From Pagans to Christians to Social Democrats - Has Sweden lost faith?
Swedishness
Can the term Swedishness and what we as Swedes believe in be understood through studying our national art? To begin and understand Swedish art and how it is linked to our religion or beliefs, I will, in this article, try to define and understand Swedishness as a concept. Allow me to start with a brief introduction to my Swedish heritage and my own thoughts on Swedishness.
I was born and raised in a small town in southern Sweden called Helsingborg. Helsingborg is a city that has been home to my father’s bloodline since the 16th century. My father used to hold my hand while walking the streets of Helsingborg, proudly telling me stories of his great-grandfather, who was a ship interior carpenter in the 19th century and owned some of the oldest buildings in the centre city of our town. His son, my father's grandfather, eventually purchased one of these buildings and created a cooperage that made barrels and casks. His son, my grandfather, also became an entrepreneur. A skilled pastry chef who owned and operated several bakeries all over Helsingborg. On my mother’s side of the family, I have a heritage from Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. My mother’s grandmother, my great-grandmother, graduated from Sweden's first University for women, spoke five languages and hung out with Bruno Liljefors. Her husband, my great-grandfather, was the deputy of Stockholm. As you can probably tell by now, I am very, very Swedish.
However, the past 15 years I have spent living in Copenhagen, Denmark, not that exotic, I might add, considering we actually used to be Danes in the southern part of Sweden. For nearly half of my life, I have called Denmark my home and Sweden my heart, while travelling the world, working for international companies. The more I have worked and lived abroad, the more I have begun to question what is truly Swedish. Is it the IKEA meatballs? Is it the impressionist paintings of Zorn? Is it all the Christian and pagan traditions that live in, without most Swedes actually believing in them anymore? Ludvig Qvarnström’s description of the idea of Swedish art in the anthology Swedish Art History resonates very well with my thoughts on the matter. Not only regarding Swedish art, but also the concept of Swedish in general;
Considering the movement of ideas and artistic expressions, as well as the numerous artists working at many different places all over Europe and later the world, the idea of something specifically Swedish becomes further questionable.
Sitting here reminiscing about an old YouTube video called Swedishness. To me, this video truly is a brilliant and hilarious definition of Swedishness. Especially the opening scene that takes place in a church with two parents, their baby and a priest planning the child’s baptism;
Mother: “Maybe you can skip that part? If you can skip to say the words Jesus and God?” Father: “I mean, we don't really believe in that.” Priest: “ So you want to go straight to the hymn then? “ Father, we were thinking you can play the song from Swedish House Mafia, Don't You Worry Child”
The above dialogue beautifully captures my upbringing. Both my parents are outspoken atheists, yet they choose to baptise all four children in church.
Studying a course in Swedish art made me realise how much we have to thank religion for. Just for a split second, imagine that cultures would not have had any rituals and ceremonies. Would we then have any art left to tell the history of our ancestors? Perhaps telling a small and selected part of the history of my home country, through the lens of art, might be one way of getting closer to understanding my ancestors' history. Why or if Swedes have lost our faith and, perhaps, even the concept of Swedishness. If there is such a thing.
A story carved in stone
For centuries, art has lived alongside us humans. What is suggested to be the first art created by a human ancestor is 540.000 years old. A simple zigzag engraving carved into a shell found in Indonesia. Being creative and creating works of art have fascinated and entertained humans, not only in the northern hemisphere, but all over the globe for over half a million years. Today art tells us a story, not any story, our story, the story of how we lived our lives and what we used to believe in.
According to Björn Magnusson Staaf, no art audience existed in prehistory in the modern sense of the word. In his article Prehistory Art in Scandinavia, he suggests that the skilful artistry put into the creation of objects, paintings, carvings and architectural constructions served purposes that in many cases most likely were related to so-called ritual practices, being connected with religious beliefs, maintaining, for example, social bonding.
