Book: The Swedish art of making

Book

The Swedish art of making the most of life, passa på

By Sofi Tegsveden Deveaux I n the book Beyond Fika, Mattias Axelsson stresses the inherently Swedish concept of passa på.

The closest English equivalent would be making the most of it, or grabbing an opportunity. On a sunny day, no Swede will stay inside and watch a film. A whole population will leave work early, without any manager raising an eyebrow. During the sacred days of summer, any activity is relocated to a spot in the sun. With vigour and determination, Swedes engage in picnics, kayaking, strawberry picking, ice-cream, and skinny-dipping at midnight, racing up against the return of the colder season. And although winter can be long and dull, a beautiful February day with a sparkling sun and Arctic temperatures will again make the Swedes flock to the outdoors, equipped with thermal underwear and a packed lunch, matsäck. Life is ephemeral, there is no time to waste.

This almost desperate pursuit of the sun is perhaps a natural symptomatic of the Nordic climate, but also a defining characteristic of the Swedish psyche. The typical Swede is active, optimistic and solutionsoriented. There is always a way. They engage in sports, plan ahead and celebrate their pastries on dedicated dates.

But is it possible to define national culture like this, based on generalisations? Tomas Spragg Nilsson, a British-born communications professional residing in Stockholm, asked himself this question last year when he realised he would soon be eligible to apply for Swedish citizenship. What should he do to become Swedish in a cultural sense? Would it be possible for him to embrace Swedish ways, to integrate mindset through practice? He turned to the internet to ask the Swedes themselves. Twitter delivered and, after a few hours only, Tomas had received hundreds of suggestions that boiled down to a 73-item list after duplicates had been emitted. There were places to visit, films to watch, books to read, and traditional food and drink to try. Tomas decided to take a non-discriminatory approach and complete the full bucket list within ten months, before submitting his citizenship application.

Somehow, this personal project mirrors the concept of passa på. By doing things he normally wouldn’t in the company of people he didn’t know, Tomas pushed himself far beyond his comfort zone, but also learnt how to find joy and meaning

in new situations. He learnt the Swedish National Anthem, and was invited to sing it on live radio. He learnt how to enjoy the (in)famous dish of surströmming, fermented herring, by giving it a chance and eating it the traditional way. In this sense, he embraced the local culture not so much in the tasks themselves but in his determined approach to complete them.

Tomas handed in his citizenship application in September 2019. At this point, he had managed to complete 60 tasks from his list of 73, and also turned his project into a book: Fear and Falukorv. “Born and bred in Stockholm, I couldn’t resist going through the list myself, discovering that I could tick off 48 out of 73 tasks. Perhaps it is time for me to grab the opportunity to become more Swedish.”

Fear and Falukorv by Tomas Spragg Nilsson was published on April 3, 2020, by LYS. Beyond Fika by Mattias Axelsson was published March 25. Read more about the books on lysforlag.com.