Category: Swedish History

Let's Make Pepparkakor!

12/8/2017

Me, rolling out gingerbread dough.

...also known as Swedish gingerbread cookies!
As I was rolling out dough for pepparkakor last weekend, I realized I didn't know anything about the distinctly thin and crispy cookies I've been cutting out and eating every year. So, I decided to look into what I could find about the history of Swedish gingerbread and share my favorite recipe, which comes from an almost-antique 1986 Allt Om Mat.
Enjoy and God Jul!

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Birth, a Natural Part of Life

7/5/2017

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Midwife Problems, and Solutions, part 4

This is part four of a series on midwifery in Sweden and the United States. To read part one click here, part two click here, part three click here.

Johanna Hedén was poised: her hair, perfectly done in a Victorian up-do; her skin, clear and light; her nose, straight and petite, and her eyes, soft and friendly. This was the portrait of a woman who was professional and competent, the perfect image of a midwife.
She was born in 1837, actually a decent time to be a woman in Sweden. During her lifetime, she would see the beginnings of women’s emancipation. In 1845, a woman got the right to inherit her husband’s property, and in 1858, an unmarried woman over 25-year old was no longer considered her father’s ward.

Portrait of Johanna Heden in the Swedish Journal of Midwifery, Jordemodern.

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God-fearing and Faithful Women

4/27/2017

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Midwife Problems, and Solutions, Part 3

This is part three of a series on midwifery in Sweden and the United States. To read part one, click here, to read part two, click here.

Johan Van Hoorn, 1662

1697 was a difficult year in Sweden. King Charles XI had died in April. Although he had expanded the Swedish empire, the last two years of his reign were characterized by a devastating famine that spread across the empire. King Charles XII ascended to the throne at only 15 years old. The aristocrats, who made up only a small portion of the population but had a majority of the wealth, now wondered whether the King, just a boy still, would continue consolidating power to the crown or whether they would get some power too.

And during all this uncertainty, Johan van Hoorn was hoping someone would listen to him and his talk of jordegumman. Van Hoorn had studied medicine in the Netherlands and Paris, and had returned to Sweden to practice medicine and ended up spreading his gospel of training the midwife.
In Old English, midwife means with-woman, in Swedish jordemor (the jord comes from the Old Norse word for child or offspring) and barnmorska both mean child-mother. In Sweden at the end of the 1600s, most were untrained women known as jordegummor. Van Hoorn wanted to elevate their status, he wanted to make them barnmorskor. First, he put out the textbook called Then Swenske wäl-öfwade Jord-Gumman in 1697. In 1715, he published The Twenne Gudfruchtige I sitt kall trogne Och therföre af Gudi väl belönte Jordegummor Siphra och Pua, a textbook of questions and answers for midwives.

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Across the Atlantic

4/2/2017

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Midwife Problems, and Solutions, Part 2

This is part 2 of a series on the history of midwifery in the U.S. and Sweden. Click here to read part 1.

Like Hannah Karlen, Rosa Fineberg was alone when she had arrived in Baltimore in the 1890s. Fineberg had also been a midwife in her previous home, Russia, and planned to continued her work in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Jonestown.
Almost daily, she stepped out of her house carrying a large black leather bag. She walked by kosher meat markets and a butcher (who much to the dismay of the city health officials sometimes kept chickens in the basement), a kosher grocery store that advertised wares in Yiddish, and the Russische Shul where she attended temple. Every week, sometimes twice a week, and sometimes even twice in a single day she was called to deliver a baby. Her patients called her Tante Rosa and trusted her.

Rosa Fineberg around the turn of the 20th century, courtesy Jewish Museum of Maryland.

Kosher butcher in Jonestown, with the basement chickens, from Janet Kemp's Housing Conditions in Baltimore, 1907.

Rosa's daughter Sarah with her husband, Max Siegel in 1899, courtesy Jewish Museum of Maryland.

Fineberg's daughter Sarah thought her mother had a special, healing power, that was at times unexplainable. When Sarah went into labor in 1901, she called her mother to deliver the baby. And if her mother hadn't been a midwife, she probably would have called another midwife and not a doctor. A midwife’s delivery fee was five to ten dollars, much less than a hospital or private doctor would ask for, and in a time before medical schools were regulated, being a doctor didn't necessarily mean anything.

In Baltimore city, over 150 midwives delivered over 4,000 babies a year, and in every city and town in the U.S., you could find a woman delivering a baby, calling herself a midwife. But just like there were no regulations for doctors, there were no regulations for midwives. Why didn't the U.S. regulate the medical profession? And what did that mean for the health and safety of babies and mothers?

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Midwife Problems, and Solutions

3/19/2017

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(Hey! I'm trying something new here, with a series of short, interconnected posts based on research and archives I visited in the fall of 2015, relating to Swedish midwifery and comparing it to the U.S. Let me know what you think in the contact section.)

