Category: culture

bookmark_borderA new definition of marriage

Posted on by thomas

Anna and Daddy
Anna and Daddy, a photo by PhylB on Flickr.
A few years ago, I wrote:

[T]he state could treat you as married if you had either had a child together or lived together for three years, and it could treat you as divorced if you had either “married” somebody else through the above-mentioned actions or lived apart for two years.

Now an Indian high court judge seems to have had the the same idea:

The court said that if a bachelor has completed 21 years of age and an unmarried woman 18 years, they have acquired the freedom of choice guaranteed by the Constitution. “Consequently, if any couple choose to consummate their sexual cravings, then that act becomes a total commitment with adherence to all consequences that may follow, except on certain exceptional considerations.

The court said marriage formalities as per various religious customs such as the tying of a mangalsutra, the exchange of garlands and rings or the registering of a marriage were only to comply with religious customs for the satisfaction of society.

This is brilliant! In a Scottish context, this would men that if two people are sixteen years old and have sex, they’re married.

It’s a beautiful simplification of marriage, but I do wonder when you divorce according to the Madras court — unless that’s automatic as well, lots of people will end up multiple bigamists!

bookmark_border“Trods alt det” af Rabbie Burns

Posted on by thomas

I Danmark er det eneste kendte Burns-digt vel Skuld gammel venskab rejn forgo, men Jeppe Aakjær var faktisk en stor beundrer af den skotske barde og oversatte mange andre af hans digte.

I Skotland er A man’s a man for a’ that vel stort set lige så berømt some Auld lang syne, og det var også blandt de digte, som Aakjær oversatte.

Desværre oversatte han det dog til rigsdansk, ikke til jysk, og resultatet er et ret højtideligt sprog, som ikke er nært så mundret som den skotske original og Aakjærs jyske digte.

Men i det mindste havde han styr på versefødderne, så oversættelsen kan synges lige så godt som originalen:

  1. Om en af ærlig Fattigdom
    gav Kampen op, og alt det,
    den Stymper gaar vi udenom,
    i Nøden stolt trods alt det.
    Trods alt det og alt det,
    vort sure Stræb og alt det:
    Din Rang er blot Dukatens Præg,
    dens Guld du selv, trods alt det.

  2. Og er vor Dragt end lidet fin,
    vor Kost kun knap og alt det,
    giv Taaber Silke, Skjælme Vin,
    en Mand er Mand trods alt det.
    Trods alt det og alt det,
    trods Gøglets Glans og alt det,
    Retsindets Mand, om nok saa lav,
    er størst blandt Mænd trods alt det.

  3. Se dristigt paa hin Herremand,
    betragt hans Pragt og alt det;
    har han end tusind Tønder Land,
    er han en Nar trods alt det.
    Trods alt det og alt det,
    hans Baand og Kors og alt det,
    et stolt og uafhængigt Sind
    har ikkun Smil for alt det.

  4. Baroner bages bedst ved Gunst,
    Lensgrever med og alt det,
    men det steg over Kongers Kunst
    at skabe Mænd trods alt det.
    Trods alt det og alt det,
    et malet Skjold og alt det,
    den klare Kløgt, den sunde Sans
    i Rang staar over alt det.

  5. Gid hver maa se det store ske
    — og ske det skal trods alt det!
    at Brav-Mands Dont Evropa rundt
    faar Hæd’rens Plads trods alt det!
    Trods alt det og alt det,
    den Dag er nær trods alt det,
    da Mand og Bror er samme Navn
    al Jorden om trods alt det!

bookmark_borderFastelavn

Posted on by thomas


Anna slår katten af tønden
Originally uploaded by viralbus

People in Denmark (and, I believe, Norway) celebrate carnival like Catholic countries in spite of Denmark being a country with a Lutheran state church.

However, Fastelavn is very different from the Brazilian carnival. It’s much closer to Hallowe’en: The kids dress us and they go guising from door to door. They also “knock the cat out of the barrel” (although no cat is involved any more) — you can see Anna taking part on the photo on the right — and eat special sweet rolls.

It’s a very sweet tradition, and I think Léon, Anna and Amaia really enjoyed celebrating it together with Danish kids in Denmark this year — although Anna was a wee bit surprised that all the other kids in the school group were much bigger than her (Danish kids start school two years later than here).

bookmark_borderIkea’s Christmas Party

Posted on by thomas


Ikea’s dance floor
Originally uploaded by viralbus

We happened to notice that Ikea were organising a Santa Lucia and Christmas party on the 13th of December. We didn’t really know what it involved, but we decided to go along.

It was brilliant! At a cost of £5 for adults and £4.50 for kids (age 12 and under), you got a huge buffet with unlimited crayfish, herring, salmon, ham, sausage, meatballs, sausages, chicken, cakes, soft drinks and coffee and much more, as well as a small glass of snaps.

