Will Ferrell Explains Christmas Traditions In Sweden | The Jonathan Ross Show 

so true ;)

AnomalyINC Actually Santa Claus lives in Finland at Korvatunturi mountain.

that's the most logic reason i have ever heard, thank you my friend!

And because of the time difference he actually got an extra 1.5 days. ;)

The real reason would be that in the viking ages, we celebrated a holiday called yule, which was similar to christmas, and celebrated on the 24th of December

So true! Trick is to sing so loud no one notices!

In finnish university student parties everybody is expected to know the lyrics - even the middle part.

John, Well that's Finns. By the time any proper singing begins, most Swedes are a little too sloshed to pay attention to the fine details. We're lightweights like that ;)

Which swede doesn't know the middle part? :P "Den som inte helan tar, han heller inte halvan får", it's not that hard to remember ;)

Den som inte helan tar den heller inte halvan får

Yeah, being outdoors *between 2 PM and 10 AM* in any capacity at this time of year is a horribly depressing thing here in Sweden. Seeing warm lights in the windows is necessary to not succumb to depression on the spot. Without the lights, everything looks deserted and dead, but when we see the lights, we're reminded that there are people there, they probably aren't dead, and if we just cling to our health and crumbling sanity for another few months then it will get better.

Actually... when we had the old traditions it was thought that a candle in the window would help the dead relatives find home. Also, a candle or lamp in the window mimics the light from the absent sun.

I thougt it was to signal that there are no jews in the house

Same with lanterns , like small beacons of hope and guidance.

Exept in our bedrooms, if you don’t have blinds in your bedroom you are fucked in the summer

And drunker

Hahaha jag måste börja sjunga den så 😂😂😂

jag skrattade som fan när ja läste de där

Morde350 on spot!

Dog hahahahahahahahahahaha

Den här invåndrare är jättetacksamma 😂 😂 😂

He started with Går then it turned out with Gå ........

Ja, ja! Let us all be happy together! 👏🤣💕🇸🇪

+Frida Westerbergh Skål!

+Frida Westerbergh Skål!

+Frida Westerbergh Sounds like every Christmas I been to.

+Frida Westerbergh OP Andersson är den godaste...

+shallowlord Alla vet det bara är på låtsas om det inte är linie, och därmed inte Aquavit på riktigt. Riktig Aquavit kommer från Norge.

julmust är ju för fan kungligt :D ellerhur ;)

Julmust är den bästa drycken ever! :D

ja ellerhur! :D

Alexander Fernestad Julia Shepherd Ni har uppenbarligen aldrig smakat vanlig pilsner.

jodå, men jag är inte nått stort fan av öl. för beskt. :)

Fel högtid, men bra sjunget och annars tolkningar av svensk kultur. :-)

Kul snubbe! :)

Midsommar!

_Helan Går_ tillhör väl ingen högtid egentligen. Det är ju en snapsvisa helt enkelt.

Daniel Karlsson Japp, den kan gott sjungas när än snaps är inblandad, vilket iofs brukar vara kopplat till högtider. ;)

CobaltKnight In the south of Sweden we still eat gooseblood soup.

Bengt Abrahamsson I live in south sweden and i have never heard of gooseblod soup untill this day..

Bengt Abrahamsson Säg inte till en skåning vad man gör och inte gör i södra Sverige.

Daniil Pintjuk Haha me to, i live in Sweden and i have never even heard of it until now=P

First shot always taste like shit, after the fourth it tastes like heaven.

Jomen. Jag har ingen aning vad Småland heter, emellertid. Det är det latinska namnet för Skåneland, tror jag. Men idag används det endast för Skåne... tror jag.

inte konstigt när han halft bor här med sin fru och barn?

felipe pino Yanez De bor väl ändå i USA? Däremot kommer frun och hennes släkt från Sverige. Är kul att Will firar en å annan högtid i landet och att det satt spår.

Andreas Österberg å

Nope, the lyrics are "Helan går, sjung hopp faderallan lallan lej". Not too far from though.

Asså jag kunde inte kolla, så jävla pinsamt när han började sjunga hahah

Gnagarsvin

Snart så ..... alldeles strax

Yep. You are correct.

