Thursday, May 27, 2010

Sweden

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4020/4646556566_f0fe8e7a9e.jpg

Sweden

Sweden is a country located in northern Europe. The countries surrounding it are Finland, Norway, and Denmark. The Gulf of Bothnia is to the east of Sweden, and the Baltic Sea is to the southeast. Sweden is in the northern hemisphere. It is so far north that the top part of Sweden is inside the Arctic Circle which is known as the land of the midnight sun. That means that on the longest day of the year they will have sunlight after midnight. If the sun sets it would be after midnight, or it wouldn’t set at all.
Sweden is a very old country. It was settled in 6,000 BC. That is 6000 years before Jesus was even born! Sweden also had Vikings in its past. Sweden gained its independence in 1523. Modern Sweden is divided into 21 counties. The official name of Sweden is Konungariket Sverige, which means The Kingdom of Sweden.
Sweden’s flag is blue with a yellow cross on it. It’s based on the flag of Denmark. The yellow and blue colors represent the Swedish coat of arms. The cross represents Sweden’s links to other Scandinavian countries.
The main language spoken is Sweden is Swedish. There are two other languages spoken. They are Sami and Finnish. The Swedish alphabet doesn’t have the letter Q in it but it does have three letters in it that we don’t have. Those letters are ä, å, and ö.
Sweden has pleasant summers but cold winters that have snow. Most of Sweden has a mild climate with four season. The southern part doesn’t get that cold in the winter but it is very rainy. The northern part of Sweden is in the Arctic Circle so it is very cold and dark in the winter. It is so cold that they can build hotels out of the ice. Sweden has nice summers that don’t get as hot as our summers here in North Carolina.
Swedish food is known for smoked fish like herring, and meats. They also eat fruit soups and creamy sauces. Sweden is also known for Smorgasbord, which means they put a bunch of hot and cold food out and people pick what they want to eat. On Christmas, people eat pepparkokar which are a type of ginger cookie. On the day of the festival of lights, young girls wake their families up with a nice traditional song and serve them hot coffee and buns.
Most Swedish people are members of the Lutheran Church. It was the church’s job to take care of the people. Now the government takes care of the people and provides everything they need to stay well and healthy. That’s why everybody in Sweden has health insurance.
They play lots of different sports in Sweden. They play hockey and go skiing in the winter. They also go fishing and hunting. In the summer, they play soccer and bandy. Bandy is a game like hockey, only they play with a ball instead of a puck.
I picked to learn about Sweden because my friend lives there. They have very old castles in modern towns. They also have nice and clean lands and they don’t have as many problems with pollution. Their water is very clean. The river in Stockholm, which is their capital city, is clean enough to swim in, but it would be very cold!

1 comment:

Grumpy said...

How cool is that. Awesome project!