Beautiful
Karin from Sweden sent me a wonderful postcard with a Swedish flag! She finds
it very beautiful against the blue sky! Sweden is a country in Europe. The
population is about 9,555,893. The capital is Stockholm. Official language is
Swedish. Forests cover over 50% of Sweden, there are also around 100,000 lakes
and over 24,000 islands throughout the country. Because of its nearness to the
Arctic Circle, Sweden has long, dark winters. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
causes widespread depression among roughly one in five people. The northern
lights, or aurora borealis, appear above the Arctic Circle (latitude 66°) and
are visible in late September and March and during the dark of winter in
Sweden.
Sweden's
flag was adopted on June 22, 1906, but its design is hundreds of years old (it
probably dates from 1521). The colors are derived from the Swedish national
arms and the design is from the Danish flag. The blue represents truth, loyalty, and justice, and the yellow symbolizes
generosity. They say the Swedish cross has come from Eric the Holy, the king of Sweden, who saw the gold cross in the
sky. The cross is a symbol of Christianity, used to express the religious
history of the nation and its early leaders.
The stamp shows Karl Hjalmar Branting, a Swedish politician, the leader
of the Swedish Social Democratic Party and Prime Minister during the three
separate periods. The third stamp is a painting by a Swedish artist Ragnar
Sandberg.
The anthem is here:
Thanks a lot for the postcard, Karin!
You're welcome!
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