Culture in Scandinavia

Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland shared a more or less homogenous "Viking" culture in the Viking Age (800 - ~1050 CE), and Finland, while not strictly speaking a "Viking" country, did have a "Viking age" and a culture very close to its western neighbours, and at the close of Viking age was united into the Swedish kingdom.

Scandinavian culture today could be described as a potpourri of this "original" culture, medieval German influence, French influence in the centuries that followed, and several other smaller sources, not forgetting local development and national romantic inventiveness, of course.

A significant factor is also the fact that the Nordic countries never had an era of feudalism to speak of; personal freedom is highly valued here. One of the expressions of this freedom is the Allemansret / Allemansrätt ("Everyman's right") in Norway, Sweden and Finland, giving all residents free access to the forests, seas and uncultivated land.

The Nordics are rather heavy drinkers, the "vodkabelt" goes right through Finland, Sweden and Norway; the Danes are more of a beer-drinking nation, but don't say no to a glass of akvavit either. Smörgåsbord with pickled herrings and open-faced sandwiches is no rare sight. Women are emancipated. Towns are clean and well-functioning enough to make a Swiss clocksmith feel at home. And so forth; myths and stereotypes about Scandinavia are many. Some of them are, of course, less true than others, but their very existence illustrates the fact that we do have quite a lot in common.


This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Lysator article "Introduction: What is Norden? - Culture".


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