Yeah, that's the whole point of that song

Yeah, I don't even recognise the song

Belive me eating lye fish is like a taste of hell

I have not even taste surströmming :p I guess most of us haven't.

Salpeteroxid So you're answearing on behalf on the rest of us? I have had Lye Fish and surströmming and all of that.

You're a disgrace.

GamesTimee I wasn't speaking on the behalf of the Swedish people, I was just guestimating, most of my friends have never tasted it.

Its just Sweden for you - many Karens who cant joke about anything and believe they are super important and people care about their country and traditions. We dont.

***** Might be true ^^

***** That probably is true.

***** Any normal person would have been able to beat the 19 y/o asshole I saw stumble on to the bus and puke his guts out tonight. 3 ciders and half a bottle of vodka.... God I drank like that when I was 14, and I'm American. Btw, this all happened in Sweden.

World Known Yawn. We swedes pride ourselves on the fact that we can keep drinking when we already are drunk as fuck. A typical party friday consists of a bottle 1 liter of 40 - 80 % (neat no ice, no soda, no juice just pure moonshine) (depending where I get it) Moonshine, atleast 6 -7 Beers at the pub or Party random shots and A lot of nicotine during this consumption. OR 1 bottle 50cl Minttu 40% minty goodness (pure i never mix alcohol and soda for example) , half case of beers and 7-8 beers in the pub along with Random shots :) Then again the next day is horrible. But It is a fact that americans can't hold their own against us when it comes to drinking. My mate whom i can drink circles around was an exchange student in USA Kansas City and all of them were astonished because he could drink more then the one of them that could drink most. Then again there are weaklings who should be banished from sweden the one you were talking about for example but in general we swedes are hardened.

well, you certainly sing it more often than the actual anthem;) oh, how i love sweden. except for winter in the north. itÄs depressing, i tell you.

Vodka literally means 'small water' (I think), but that might mean life-water metaphorically. Fun stuff anyhow =)

Brukar sjungas hemma vid mitt bord - förmodligen i brist på tillräckligt många julinspirerade snapsvisar. Ungefär som att "när gäddorna leker" även brukar komma fram på midsommar. Fel, men ingen bryr sig så länge de får hutta.

Tänkte samma sak, men många har kommenterat att de sjunger den på jul också, så tydligen är det tradition hos vissa. X)

Snapsvisor sjunger man när man dricker alkohol, och för en del är det ett känsligt ämne att blanda alkohol och julafton. Vilket är förståeligt.

***** För att många barn får en väldigt jobbig jul när deras föräldrar dricker sig fulla. De behöver inte ens bli fulla, bara lite onyktra för att det ska börja bli obehagligt för barnen. Frågan är om man prioriterar sina barn eller sin alkohol först. Gästabud hade man på medeltiden och jag hoppas att vi gått framåt i barnuppfostran sen dess.

***** Även om du inte upplevt något negativt betyder det inte att ingen gjort det. "Omkring vart fjärde barn har upplevt obehag under julen av att de vuxna druckit alkohol och vart tionde barn känner obehag av samma anledning varje jul. Vart femte barn lever i familjer med riskfylld alkoholkonsumtion, enligt statistik från Folkhälsoinstitutet. Av 600 nyligen tillfrågade mellanstadiebarn uppgav 21 procent att de tycker att föräldrarna dricker för mycket alkohol, enligt SVT:s Lilla Aktuellt (2011)." Citat från Systembolagets hemsida. Men traditioner är ju viktigare än barns välmående, eller?

Öhhh finn-svenska? Finska har knappt nånting med gammal nordiska att göra, om du vill ha ett språk som är så nära gammal nordiska som möjligt ska du kolla på Isländska.

