Classic; often root of great skits and take-offs.

[InquisitiveScouter]

NSF leaders ran the camp.  The Scouts were there for four weeks total.  We did Scout activities and games during the days, and there was a one or two hour Lutheran confirmation class each day for the Scouts.   (during which time I had to peel about 50 lbs of potatoes... in fact, one of the first things I learned how to say in Swedish was "Jag skalar potatis!!" )  Saturday was usually a field trip (Vadstena, Tokern, Vattern, Gota Canal, the beach in Motala, etc.), and Sunday was a worship service in a wonderful nearby church, Röks kyrka

https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Röks_kyrka

This is where the Scouts had their confirmation at the end of camp as well.  At the time (1987), the Lutheran Church was still the official church of Sweden.  I think Sweden had a separation of church and state in the late 90's???  (Google says 2000.)

But at our campfires, we sang the usual songs... I definitely remember Temperaturen!!  They had words printed out for me, but I didn't speak any Swedish at all when I arrived.  I knew lots of curse words by the time I left 😜  Scouts loved to hear me say dirty things in Swedish with my American southern accent, especially when I had no idea what they meant...

I remember at one campfire, they were going around the circle singing verses.  I thought they'd skip me, but no... when they got to me, the song leader pointed at me, so I just sang about the first 15 seconds of this...

https://youtu.be/m2-gDQDYcTA

Everyone literally fell over laughing.  They loved it!!

The cooks there made the most delicious salmon (lax) with dill sauce, and we ate lots of other fish dishes... tonfisk, torsk, forell... yummy!!

And any red meat dish we had was smothered in gravy or lingonberry.  But, I suppose hunger is the best cook, which, for a 19 year old means the food was always delicious 😜

But, the one food I absolutely detested, was pickled herring (sillen!!!)  The older adults ate the stuff left and right....yuk!!

[AwakeEnergyScouter]

🎶 Jag är en liten undulat,
som fått för dåligt med mat,
för dom jag bor hos,
för dom jag bor hos,
Dom är så snåla.
Dom ger mig sill varenda dag,
och det vill jag inte ha,
för jag vill bara,
för jag vill bara,
ha lax med dillsås 🎶

Good improvising on the verses situation 😂

I don't remember when the formal split was, but the church lost its social power long before then. When my parents were in elementary school, they sang Christian hymns in music class, even though not everyone believed. We would have been shocked to do so in the 1990s and 2000s. Most of the people I knew that got confirmed did it because it's tradition and/or because you get presents. I think I knew a single person in my classes that was a Christian, so I'm surprised to hear there was a month-long religious scout camp in the late 80s. My mom even met a priest that was an atheist, but wanted to comfort people in crisis. But there are still Christians around I suppose, you hear about them in the news sometimes. They must enjoy having somewhere to talk about their religion.

But almost everyone, including the Christians, feels the sacredness and beauty of nature. We can all agree on that. Nobody wants to stay in a city for Midsummer for a reason.

Edited March 9, 2023 by AwakeEnergyScouter

[InquisitiveScouter]

LOL, had to use Google translate for that, but loved it.

As to the rest, well, that's a topic for another thread 😜

[AwakeEnergyScouter]

Oh, sorry, I thought you might have sung the song.. the twist in the original is that the parakeet wants ice cream and Coca-Cola 😂