Is there anything more Danish than the Danes?

Stupid question one might think, but after reading an article for my Scandinavian Identities class I started to think it might not be. It featured a poem by Benny Andersen entitled Skabssvenskere or "Closet Swedes":

"I there anything so Danish as a potato? The potato comes from South America. Is there anything so Danish as the Dannebrog itself? It fell from heaven a long time ago in Estonia and brings to mind the flag of the Swiss. Does anything ring more truly Danish than the music of a German making diligent use of Swedish folk tunes? Pay attention now, for now it gets trickier: Is there anything more Danish than the Danes? The descendants of the Danes, a group of people in Sweden, invaded our country some time in the year 300-and-smoothing, while the original Danes, the Heruli, being inferior in number, were driven away by the cruel Swedish Danes and forced to roam the Europe of old, homeless, for hundreds of years, until a few thousand of these aboriginal Danes eventually succeeded in reaching Sweden, there to settle under the dubious name of Swedes. Here's the question once again; think carefully before you answer: Is there anything more Danish than the Danes? The correct answer is: Yes! The Swedes! They are the real, authentic Danes. Like the Jews in the desert, they are forever drawn toward the Promised Land that flows with beer and bacon, but which for seventeen hundred years has been occupied. By whom? By the Swedes! By us!"


I have really enjoyed the reading for this class so far, and who know I might even be inclined to actually do the reading every week! What a concept. It is easy as a North American to believe that no matter what you call them, the countries in Northern Europe are all the same - peaceable, small and cute. However, as I have learned already, their peoples, history, and culture could not be more different. Additionally, I have learned that terms like "Northern European," "Scandinavian," "Baltic," and "Nordic" all include different countries and have different meanings. Danes often think of themselves as being both Scandinavian and Nordic; however, they usually don't think of themselves as European let alone Northern European.

This is a very intriguing concept for a non-European because we tend to look at a map and automatically think "Well of course they are European, what else would they be?"

I do believe I am going to like this class! Vi ses.

Some Nordic Flags - Bergen, Norway