One question that I find interesting to address and that has puzzled researchers for many years is, how should religion be designated before Christianity? I can’t seem to find one single answer to the question, but in the article Archaeology and pre-Christian religions in Scandinavia, Kristina Jennbert brings up a few viewpoints from various researchers:
As regards language, there are several names for religion before Christianity, for example, Nordic heathenism, pagan religion, paganism, old Scandinavian cult, and fertility cult. The terms have slightly different meanings and are used in different kinds of associations. The term "heathenism" in particular is loaded with subjective judgments. Several scholars have stated that paganism was a shamanistic religion, but also that the pre-Christian rulership was sacral.
To understand the development of “religious” beliefs by looking at a limited amount of art in Sweden, I have chosen to use rock carvings, found here in the era of the Bronze Age. The reason for choosing this particular period is that this period is the one that has been most frequently analysed in terms of pagan religion. The Bronze Age in Scandinavia is roughly defined as the years between 1800–500 BCE, and the material culture, rituals, and imagery show very strong links to other European regions. Imagery dating back to this period commonly depicts humans and animals in various scenes and combinations. Much like the motifs of renowned carvings found inside the Tomb of Kivik in Scania (fig1). Analyses of iconography, contexts and analogies have led to the assumption that the rock carvings of the Kivik tomb may represent an almost shamanistic Bronze Age cosmos. Given the rich archaeological material found from the Bronze Age, there is a widespread image among scholars of the period being very pastoral and cultic. Research based on visual culture dating back to the period points to us Swedes having had a rich ceremonial culture, especially surrounding burials.
When the many Gods turned into ONE
This rich ceremonial culture continued for thousands of years, well into the period known as the Middle Ages. During the second half of the 8th century, the Viking expansion began and with this, a steady and growing cultural exchange, which grew stronger in the 9th and 10th centuries. These clever, successful, relentless Scandinavian tradesmen have been made very popular through today's series and films. Portraying them as fierce, barbaric and violent people expanding their lands and clans with force by surprise attacks from the sea. Raiding targets on the coast of the British Isles and continental Europe and along the coast and rivers of present-day Russia, the Vikings brought foreign cultures back home. Including a new religion, Christianity, that was spreading in Western Europe at the time.
During the majority of Europe during this time and on the British Isles, a manner of cultural unity was developing through the Catholic Church, centred in Rome. Though not politically united, under various secular rulers, the major part of Europe formed similar patterns of architectural and pictorial traditions, spreading through the channels of ecclesiastical and monastic structures.
Christianisation in Sweden took a long time, and there is a lot of disagreement over the state of conversion. One perspective is that Christianization was a peaceful and lengthy process without any collective conversion. Another interpretation emphasises a dramatic confrontation between different ideologies, in which the pre-Christian societies were forced by social and political choices. One suggestion in the latter direction is that the presence of riding equipment and horses in Viking Age burials might express an ideological and religious reaction from landowners. Although crosses and crucifix pendants have been found as well, these are a sign of the Christian mission being present in Scandinavia at the time.
Since the church was the main patron of the arts and used visual culture as a means to convey the Christian message, a lot of Christian objects have been preserved by the Church. This, too, must be considered while comparing the objects found from this period. Most Swedes were converted in the late part of the medieval period; at this time, it had become common to use wood carving for monastery objects. A beautiful example of such an object is the Gothic crucifix from Gotland depicting Christ suffering on the cross, hanging, with his head falling to one side, and attached to the cross by three nails, emaciated, bleeding from being whipped, and wearing a crown of thorns.
After several hundred years of the church being central in our way of viewing the world, came the age of kings and politics. With Gustav Vasa becoming the king of Sweden in 1523, the political climate and society changed. Sweden grew to become a superpower, inspired by politicians in Florence and Umbria in Italy. Swedish art changed and came to be inspired by the Italian Renaissance, and consisted mostly of portraits and castles. Both artistic symbols of those who held the most power. The castles built by Vasa became so impressive compared to the medieval churches that the increase of royal and secular power overtook the former monetary power.
Priests became servants of the early nation-states, rather than of the international Catholic Church. This also meant a redistribution of monetary power, from church to king, which was crucial in enabling large secular building projects like castles. From the 14th century onward, power has shifted and evolved so much that in the year I was born, 1985, Sweden did not even closely resemble the superpower we once were. Nor did the power belong with one king or the church.