There were also games, an opportunity for the kids to make their own Xmas cards, and a dance floor.

My only concern about blogging it is that I’m worried Ikea might stop doing it if it gets too popular.

bookmark_borderBritain and Scandinavia

Posted on by thomas


The subject
Originally uploaded by Simon Collison

To what extent is Britain (or the British Isles) the same kind of construct as Scandinavia (or the Nordic countries)?

Both Britain and Scandinavia have a long and complex history, with periods of political unification and others with separate kingdoms and plenty of wars.

Scandinavia’s united period was a long time ago (1397–1523), while Britain only started falling apart when Ireland became independent again less than a century ago. On the other hand, the British Isles are to some extent more heterogenous than Scandinavia – the former is a mixture of Celts, Anglo-Saxons and Norman French, while the latter consists of the descendants of the Vikings with some Finns, Lapps and Germans thrown in.

In both cases in can be hard to pinpoint exactly what Britishness/Scandinavianness means. For instance, John Major’s description of Britishness – “Britain will still be the country of long shadows on cricket grounds, warm beer, invincible green suburbs, dog lovers and pools fillers and, as George Orwell said, ‘Old maids bicycling to holy communion through the morning mist’” – is so clearly a description of England that does not apply to Scotland and Ireland. In the same way, it’s very hard to define Scandinavian culture in one sentence. And yet, Scandinavians do recognise the similarities intuitively, and Scandinavians abroad tend to hang out together, for instance at international conferences.

So there are definite similarities. And just as Scandinavia does exist in spite of having been separate countries for half a millennium, Britain will always exist whether Scotland becomes independent in 2014 or not. Actually, Scottish independence might actually lead to a reevaluation of the concept, so that it ceases to be about a political construct and starts being about what actually binds people on these islands together, whether they live in Ireland, Wales, Man, Scotland or England.

bookmark_borderAssimilation

Posted on by thomas

Jeg har tidligere blogget om tyske stednavne i Danmark.

Jeg gik for nylig tilbage til den artikel i Politiken, som mit blogindlæg var baseret på, og fandt denne kommentar af Poul Petersen fra Vangede (jeg har rettet stavefejlene):

Tidligere gik jeg kraftigt ind for, at det danske mindretal fastholdt deres danskhed, og fandt naturligvis at det tyske mindretal nord for grænsen havde samme ret. Men med de sidste 20 års masseindvandring i begge lande, så giver det vel ikke mening at presse disse nytilkomne til assimilering, mens man bevidst holder de “gamle” adskilte. Regelen må være: Assimilér dig i det land, du lever i.

Jeg tror, det var Søren Pind, der som den første offentligt begyndte at kræve assimilation i stedet for integration, men Poul Petersens kommentar er et skræmmende eksempel på, hvilke konsekvenser denne idé kan få.

Integration betyder for mig, at der er plads til forskellighed, så længe alle er enige om nogle fælles spilleregler. Der er da ikke en sjæl her i Skotland, der har problemer med, at jeg taler dansk med mine børn og lader dem slå katten af tønden til Fastelavn. På samme måde burde man da heller ikke have noget problem med, at der findes danskere, som er jøder, muslimer eller ateister, som taler tysk, polsk eller tyrkisk, eller som ikke vil indtage kød, alkohol eller skaldyr.

Der har altid været mindretal i Danmark – tyskere, katolikker, jøder, tatere, etc. – så hvorfor går danskerne i panik, blot fordi mindretallene ændrer sig? Hvorfor kan man ikke længere fejre forskelligheden?

Jeg er yderst glad for at bo i Skotland, hvor ingen taler om assimilation!

bookmark_borderThe Danish-Scottish Christmas party

Posted on by thomas

I joined the Danish-Scottish Society shortly after moving to Scotland, but I was not a very active member due to the fact that almost all events took place in Edinburgh (which seems to have a much bigger Danish community than Glasgow). For a couple of years, some people tried to arrange events in Glasgow, but they didn’t typically attract more than ten participants, so eventually I let my membership lapse.

However, these days I’m living with three bilingual children who really could use an opportunity to hear other people speak Danish and learn more about Danish culture, so we recently joined again as a family.

The first event we went to was their Christmas party (in Edinburgh). It was really good fun for the kids. There were at least a hundred people there, including lots of kids, and they were selling glögg, æbleskiver and pebernødder. Towards the end, we all danced around the Christmas tree, singing Danish and English Christmas songs, and afterwards somebody read the kids a Christmas story, and then Santa arrived, bringing presents for all the children.

We then had to leave, but on our way out, each kid got a large bag of sweet, so they were well chuffed!

It’s just a shame it takes an hour and a half to get to Edinburgh – the kids really thought it was a long trip, If only there were enough people in the Glasgow area to arrange similar events for Danish-Scottish families here…