The online Swedish news report called The Local posts a daily word. That’s not an uncommon practice. The new gas pump at my local Sunoco gas station has a television screen that gives a “word of the day.” One can learn much by standing around watching others fill their tanks. And thinking of things flammable like gasoline reminds me of the Swedish word of the day on the eve of Walpurgis, the April 30 Swedish festival that involves bonfires.
Swedish, the website explains, has three words for “fire,” There’s a small controlled fire, which is eld, a large uncontrolled fire like a forest fire, which is skogsbrand or gräsbrand, a grass fire, and a brasa. Think bonfire: It’s both large and controlled. During the spring celebration of Walpurgis, bonfires chase bad spirits away and guarantee fertility—a bit strange in a country where mothers have their first child at an average age of 29. Sweden has one of the lowest birth rates.
Fertility rates and spring rituals aside for a moment, consider those three words for “fire”: one controlled; one uncontrolled; and one a combination. English has different words for rapid oxidation, also, from fire to conflagration, and the words also imply a level of control.
Apparently, the Swedes have small controlled fires of love if one judges by fertility rates. But to generalize the tendencies of lovers in Sweden by some dry census statistics probably doesn’t do the people justice. They are, as we all are, human with human relationships. Swedes run the gamut from eld to skogsbrand just as people in other countries do. It’s just that the slow population growth doesn’t speak for unbridled passion among the young.
I suppose if one is worried about world population growth and the prospect of overpopulation, then a brasa kind of love is more in line with goals. Yes, the Walpurgis bonfires can be large, but they are also controlled and limited to a single day in spring, April 30. Seems the Swedes can get as hot as anyone else, but they apply a rationality to when one lights the bonfire.
You’ve seen people “on fire,” and maybe you have been hot about something or someone. When you look back at the fires of your life, how many have been small and controlled (eld), large and controlled (brasa), or large and uncontrolled (skogsbrand)? I suppose, if you are one to carry grudges, we should add another term, en rykande ruinhög (smoldering ruins).
Are you “on fire” now? If so, what kind?
Swedish, the website explains, has three words for “fire,” There’s a small controlled fire, which is eld, a large uncontrolled fire like a forest fire, which is skogsbrand or gräsbrand, a grass fire, and a brasa. Think bonfire: It’s both large and controlled. During the spring celebration of Walpurgis, bonfires chase bad spirits away and guarantee fertility—a bit strange in a country where mothers have their first child at an average age of 29. Sweden has one of the lowest birth rates.
Fertility rates and spring rituals aside for a moment, consider those three words for “fire”: one controlled; one uncontrolled; and one a combination. English has different words for rapid oxidation, also, from fire to conflagration, and the words also imply a level of control.
Apparently, the Swedes have small controlled fires of love if one judges by fertility rates. But to generalize the tendencies of lovers in Sweden by some dry census statistics probably doesn’t do the people justice. They are, as we all are, human with human relationships. Swedes run the gamut from eld to skogsbrand just as people in other countries do. It’s just that the slow population growth doesn’t speak for unbridled passion among the young.
I suppose if one is worried about world population growth and the prospect of overpopulation, then a brasa kind of love is more in line with goals. Yes, the Walpurgis bonfires can be large, but they are also controlled and limited to a single day in spring, April 30. Seems the Swedes can get as hot as anyone else, but they apply a rationality to when one lights the bonfire.
You’ve seen people “on fire,” and maybe you have been hot about something or someone. When you look back at the fires of your life, how many have been small and controlled (eld), large and controlled (brasa), or large and uncontrolled (skogsbrand)? I suppose, if you are one to carry grudges, we should add another term, en rykande ruinhög (smoldering ruins).
Are you “on fire” now? If so, what kind?
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