A century of changes
I was born in an age of non-conformists, atheists, feminists and democracy. Surrounded by public art, guerrilla art, political art and art for the sake of art. My parents were both children of the “golden age”, an age where most Swedes saw an increase in wealth and available social services after decades of the social democrat party ruling the country and protests on the social norms from the Swedish artists. Old traditions were cast aside, and modernity was embraced. One example of this new Swedish way of living is the designer Lena Larsson’s (1919-2000) suggestion to use paper plates and cups at the dinner table in order to spend more time together as a family. During the 60s and the 70’s the role and view of women changed dramatically in Sweden, and it became more common that artists used their creative skills to express their views on controversial subjects such as politics, drugs and sex.
The anarcho-feminist artist Monica Sjöö (1938–2005) caused a scandal with her painting God Giving Birth, in which God was depicted as a black woman giving birth. Even though the 70s in general are renowned for being the decade of female liberation, Sjöö barely escaped being prosecuted for her political and “obscene” painting when exhibiting in England in 1973. God Giving Birth received a harsh critique in Sweden as well, but never to the extent that the artist risked legal precautions. Feminism made its full-blown entry into my home country, and what used to be a religious country filled with faith in the higher powers, forever changed. Now we started to concern ourselves with “real” problems.
With the Vietnam War and the oil crisis emerging in the mid 70’s, the interests and concerns of the Swedish people changed. We occupied our minds with the state of our nature, the damage industrialisation has caused, the fact that oil was not a never-ending energy source, and slowly realised that other countries needed our help. Massive demonstrations and protests accompanied by posters, record covers, and satirical or political drawings became an important part of how the century was perceived.
Following the turbulent decade, there was a political shift in Sweden; the social democratic hegemony had been broken, and an era of neoliberalism began. Initially, this can be understood as a move away from socially engaged art towards a fascinated look at the market side of the art world. Postmodernism made its breakthrough in Sweden, and expressionistic paintings became widely popular. Also, the old Swedish masters such as Anders Zorn, Bruno Liljefors and Carl Larsson had a major upswing in popularity when many young entrepreneurs, mainly in the financial sector, started to privately invest in art. All of a sudden, art had gone from discussing social and political issues to a market-driven money-making machine. This, in turn, affected the status of individual artists to almost reach that of a rock star.
In the 1990s and 2000’s Swedish art once again found its way back to the political and social debate. Focusing on different political subjects, for example, LGBT after the big AIDS breakout, climate change and diversity in our society. The fact that the greater part of the 18th century was dictated by a social democratic government has indeed colored our culture.
Today, We believe in people
In today's Sweden, even furniture and fashion have been democratised by the people and industry giants, such as IKEA and H&M. IKEA’s mission statement clearly states this; To create a better everyday life for the many people”. Companies like these, although claiming to be creating objects for the people, are making a huge profit. Who holds the power nowadays?
After my years abroad, working with a vast amount of different cultures, and after reading the Swedish Art History anthology, I am convinced that we are all interconnected and have more similarities than differences. Cultures from all over the world influence each other, and as our sociocultural environment evolves and changes with globalisation, so too does our faith.
Perhaps, just perhaps, we Swedes did not leave faith behind, but our faith evolved into believing and fighting for equality, preserving nature and our legacy. Perhaps that is what Swedishness is, a religion of democracy with a touch of pagan midsummer rituals side by side with Christian baptisms and church weddings. After all, as long as we have a feeling of deciding and influencing our own (and on occasion others’) lives, we gladly visit churches and get drunk in snaps with flowers in our hair.
“Maybe you can skip that part? We were thinking you can play the song from Swedish House Mafia, Don't You Worry Child”
Don’t you worry, child. We still have art, culture and the right to artistically express ourselves. The faith is ours, and Sweden is a nation that believes in people. People, climate and IKEA.
Video, Swedishness by Felix Herngren och Fredrik Falck, production FLX: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8_7yPocGPg , photo: Monica Sjöö, “God Giving Birth”, 1968, Museum Anna Nordlander (© The Estate of Monica Sjöö, photo Krister Hägglund)
