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Sweden... I heard many stories, and I am sure that things are much different now days, but in my grandmothers day and her parents in Sweden, these people were hard working people with family values. My family came too america not too escape Sweden but too live their dream like many people chose too do, my grandmother was a wife, a mother of three, a farmer, a maid, worked in a candy store making homeade goodies, moved across country, owned a tavern then sold it and saw all of america... was a nurse for 30+ years and lived her life out back on the farm until she passed.. my grandfathers helped in the creation of the Minnesota railroad system and helped build a dam over the Nelson river in Wisconsin as well as owning farms and working hard on them. I am proud of my swedish roots and how hard the imigrants worked too change our country... :0)
I'm Swedish, born in Sweden, and have been in the U.S. for a dozen years now. I've been to Lindsborg and the best word I can think of to describe it is endearing. I don't mean that condescendingly, just that it's nostalgic in a way I couldn't relate to as someone who's currently Swedish as opposed to of Swedish descent.
I was happiest in D.C. because enough other people were foreign or half-foreign that I didn't feel like a zoo exhibit for having been born elsewhere. I'm in the Boston area now, which should feel like a global city with all the world-famous universities, but almost everyone I meet grew up either here or in the New York suburbs. It's one reason I don't think I'll stay here much longer. I wouldn't actively seek out a Swedish-American community but I think I need to be part of an international one.
Sorry that doesn't quite answer the question. I'm curious to see what other suggestions you'll get.
Well, Seattle's weather is misrable
I can't believe how they could live in a rainy region
Most of NJ gets more rain than Seattle, about 25% more, a not insignificant amount.
Anyway, I think there are a few Swedish-Americans in NJ, it is just a small minority compared to other ethnicities and they don't tend to cluster in ethnc enclaves. I think the upper midwest and Seattle would be your best bet at finding a Swedish-American community in the U.S.
I watched a documentary that featured a frog and a pig and also a Swedish Chef who as I recall was hard to understand (everything was gurp-de-doo this and gurp-de-doo that) and a bit sadistical but seemed generally quite jolly about the whole thing.
Most of NJ gets more rain than Seattle, about 25% more, a not insignificant amount.
Totally different though. When it rains in New Jersey it pours. It's not uncommon to get one or two inches of rain in one rain storm. However, that storm only lasts a few hours and it can get sunny again that day or the next day.
Seattle on the other hand, is practically ALWAYS overcast and it's not uncommon for it to drizzle or "mist" for several days straight.
I'm Swedish, born in Sweden, and have been in the U.S. for a dozen years now. I've been to Lindsborg and the best word I can think of to describe it is endearing. I don't mean that condescendingly, just that it's nostalgic in a way I couldn't relate to as someone who's currently Swedish as opposed to of Swedish descent.
I was happiest in D.C. because enough other people were foreign or half-foreign that I didn't feel like a zoo exhibit for having been born elsewhere. I'm in the Boston area now, which should feel like a global city with all the world-famous universities, but almost everyone I meet grew up either here or in the New York suburbs. It's one reason I don't think I'll stay here much longer. I wouldn't actively seek out a Swedish-American community but I think I need to be part of an international one.
Sorry that doesn't quite answer the question. I'm curious to see what other suggestions you'll get.
Most of the self reported swedish-americans arent entirely of swedish background, they are very mixed like most white americans (usually with tons of british/irish ancestries lumped in there).
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If you mean people who moved here from Sweden... no idea. As for people of Scandinavian descent whose ancestors moved here generations ago, check out the northern Midwest, particularly the swath from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan through northwestern/western Wisconsin and on through Minnesota and the Dakotas, particularly North Dakota. Lots of Swedes and Norwegians up there in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Dakotas, while the Finns made their way to the upper peninsula of Michigan.
Most of the self reported swedish-americans arent entirely of swedish background, they are very mixed like most white americans (usually with tons of british/irish ancestries lumped in there).
It depends on how long they've been here and where they live. In the Twin Cities i'm sure a lot of them are mixed, but if they live in rural Minnesota or South Dakota they're more likely to be pure Swedish since a lot of them settled in towns with a similar ethnic group.
I am of Swede-Finn (ethnic Swedish living in Finland), Swedish, Finnish, Czech, Irish, German, and Polish-Jewish descent
My Swede-Finn ancestor (who made up our last name) moved here in the 1880's.
It's German, Swedish, Norwegian, and Finnish which are the most popular ancestries here.
I know a pure Finn my age, as well as almost pure Norwegians...but time has passed since our immigration (Finns arrived latest, it seemed) and so many of us are a blend of Scandinavian/Nordic, German, Irish, and other ancestries. In the country and small towns, you can probably find less admixture.
As far as differences, of course they are there. Emigrants left a largely poor, rural, heavily Lutheran mass of families. Not too many of them are poor, most of them live in cities, and they are still Lutheran, often heavily, while religion has seen a precipitous decline in the motherlands.
Traces of the culture often survive in holiday traditions. For example, around the holidays my paternal family often has pickled herring, and my father displayed a craving for sylta (which is sold at the nearest store around Christmastime). Saunas are popular around here (even in private homes), though people wear their swimsuits inside. The immigration also probably had an effect on the greater culture; you can see this in a tradition resembling allemansratten (people aren't too defensive of their rural, non-ag property around here), or the Minnesotan distaste for ostentatious (or even any) display of private wealth.
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