Hanna Karlen arrived in Boston on October 11, 1901 with four pieces of luggage. She was 36, traveling alone. On the ship's manifest, Karlen called herself a nurse, a statement that wasn't totally accurate.

"The readers of Jordmodern might be interested in hearing something about their colleagues and our work across the Atlantic."

She had trained as a midwife in Sweden, and she must have already known that in the U.S., being a nurse was more respected than being a midwife. Karlen made her way to Elizabeth, New Jersey, a town just outside Newark. In the city directory, she also called herself a nurse.
She assessed her professional situation quickly, and in 1902 wrote to the editors of the journal of the Swedish Midwives Association, Jordmodern.

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In the Dark, She Comes with Light

12/13/2016

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With candles in her hair, dressed in white with a bright red sash, Lucia comes to bring warmth, light, and goodies in the dark Swedish winter.

Celebrating Lucia at Koberg in Västergötland, 1848, watercolor by Fritz von Dardel, Nordiska Museet

The story I always heard growing up is that Lucia is the Patron Saint of Light, and she comes on (what used to be) the darkest day of the year, today, December 13th. She is based on St. Lucy, who, in the 3rd century, brought food and aid to hiding and persecuted Christians in the catacombs. She wore candles on her head so that she could see in the dark while carrying food, and her red sash is said to represent the blood from when she was slain. Her martyrdom lead to Sainthood, but this all happened it Italy, so how did she become the figure of a Nordic holiday? It might have to do with witches. Yup, another Swedish holiday with witch connections...)

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The Laserman

9/23/2016

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Read my new article on OZY.com about the Laserman, the Swedish serial killer.

At a time when a nationalist, anti-immigrant sentiment was sweeping through Sweden, a political party took advantage. The New Democracy party fed on those fears, and created a space where Swedes could "say what they thought." One result? A man got the idea that it would be OK to shoot immigrants with a laser-sighted rifle. Read the article for more, and if you speak Swedish, check out the Sveriges Radio P3 Dokumentär that informed some of my reporting.

A police sketch of the Laserman, courtesy of the Swedish Police Museum.

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Happy Easter! Time to dress up like a witch!

3/24/2016

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Wait, what? Easter? Witches?

If that was your reaction, you are not Swedish, sorry! But you might have already known that. If you are Swedish, you know that during the week leading up to Easter, it's common for boys and girls to dress up like Easter Witches.

Don't worry, they are mostly friendly witches! These photos from Nordiska Museet.

So what the heck do witches have to do with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus? I asked myself that this morning and found a pretty good explanation from Nordiska Museet/ the Nordic Museum in Stockholm.

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Resolute like it is 1899, dear fellow (Part 2)

1/14/2016

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Let's taste test this stuff.

(For background on the cookbooks I used, visit part 1 of this post.)

Skansen open-air museum in Stockholm, where many episodes of Historieätarna were filmed.

One of my very favorite TV shows is a Swedish series called Historieätarna, which is based on a British show called The Supersizers.... (If you speak Swedish, you can check it out here.) Lotta Lundgren and Erik Haag devote one week to living from a period in Swedish history. They go whole hog - clothes, drink (which means they are drunk a lot), activities, work, and food. Their professional chef cooks mostly what seem like bizarre, but historically accurate, meals from the past.

The last post was about those Victorian cookbooks, and this one is about becoming a history eater in just a tiny way and testing some of those recipes. (But warning, I'm not a food blogger... don't let anyone every tell you that's easy....)

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Merry Yule!

12/24/2015

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In Sweden, Christmas comes a night early, celebrated on Julafton (Christmas Eve), with many old traditions.

My personal theory is that Sweden is closer to the North Pole, so it's time-economical for Santa to stop by early. And in fact, he does come in person. A little rat-tat-tat on the door and a jolly voice asks, "Are there any nice children here?"
That Santa, Tomten, comes directly from the American concept of Santa Claus. But there are also tomtar, little gnomes/ mini Santas that visit on Christmas.

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Come in, the stacks are open.

Let's Make Pepparkakor!

Birth, a Natural Part of Life

Midwife Problems, and Solutions, part 4

God-fearing and Faithful Women

Midwife Problems, and Solutions, Part 3

Across the Atlantic

Midwife Problems, and Solutions, Part 2

Midwife Problems, and Solutions

In the Dark, She Comes with Light

With candles in her hair, dressed in white with a bright red sash, Lucia comes to bring warmth, light, and goodies in the dark Swedish winter.

The Laserman

Read my new article on OZY.com about the Laserman, the Swedish serial killer.

Happy Easter! Time to dress up like a witch!

Wait, what? Easter? Witches?

Resolute like it is 1899, dear fellow (Part 2)

Let's taste test this stuff.

Merry Yule!

In Sweden, Christmas comes a night early, celebrated on Julafton (Christmas Eve), with many old traditions.

Come in, the stacks are open.

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