XxHalles133769xX Finnswedish - > (the diffrent dialects of) Swedish spoken in Finland (Inte finska). I´m in larger part reffering to the phonological aspects. "Around 1550, with the Lutheran Reformation, the introduction of printing and the consequent translation of the Bible, modern Icelandic was definitively formed. Compared to other Scandinavian and Germanic languages (with the partial exception of Faroese and German), Icelandic certainly remained at an earlier evolutionary stage in terms of its morphology, but this should not imply that the language did not change; the phonological (pronunciation) developments of the language from the ancient to the modern language are enormous." "Icelandic retains many grammatical features of other ancient Germanic languages, and resembles Old Norwegian before much of its fusional inflection was lost. Modern Icelandic is still a heavily inflected language" "Icelandic people have no difficulty in reading works of Medieval literature, but to speak to their ancestors they would probably need an interpreter. The most consistent changes have been that to the vowel system which followed the segmental phonological quantity in the 16th century or perhaps as early as the 14th century, and the consequent development of diphthongs. In the consonant system there have also been notable changes, for example the desonorization of plosives, the rise of a correlative sonorant for nasals and liquids and preaspiration."Swedish has 17 different monothongs, differentiating in height, backness as well as (three degrees of) roundness, Icelandic has only 8." But yes, Icelandic is important and significant just as is the forementioned finnswedish. It´s not just a coincendence that Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, Faroese, Icelanders all have an easy of fairly easy time understanding swedish dialect in Finland but harder time to understand each other in diffrent combinations. The finnish language is a separate matter. "Den finlandssvenska dialekten är faktiskt mer konservativ och "äkta" svensk dialekt än den rikssvenska tyskinfluerade dialekten som är numera standard i Sverige. Jämför t.ex. med isländskan, som låter mer som finska/saame än vad det låter som norska eller svenska.Detta har med periferaleffekten att göra, då ett språk bevaras bättre i periferin än i centrum varifrån språket härstammar ifrån, eftersom det förekommer mer innovationer och förändringar i centrum. Jämför t.ex. med brittisk engelska idag, där många britter inte längre kan säga "dual core", utan säger istället "gual core".För att svara på frågan så är finlandssvenska en äldre dialekt av det svenska språket, och faktiskt fonetiskt närmare det fornnordiska språket än vad dagens rikssvenska är. Koloniala språk är mer konservativa.."

trollslandan You pointed out some things that have changed in Icelandic, that they can read their medieval texts but maybe would have a hard time speaking to a 11th century viking. Fair enough, but how would a man speaking Finnssvenska do? Worse, no doubt, ergo, Icelandic has changed less.

English isn't derived from North Germanic, but all Germanic languages are derived from the same, now extinct, proto-Germanic language.

***** I would guess the same percentage as you and your sentence "It isn't a disputed fact or something to discuss, really. It is reality." hits the nail. It´s the truth. People from some modern nordic country would be able to figure out English very quickly, even if they hadn´t ever heard or known about it - by combining what they hear and read they would pick up on more than 70% of the words. There was some program on this topic on the BBC some years ago I found to be nicely put together. Can´t remember the name though. :)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svartsoppa

Ehh no it was not. Where I live (in Scaniae) it was not uncommon with "Svartsoppa" at "Mårtensafton" not that many years ago. 10-15 years ago we got it in my family. But sadly the old traditions gets tossed aside for the new multicultural traditions. But I and all people I know have never had Svartsoppa at Christmas. So you might be right.

Svartsoppa is still quite common. While I personally have it for Mårten Gås and not Christmas I'd love to have it on my christmas table tbh. It's really tasty!

Varangian I think you're confusing "new multicultural traditions" with a more secular attitude towards religion and religious traditions from society as a whole. But if you really want to blame the immigrants for the fact that your mother doesn't serve you enough goose blood, please go on.

Varangian Gooseblood soup(svartsoppa) were common during the start of the 19th century, you maybe still eat it but doesnt make it less uncommon...

Varangian As a young Swedish person (yes, thoroughly Swedish, for several generations back - "SD wants me to birth blond and blue eyed babies" level of Swedish), I can attest that "multicultural" only affects tradition in the sense that more sensible, young and impressionable Swedes are actively trying different foods and sticking with the ones that TASTE GOOD (and ideally also are healthy but taste is key). I prefer falafel over meatballs, cultural demands be damned. Fuck "tradition", the real tradition is that Chrismas food should be a *feast,* and that means I get to eat whatever I find tasty. Meatballs and svartsoppa does not meet the minimum requirement of "tasty" to qualify for my Christmas table. This is not cultural charity, it's survival of the tastiest recipies. Darwinism at the smörgåsbord. The lutfisk has to evolve into something greater or perish. I will not eat gross things just because it was the highest luxury my great grandparents could imagine. My great grandparents thoughts flushing toilets and riding a car was a luxury, their judgement does no longer apply to the modern world.

