Naked men, fermented fish and frogs

Sitting in a hot, wooden room with a naked, beer drinking, male stranger is not something I expected to do when I first came to Sweden. 

Thankfully, Bjorn walked into the sauna first and warned me so I managed to miss that experience. However, once said male stranger had consumed his beer, covered his nakedness and vacated the room (30 minutes later), I was free to experience a sauna - Swedish style.

The sauna room

It’s pretty simple really. Light a fire in the corner and keep it stoked with logs. Throw a bit of water on the coals occasionally to keep the humidity up. When you can’t think straight, walk outside and jump into an icy cold river. Repeat.

The icy cold river with mist just starting to appear

Imagine going from 40 degree super-dry heat to suddenly being plunged into 6 degree flowing water. I chickened out the first time and only went up to my knees in the river. But needing to experience the tradition completely, after warming up a second time, I jumped right in. 

Halfway in the first time

Under completely this time

My skin instantly started prickling and tingling everywhere. My brain went into hyperdrive. My eyes focused on a single object - the ladder out. My heart rate went up to 350 beats per minute…or maybe it dropped to 15 beats per minute. I don't know. I was instantly addicted! In search of a repeat of the hit, I jumped between the steamy sauna and the freezing river a couple more times.

After the hit

Fikka is a very important part of Swedish culture and one of my favourite things. If you go to someone’s place, it’s a matter of minutes before you’re offered coffee and usually some sort of cake, bread or sweets. The coffee comes predominantly in one form - strong and black. (I did choke down one cup of the brew and stayed awake for the next 24 hours. Now I ask for hot water and milk and mix the 3 liquids in equal quantities). 

Fikka can include ice-cream too!

Fikka is as much about chatting as it is eating and drinking and it’s easy to sit down for an hour simply enjoying the time with friends. And you can have fikka anytime, anywhere. If we’re going on a long drive, we often take a thermos of coffee (plus hot water and milk) and something to munch on, and stop at one of the many lakes or rest areas for a break. 

Fikka at a bird nature reserve

Surströmming is not for the faint hearted or for anyone with an oversensitive sense of smell. Everything you have seen or heard about how putrid the smell and taste of this fish is, falls way short. All those youtube videos of people vomiting when a can is cracked open are for real. 

Bjorn arranged for a surströmming party to allow me (and 4 Swedish friends) a chance to experience this tradition. I knew I had every reason to be concerned when I first saw the can. It was bulging, so there had to be some serious chemical reactions going on inside. As soon as the can was pierced, liquid shot a metre into the air and a strange rancid odour filled the air. Mikael and I instantly started gagging, the others weren’t far behind. And the smell didn’t go away! Even the cat had more sense than to get too close.

The bulging tin

Stand well clear when opening

I had to question if this really was fit for human consumption

It doesn't even look appealing

The cat actually looked scared!

This fish has the ability to overwhelm and stick to anything it comes into contact with. A minuscule portion wrapped in potato, creme fraiche and bread was enough to taint the other flavours and ruin normal food. We even washed all our clothes when we got home as the smell of surströmming seemed to have stuck to our clothes. I can tick that one off the list but will be happy if I never have to smell it again!

Sweden is a country with around 97,000 lakes. So it makes sense that swimming is a popular summer time activity. The lakes are beautiful to swim in. The fresh water is so refreshing and the only place for a ‘shower’ when you’re out on a camping or boating trip. We often go snorkelling and watch pike hang motionless in the grass or perch that zap around just out of reach. 

Baby pike (about 5cm long)

Stripy perch with bright orange fins

Everyone seems to get changed in and out of their bathing costumes under a towel on the beach. It took me a while to get used to this, even longer to figure out how to get changed without flashing random strangers. I nearly have the hang of it…nearly.

One of the smaller lakes...at midnight

I reasoned that with so many lakes around, it should be easy to swim in at least 15 different lakes. While I went swimming most days over summer, it was quite late in the season when I finally made number 15. And while it was a lovely, sunny day, the water was only about 17 degrees...

Finally, lake #15!

Midsummers is one day of the year the Swedes really let their hair down. It is celebrated on the Friday nearest the longest day of the year and is to welcome summer and the season of fertility. The tradition states that you collect branches, leaves and wild flowers, construct a maypole and then dance around it singing songs. I personally think this festival takes the award for the quirkiest event I’ve experienced in the Swedish calendar. 

Wild flowers collected for the maypole

Construction begins

Everyone gets involved

Posing for pics

The frog song is the silliest and most well known song of the midsummer festival. We sang the nonsense song about a små grodorna (a small frog) that has no ears or tail and jumped around the maypole with our hands flapping behind us like a tail. 

Our completed midsummers maypole

After midsummers, wild berry picking trips to the forest begin. (This is where allemansrätten is fantastic as you can pick berries almost anywhere). The berry picking season starts with cloudberries (hjortron). These orange-yellow cloud-shaped berries grow in wet, swampy areas and can be hard to find. They have an exquisite taste, like nothing I’ve ever tasted before and go perfectly with wine and cheese.

Wild, swampy areas where you hunt cloudberries

Cloudberries ripening

Best way to eat cloudberry jam

Raspberries (hallon) ripen next. These are a little trickier to pick because of the spikes on the bushes. For me, it’s a small price to pay for being able to eat unlimited raspberries!

Blueberries are next in line. You can pick these by hand or use a berry picker. This contraption allows you to pick lots of berries at once meaning you can easily pick a couple of litres a very short time. And finally, bright red lingon berries are ready. Like the blueberries, these can be picked quickly with a berry picker.

Picking blueberries with the berry picker

Sorting blueberries is not so much fun

We simply freeze the fresh berries and either defrost a few for breakfast each morning or make them into jam. It’s been such a novelty for me to be able to eat as many blueberries as I like and these wild ones have so much more flavour than the farmed variety.

Towards the end of summer, mushrooms begin to sprout up everywhere. Kanterell’s are everyones favourite and it can be a race to get to the best spots to pick them first. And they are so simple to cook. A cast iron frying pan, a lot of butter, splashes of pepper and you’re done. There are so many different species of mushrooms and toadstools growing. A few are edible but many are not, and every year people end up in hospital having mixed up some of the edible/inedible mushrooms. 

They look beautiful, but you can't eat these...

...or these...

...or even these...

So there’s a few of the Swedish traditions and events I’ve experienced in the short time I’ve been here. They have enriched my time here and I've had so much fun participating. I’m really looking forward to spending a winter here and seeing what events pop up that have to be tried at least once (anyone for ice swimming???)