"The expression literally translates as 'open-air living' and was popularised in the 1850s by the Norwegian playwright and poet, Henrik Ibsen, who used the term to describe the value of spending time in remote locations for spiritual and physical wellbeing.... Today, the phrase is used more broadly by Swedes, Norwegians and Danes to explain anything from lunchtime runs in the forest, to commuting by bike (or on cross-country skis when the snow falls) to joining friends at a lakeside sauna (often followed by a chilly dip in the water) or simply relaxing in a mountain hut. The concept is also linked closely to allmansrätten, the right to roam. Scandinavian countries all have similar laws which allow people to walk or camp practically anywhere, as long as they show respect for the surrounding nature, wildlife and locals.... Swedish data confirm that the amount of time young people are active outdoors has dipped slightly over the past three decades, with around 25% now spending time in the countryside or forest at least once a week, compared to 29% in the early 1980s."
From "Friluftsliv: The Nordic concept of getting outdoors" (BBC). That's a 2017 article. I got there after googling "friluftsliv," which I encountered in a new article, "One Tank Getaway: Late winter in Door County offers great food, welcome respite" (On Milwaukee).
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The Swedes and the Norwegians lived side by side with Indians in colonial times in little villages with framed houses and traditional native dwellings. They never seemed to feel the need to push the Indians out.
Reminds me of the Monty Python and The Holy Grail open credits gag
Wi nøt trei a høliday in Sweden this yër? See the løveli lakes The wøndërful telephøne system And mäni interesting furry animals
Lebensraum: a new approach to the homeless.
Bailey's Harbor in Door County was my Summer and Fall go-to when I lived in Chicago. They called it "Nature's air conditioning".
I was last there about 20 years ago and felt some despair at how much it has grown and become commercialized. It used to be cute because of all the Scandinavian trinkets and foods. I wonder if Al Johnson's is still there.
Someone gave me a bottle of vodka made from Door County cherries and it was bar none the best Vodka I ever tasted. Smooth as spring water.
See also "Shouts and Murmurs" in a recent New Yorker for gag take-offs on "higge" and "friluftsliv."
"The Swedes and the Norwegians lived side by side with Indians in colonial times in little villages with framed houses and traditional native dwellings. They never seemed to feel the need to push the Indians out."
Probably happened in some instances where the locals were willing to share their land and limited resources with outsiders, but I doubt that it was a common experience across the country.
The noble savage myth will never die.
Nothing says friluftsliv quite like fartlek.
This guy is my hero
apetor YouTube Channel
Mrs. Hawkeye and I spent a couple of weeks in the Door, two years ago. It was a lovely time, and such a wonderful respite from the broiling southwestern summer. Lots of nice places to bike - we found a local bike club that took us in. We hit most of the places mentioned in the article; there were also a few world-class coffee shops that surprised us.
Yes, Al Johnson's (and the roof goats) are still there.
"but I doubt that it was a common experience across the country.”
No, just in places like New Jersey, which was colonized by Sweden and where Swedes, Norwegians, and Finns made up the vast majority of the white settlers, along the Delaware River, for example. I never said it happened across the country.
Door County in winter is great! Love it.
The line at Al Johnson’s will be much shorter.
Indians had all kinds of political allegiances prior to the Revolution, but what happened in the Revolutionary War was similar to what is happening today, they were denied their individual identity and forced into a racial identity politics.
Besides, my original post points more to the myth of a "noble European” than a “noble savage.” Something I will admit was scarce on the ground at the time.
"I speak your language!"
farfegnugen
Not only is Al Johnson’s still there, but they are expanding. My husband and I are leaving NYC in early April and moving to Egg Harbor (he grew up there.) It’ll be a big change, but I do look forward to the woods and the water. I doubt Wisconsin’s famed brandy old fashioned will become my drink of choice. However, the local bourbon with a splash of local cherry bitters is very tasty.
I hope they all get medals. Lots and lots of medals. That would be the Ibsen way.
"I never said it happened across the country."
Yes, but I read you comment as indicating that the Scandinavians, only a few generations removed from their Viking ancestors (some of the worst people in the history of the world) were especially peaceful and tolerant of others. I sort of doubt that.
Akvavit! Uff da!!!!!!!!!!!
Love being out in the wild. That's where I'm happiest.
tim in vermont said...Someone gave me a bottle of vodka made from Door County cherries and it was bar none the best Vodka I ever tasted. Smooth as spring water.
Uff Da! The DC cherry wine is to die for, literally. We tried some and used the rest to clean our kitchen drain. Maybe they should stick to vodka.
Cherry bitters is a good idea. However, be advised there is a bartender's law in Wisconsin that all old fashioneds must be made with brandy.
"I sort of doubt that.”
I guess if you doubt it, historical records that it happened must have been faked. I will throw you a bone on the bad Indians front though, the Great Slave Lake and the Slave River were named for the Slavey people, who were so named by their neighbors, since that is where the neighboring tribes went to capture and enslave people when the need arose, pre contact. It has nothing to do with African slaves.
You think that’s something? The Germans have Freikörperkultur.
they were denied their individual identity and forced into a racial identity politics.
Actually, the Iroquois who were the closest to European civilization, chose the wrong side in the "French and Indian War." The result was the enmity that resulted in local wars. The plains Indians were never candidates for civilization as they were hunter-gatherers. The Cherokee were also candidates for civilization but they were stirred up by a renegade Scotsman and fought a war agains the Europeans they could not win.
The story of the lakeside sauna reminds me of a Tom Bodett story about two couples that skied in to a sauna north of Homer AK in the winter. They steamed in the sauna, then ran down through the snow to the lake. While in the lake, they watched the sauna catch fire and destroy their clothes. They had to ski naked 5 miles to the road, then hitchhike to town as the car keys had burned up. My wife laughs hysterically every time she thinks of that story.
