P-M Heden
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The Arctic is perhaps best known for the Northern Lights (or Aurora Borealis for you Latin language showoffs). They are the result of disturbances in the magnetosphere caused by solar wind. (The magnetosphere
The Icehotel in Kiruna. Photo: Asaf Kliger
Arctic Circle Come December 21, the Earth reaches the point in its orbit around the sun known as Winter Solstice. If you were to head south from Kiruna for Christmas, you would take off from the airport around noon bound for Stockholm. Looking out the window, you watch the lights of Kiruna disappear into the polar night. Some 15 minutes later, you notice some hilltops bathing in sunlight. That is when you realize
The Earth’s orbit around the sun. Because the Earth’s spin axis is tilted relative to the orbital (“ecliptic”) plane, the Arctic region is in 24h sunlight at mid-summer and 24h darkness at mid-winter.
Sun tries to penetrate your bedroom curtains and the birds sing all night long. The Polar Day occurs on June 21 when the Earth reaches the Summer Solstice in its orbit around the sun. On that day, our observer standing on the Arctic Circle will see the sun vanish below the horizon for only a brief moment. In the days to come, the sun will disappear for longer. The further north you travel from the Arctic Circle towards the North Pole, the longer you will be able to enjoy the sunshine all day and night.
Detailed illustration of how the Arctic Circle is defined on December 21.
Abisko National Park. Photo: Katja Kristoferson/ Folio/imagebank.sweden.se
Midnight sun in Björkliden. Photo: Peter Rosén/ Swedish Lapland
that you are crossing the Arctic Circle, the latitude at which the sun appears very briefly around noon in midwinter, as seen by an observer on the ground. At all other times of that day the observer is in the dark, or at least in twilight. The good news is that the days will gradually become longer in the days following Winter Solstice. The further north you travel from the Arctic Circle towards the North Pole, the longer you will remain in nocturnal darkness all day.
The Aurora and the Midnight Sun are of course not uniquely Swedish phenomena; they can be experienced in any location above the Arctic Circle, be it Canada, Greenland, Norway, Finland, Russia, or Alaska. But if you happen to be visiting your Swedish relatives around mid-summer, make a quick detour to Kiruna … if you can find it, because the city is on the move! (See interview on page 14.) For more information, visit www. swedishlaplandvisitorsboard.com
Detailed illustration of how the Arctic Circle is defined on June 21.
Midnight Sun If you felt sleepy already at 2 pm during the winter in Kiruna, you will have trouble getting any sleep at all during the summer, because the Midnight
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H E RITAG E
Flags to Symbolize Peace, Mercy and Hospitality
The Danish Flag Turns 800
Text courtesy of Anders Garde Kongshaug
T
he Danish flag stems from 1219, so it turned 800 last year and is therefore the world’s oldest national flag still in use. The event was celebrated in the old Danish Viking port and Middle Age capital of Vordingborg, situated one hour south of Copenhagen. Present were His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik and Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary. The Danish flag features a white cross against a red background. The cross appears in many flags in Europe, including the UK, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Greece. It was originally inspired by the Templars Knights; it symbolized Christian hospitality and care for the sick and the weak.
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National flags first appeared in the 12th Century, and the Christian cross was also meant to symbolize purity when the knights went into battle. Archaeologist Nanna Holm at The Danish Castle Centre explains that many countries put a cross on their flags to acknowledge their conversion from paganism – like the Nordic Vikings – to Christianity. The first national flag in the world was actually French, dating back to 1109, and resembled what later became the Danish flag. The French called it the Oriflamme and flew it until the Revolution in 1789 when they changed to the Tricolore. The Mayor of Vordingborg, Michael Seiding Larsen, likes to say that the white cross in the Danish flag represents peace, and the red background – courage. The red colour is also said to be the finest colour of all, because the original plant that created the red dye was so difficult to find. Vordingborg was an important Viking city, serving as a launch pad for the conquest of Europe. Later in the Middle Ages it became the capital of Denmark. The Danes first flew their flag during a war against Estonia. The legend says that the flag came down from the sky and saved King Valdemar II from being killed. He won the
battle and returned to Vordingborg. In connection with the 800-year celebration, a flag was re-created to look like the flag from 1219. The flag had pennants, because it was easier to control when riding on a horse. Crown Prince Frederik witnessed the ceremony together with his wife Crown Princess Mary. The Crown Prince clearly felt his place in the historic Royal line which goes back unbroken for more than 800 years. The Danish monarchy is in fact the oldest dynasty in the world. Crown Prince Frederik will one day replace his mother. Queen Margrethe II, 79, and become the next King of Denmark. Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary will then become Queen of Denmark. The Crown Prince kept a Royal tradition in the Danish Monarchy alive by writing his name in the old Goose Tower in Vordingborg, which was built by King Waldemar I. The tower used to be a prison, so the Royal signatures are mixed in with those of prisoners. The re-created flag will be hanging from the flag pole at the old Vordingborg Castle, as the only place in Denmark, and forever. Below: King Valdemar II is saved by the Danish flag descending from heaven.
