Friday, August 21, 2015

Embracing fredagsmys


During my intensive Swedish language course, our teacher introduced me to some new aspects of Swedish culture. Some of the cultural nuances of Swedish life are the types of things I probably would learn if I was married to a Swede but since we're all Americans over here, I had to learn these in the classroom.

One Swedish concept that I brought home with me was the concept of fredagsmys. Swedes love to throw two words together, like fredag (Friday) and mys (coziness) to create a new word. It translates into, "Cozy Friday." The concept is that at the end of a busy work week, you just want to relax and unwind. Swedes usually celebrate fredagsmys by buying and eating a ton of chips, candy and other junk food snacks while watching a fun movie with the family. Cell phones, tablets and computers are put away for non-electronic forms of entertainment to unwind and reconnect.

But Lisa, you just said they watch a movie. Aren't movies electronic forms of entertainment? I know, I know but this is how they celebrate it. I don't make the fredagsmys rules.

Having survived numerous cold and dark winters in Sweden, I can attest to how fredagsmys became so popular. The lighting of candles around the house, snuggling into warm blankets and eating a metric ton of chips would make me feel all warm and cozy too.

We are implementing fredagsmys in our house every Friday. This Friday, our fredagsmys activity will be a fun game of Yahtzee with the kids - they love throwing dice everywhere - and eating some frozen pizza because nobody wants to cook. We can be lazy on Fridays! It's fredagsmys time!

What I love about this is that everyone can implement fredagsmys in their homes if they want - living in Sweden or elsewhere. Turn off your cell phone, put away your troubles for the day and cozy up with a good book and some salty snacks.

Happy Friday!

1 comment:

  1. Looks great to me! Let's see. It's Friday, and we are going to friend's for dinner. That sounds like a lot of work, but not, happily for me. I just stuck an apple pie in the oven, and Grandpa went to the deli and brought home lunch and a quart of ice cream. He laughed at me because I said "If they don't have quarts just get two pints." Like I had to say that, especially to an engineer/math person! It's from years of sending children for something only to have them return empty handed, saying "but they didn't have quartts, mom!" Or something similar. Anyway, after dinner the four of us are going to our little theater to see the opening night production of "Black Comedy." Don't know what it is but this theater doesn't do anything poorly, and it's billed as a comedy, so I am sure it will be fun.
    How are you spending your Friday night?
    love, Grandma. .

    ReplyDelete

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