I'm Scanian, and I have NEVER heard of black soup (goose blood soup) being on the Christmas dinner table - it's a Mårten gås tradition, not a Christmas tradition.

mungovix Ive never heard of that soup period! Give me ham, mummys meatballs, potatoes and prinskorv (prince sausage). Ill eat till I roll from the table!

Jack Slack Also, Sweden is closer to the north pole so Santa comes here first ;)

Nej, han låter som en packad svealänning. Lyssna noga!

😂

Yeah, or at least when you're drinking around a table, but not really when you're mingling at a party. Both the singing and the drinking are supposed to be done synchronously. Actually the whole "Helan"-thing is a remnant of an older, longer drinking ritual where you're supposed to drink a number of drinks ("supar") over the course of an evening, all of which have increasingly more ridiculous (and hard to pronounce) names, like Rivan, Räfflan and Lilla Manasse.

+Jar Jar Binks Not at all. His pronounciation wasn't all that bad.

+Jar Jar Binks his wife's language*

+Ludvig Liljeqvist Agreed. For an american, he's pretty damn good at it.

+Elias Löfgren im sorry, but an accent you can't really just "learn" away, he's speaking to the best he can as an american that rarely speaks swedish to people.

he hasnt banged Kim K

Yes Oliver is right. "Helan går" is a drinking song suitable for just about any moment of celebration (like ending a workday or waking up in the morning).

Well.... 2 negatives make a positive, so maybe he sang the right song after all...

You smart ass.

We dont care

Don´t know about your christmas.. but candle in the window, christmas at the 24th, cod fish (lutfisk) and OP is part of the most swedish celibrations that i know about

Andreas Eriksson Right. But to be honest, cod fish isn't really that common these days :)

True. We have it at our christmas table but i think it´s only one of us who eats it.. and it isn´t me :)

Ljus i fönstret, fira den 24:e och "Helan går". Tycker det var hyfsat pricksäkert.

Pricksäkert som bara den! That's so swedish christmas!! :D

Lol, my American friends described it as a bunch of middle aged men, semi-drunk dancing around a glorious penis while pretending to be frogs.

Except about the translation - which is pretty accurate that you drink the whole thing down or don't get another one later. I'm Swedish as well, so yeah.

William Diaz ye, but the rest were like nah

Pontus Häggström Hahaha, of course. It's quite hilarious though. It's almost the season for Helan Gar and snaps to be consumed in large quantity.

I have studied two weeks of swedish at the swedish institute in Ulan Bator so i can say that everything is correct in this clip. Sad of you to lie

The translation of Helan Går was quite accurate

"I dare you to eat Surströmming" lol I won't

No. We so not eat surströmming at chriatmas

Han glömde julmusten och glöggen. (sad)

Markus9705 Julglöggen! MUMMA!

Ja, just det. Det var ju faktiskt lite dåligt att missa det ;-)

Moonbolt Glögg är gudarnas dryck. (Y)

Markus9705 Trodde mjöd var gudarnas dryck ^^

We drink it alot in sweden as well

Let's clarify something: There are many different types of Akvavit, not just Danish... O.P.Anderson, as served in the video, is Swedish.

UniversityVengeance Akvavit is just another name for Brännvin, don't be foolish. The clear spirits tradition is much stronger in Sweden than Denmark - being a more beer centric country

It's Norwegian

Vi firar jul för att vi firade midvinterblot, Jesus är troligen född i april. Man lade Jesus födelse på den högtid vi redan hade för att vi "hedningar" lättare skulle anamma den kristna tron.

Jesus var sannolikt född i Oktober. Julen ersatte den gamla romerska sol högtiden när Konstantin konverterade till Kristendomen.

bmx098890 vi har faktiskt haft julen innan för att fira att solen kommer tillbaks

Umm Jesus was born on the 25th, according to legend anyway. Not the 24th, where did you get that info? Thats why it's christmas day. The 24th is christmas eve, ie the evening before the day.

i know

Hela världen hånar dock usa xD