H E RI TAG E
The Swedish Flag(s)
Text credits: Swedish Institute, Oval Projects and Peter Berlin
T
he exact age of the Swedish Flag is not known, but the oldest recorded pictures of a blue cloth with a yellow cross date from the 16th century. As decreed in a royal warrant of 1569, the yellow cross was always to be carried on Swedish battle standards and banners; the Swedish Royal Coat of Arms was blue divided in quarters by a cross of gold. The design of the flag was probably inspired by the Danish flag. Not until the 1620s, during the reign of Gustav II Adolf, do we find any reliable evidence of the blue flag with a yellow cross being displayed by Swedish vessels. According to the oldest existing flag warrant, from 1663, a tripletailed flag was to be used except by merchant ships, whose flag was square-cut. Nowadays the use of the triple-tailed pennon is reserved for the Royal Family and the Armed Forces. The Royal Family may also charge its flags with the Coat of Arms in the centre of the cross. Since 1916, June 6 has been celebrated as the Swedish Flag Day. This finally also became Sweden’s National Day in 1983. The reasons for the choice of date are twofold: the election of Gustav Vasa as Sweden’s king on June 6, 1523 laid the foun-
dation of Sweden as a separate state; and on the same date in 1809 Sweden adopted a new constitution which included the establishment of civil rights and liberties. The colours and design of the flag are laid down in the Flag Act of 1982. The flag is normally hoisted at 08.00 hrs from March 1 to October 1, otherwise at 09.00 hrs. It is lowered at sunset, but no later than 21.00 hrs. There are some 15 official flag days, including the special celebrations of the Royal Family, May Day, Election Day, United Nations Day (October 24) and Nobel Day (December 10). The flag may also be flown on special local or private family occasions. The Swedes sniff at public manifestations of patriotism, conveniently overlooking the fact that the blue and yellow Swedish flag is everywhere to be seen – at the top of garden flagpoles, on postcards, on birthday cakes, on the branches of Christmas trees, on the faces of football fans. Its colours are echoed on candles and napkins, on bottle labels and biscuit tins, even on Swedish company logos such as Ikea. The flag’s colours also bring back memories of childhood summers when the sky was bluer and the sun more golden than today. For Swedes
Swedish county flags: top left: Skåne, right: Småland, middle left: Öland, right: Östergötland, bottom left: Västergötland
the national flag is primarily an eye-pleasing backdrop. Rather than rallying people to war, it invites them to a picnic in the meadow. Several Swedish counties have their own regional flags. Many resemble the national flag in all but colours. Skåne in the south used to belong to Denmark, and the flag is a compromise – the Swedish yellow cross placed against the red background of the Danish flag. The threecoloured flag of Småland resembles that of Iceland, except that the cold blue background has been replaced
Swedish county flag: Norrbotten
by a warmer green. The island of Öland has opted to use green where the Swedish national flag is blue. The colours of Östergotland’s flag are the inverse of the national flag – a blue cross on a yellow background. Västergötland has borrowed the Östergötland flag but added a white cross inside the blue cross. The remaining counties have forgone the cross altogether in favour of lions, moose, deer, bulls, sheep, eagles and fish. If you go all the way to Norrbotten (part of Lapland), you might be surprised to see flags featuring a reindeer fleeing from what appears to be a caveman wielding a big club. Such is life up there in the midnight sun.
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