Austin, Texas allows urban camping anywhere except in government property. Lots of people there seem to be pursuing outdoor living. Maybe they're Scandinavian.
I think a lot of drinking and nudity are involved.
But that's OK as Scandinavians are usually very good looking.
As a father of five adult children, I count among my successes that I taught them all to move and sleep without fear in wild places. I endured considerable whining along the way, but the reward is seeing them travel freely on their own and hearing them speak of their genuine enjoyment of this savage and beautiful country.
Envirophilia.
But that's OK as Scandinavians are usually very good looking.
The women, maybe...
Okay, how un-woke of me is this? Twice in the past six months, I've been in an REI shop (getting ready for winter and such), and I've run across the products of and the label for brand "Fjällräven". A Swedish company . . . .of some current trendiness! Each of the Times I was in the store, I asked one of the salespeople, how does one pronounced that name. Each time they kind of shrugged their shoulders and said that they were working on that, however they did say that someone in the shop did know how to pronounce it the right way . . . . .
I'm grew up in Minnesota, and I'm pretty sure someone is being un-woke about this, maybe the salespeople, maybe the manufacturer, maybe me. But hey,we're all trying our best and it is a tricky language.
In any event, they do make cool looking jackets. I think I'm going to apply for one next winter.
Michael K said...
The story of the lakeside sauna reminds me of a Tom Bodett story about two couples that skied in to a sauna north of Homer AK in the winter. They steamed in the sauna, then ran down through the snow to the lake. While in the lake, they watched the sauna catch fire and destroy their clothes. They had to ski naked 5 miles to the road, then hitchhike to town as the car keys had burned up. My wife laughs hysterically every time she thinks of that story.
We'll leave the light on for you....
...what Scandinavians call friluftsliv...
Does this involve naked Swedish women running around in the snow? Because I ain't clicking on the BBC link unless it involves naked Swedish women running around in the snow....
No, all it's got is naked hairy swedish guys like me, sorry.
As a father of five adult children, I count among my successes that I taught them all to move and sleep without fear in wild places.
Good work. My middle daughter is probably the gutsiest one of my five. She was working on an archeological dig in Equador at 14,000 feet above Quito when she decided to see the Amazon. She flew across the Andes to a small plane to an oil drilling town with another girl. She said the mosquitoes were blue and the size of house flies. They went paddling in the Amazon near its headwaters.
My younger son is a fireman. His brother is a trial lawyer but sails on weekends. The other two daughters are not that adventurous but one is an FBI agent and lawyer.
"In a small plane..."
mockturtle said...But that's OK as Scandinavians are usually very good looking.
The women, maybe...
Guys who are half Scandinavian are the best looking, especially if the other half is Scots-English.
Yes, Al Johnson’s is expanding. The new addition looks like it will at least double their legacy building size. We were there last October, and the addition hadn’t quite opened up yet. Having to limit the number of people in the restaurant and gift shop due to COVID was bad enough, but the real COVID tragedy, due to shipping delays, was that they were completely out of lingonberries!! Uff!
BTW - bourbons are best savored neat. Brandy, on the other hand, is great in an Old Fashioned, in my opinion.
And speaking of both bitters and Door County, if you are up that way, travel over to Washington Island and visit Nelsen's Hall Bitters Pub. They claim to be the world’s largest consumer of bitters.
Cheers!
I wonder what the Swedish phrase is for "being overrun by Muslims"
"Actually, the Iroquois who were the closest to European civilization,”
Yes, but Joseph Brant sided with the British and was hoping to burn the settlers out and took up a policy of massacre, and Continental Army reprisals on the Iroquois villages were not particularly careful about who sided with whom when they got to these villages, which were often mixed European and Indian.
I like this little item on wampum.
Wampum was also used by the northeastern Indian tribes as a means of exchange,[3] strung together in lengths for convenience. The first Colonists adopted it as a currency in trading with them. Eventually, the Colonists applied their technologies to more efficiently produce wampum, which caused inflation and ultimately its obsolescence as currency.
No lesson there for modern America, is there...
Scandinavian women look great young then get very very wrinkly in their forties.
Temujin: att invaderas av muslimer. Ett stort problem i Skandinavien, särskilt i Sverige.
Jay Vogt- Swedish is not that difficult to learn; the grammar, while a bit more complicated than English is not as tricky as German. However pronunciation can be tough for English speakers: the sj and sk sounds can be hard, as can some of the vowels. Also nouns are made definite by adding the ‘en’ or ‘et’ suffix, which was hard to get used to at first. A car = en bil. The car = bilen. The cars = bilarna. One thing about learning languages today- lots of shows to watch in various tongues .
Oddly my dad, who grew up the son of OTB squareheads on the East Side of St. Paul, couldn’t speak any Swedish. My grandparents never spoke it in front off the kids, at least after my dad’s older brother was sent home from school because he couldn’t speak English. ( that’s a family legend, too good to check.) I had to learn Swedish at the ‘U’.
Temujin, the phrase being overrun by Muslims in Swedish is "Malmö."
The great outdoors are great. Scandinavians are boring, miserable people who have managed to convince the world that they are the happiest people on earth. The assumption is that they ought to be happy because of their expansive welfare state, but are they really happy? And if they really are happy, wouldn't that be just as much an argument for cultural homogeneity as for government social programs?
In ordering an old fashioned (brandy or bourbon), it’s the “sour or sweet?” that throws me.
I enjoyed this article very much - as I'm familiar with 'friluftsliv' Swedish style. It also calls to mind the "North of the Tension Line" series of novels.
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