Heritage

‘Bondepraktikan was Used as a Rule Book ...’

Swedish from the Olden Days

By Maria Elffors McCann

My grandmother often told me that language was the most important thing I possessed. If I could express myself and use the language in a variety of ways, I would be alright. I often think back to what she said. Now that the Swedish language is influenced by other languages and cultures, I often reflect on how many of the expressions we use today relate back to the olden days. Not the days when I was a child (which for my own children seems like a lifetime ago) but the time when Bondepraktikan was used.

Bondepraktikan (“Old Farmer’s Almanac” in English) was used as a rule book and guideline for farmers, telling them when to plant the seeds and harvest their crop. The book was a connection between the weather, the seasons and the farmers’ work, based on superstition and folklore. The first Swedish edition of the Bondepraktikan was published in 1662, and an additional part was added in 1773. Bondepraktikan was one of the books that the emigrants brought with them when when they left for America. Today it is an important part of the Swedish heritage both in Sweden and for Swedes abroad.

I have a clear memory of Swedish lessons in school when we were learning Swedish proverbs as a tool to debate, comment and explain a specific occurrence. The proverbs were often taken from Bondepraktikan. The use of these expressions was, and is, a way to extend and vary the Swedish language.

Kvällsrodnad vacker natt, morgonrodnad slask i hatt, or Aftonrodnad bådar fager natt, men morgon rött, kvällsblött are proverbs with the English equivalent Red sky at night, shepherds’ delight; red sky in the morning, shepherds’ warning. As in English, the Swedish version refers to weather conditions.

The proverbs from Bondepraktikan often predicted the harvest for the coming months and year from the weather on a specific day. Each day in the modern Swedish calendar has a man’s or a woman’s name attached to it – the so-called namnsdag. For example, the name attached to November 30 is Anders. Anders braskar och julen slaskar – if it is so cold and snowy on November 30 that you can hear the snow crackle under your feet, it will rain at Christmas and vice versa. The calendar week of July 18 – 24 is filled with female names, each connected to weather predictions. The saying is that this is a very rainy week and if it rains on the 20th of July, the worms will destroy the harvest.

So, do I myself use expressions such as Anders braskar och julen slaskar, and do I associate a month in July with rain? Well, actually I do, and the funny thing is that these expressions are instilled in me from my school days and used in the exact same way as in the olden days. However, my own children just look at me and wonder what I mean. Is my generation the last to have learnt proverbs, expressions and statements that can be traced back 300 years? If so, it is a great responsibility to carry this part of the cultural and linguistic heritage on to future generations.

A Farm – Paintings from a Bygone Age by Carl Larsson. The paintings in this book depict the farm of Spadarvet in Sundborn, in the west of Sweden, which Carl Larsson bought in 1897.

Footnote: Maria Elffors McCann is the founder of the Online Language School Marilingo which offers Swedish and English lessons. www.marilingo.com