Well not me but my wife is going on a Scandanavian tour + Finland from Korea next week. Is there anything she should know about before going. I’ve been to Europe myself a few times but not the northern part and I’m just worried bout her even though it is relatively safe up there.
That said, anything she should know good or bad? local customs? warnings? tourist traps?
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The original was posted on /r/sweden by /u/BobbyBacala9980 at 2023-07-25 06:55:33+00:00.
TheWolfwiththeDragon at 2023-07-25 08:23:53+00:00 ID:
jtcyijeAs a Swede, our sense of ethnicity is much more based on language and nationality. Since Swedes, Danes, Norwegians and Icelandic are all descendants of the same Norse people, we are all very similar. We can also understand each others’ languages fairly well.
The odd one out is Finland, since their linguistic roots are completely different from any other Nordic languages. Swedish is more closely related to Persian or Hindi than it is to Finnish! Despite us being neighbours. But Finland was part of the Swedish empire for 700 years so there has probably been quite some mixing between the two.
There is also the Sami people to the north, which are a semi-nomadic group of people not ethnically or linguistically connected with the Norse. If you ever see reindeer herding while traveling here, it is run by them as that’s their privilege.
BTW, as the term ”Scandivania” is sometimes only used to refer to some of the countries in the region, you could just use the term ”The Nordic countries” to refer to Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland all together. Explanation.
BobbyBacala9980 (OP) at 2023-07-25 08:49:58+00:00 ID:
jtd0f0jWow a lot of info to unpack here. I always assumed Finland was apart of Scandanavia until I did research for this trip. Watching that youtube link… thanks!
kadunkulmasolo at 2023-07-25 09:31:17+00:00 ID:
jtd3fsrNo offense or anything but since I have seen you calling it “Scandanavia” several times in this thread (so its unlike to be a typo), I feel like I need to point out that the actual spelling is Scandinavia with an i.
BobbyBacala9980 (OP) at 2023-07-25 10:59:25+00:00 ID:
jtdan47Duly noted… thanks!
Rising_Spirit at 2023-07-25 09:55:56+00:00 ID:
jtd5bo6Finland is similar culturally but not in terms of language
MawrtiniTheGreat at 2023-07-25 11:46:41+00:00 ID:
jtdf6lxThe Finns (and the Sámi) are originally north Siberian nomadic steppe people, originally more culturally similar to say the stereotypical medieval Mongolians than to the old Norse/current Scandinavian cultures. However, thousands of years of proximity and hundreds of years of Swedish rule has brought the Finns culturally a bit closer to the rest of us. The language is still completely different from the Scandinavian languages.
The Sámi are still a lot closer to their original roots, although in a modernised form the last hundred years (less horseback archers, more snowmobiles for herding deer). Here is an example from early 20th century: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File%3ASaami_Family_1900.jpg