Why Sweden Doesn't Have a National Anthem

The constitution doesn’t mention there being a national anthem, and there is no law on

the books which specifies any particular song as a national anthem.

It’s the song we sing at football games, it’s the song all those national anthem

YouTube channels play over a static image of a castle or something, and it’s often

sung during graduation ceremonies.

If you go to Sweden, and you ask any random person what Sweden’s national anthem is,

they’ll say “Du gamla, du fria.”

But you shouldn’t do that, Swedes are very particular about their personal space.

So how did we end up like this?

Where did the song come from?

This is Richard Dybeck.

He was born in this church in an incredibly small village near the town of Köping,

208 years ago, on September 1st 1811.

Now, Richard led a pretty busy life.

He studied at what’s known as a Trivial School where he learned grammar, including

Latin and Greek, rhetoric, and dialectics.

Not Marxist or Hegelian dialectics, actually just the ancient greek dialectical method.

He then went to university, he got a degree in law, he worked at a court of appeal for

a few years, and then became the mayor.

Now, in 19th century Europe you couldn’t just run for mayor, that’d be communism.

You actually had to be chosen by the local Burghers, literally the bourgeoisie.

They’d pick 3 candidates, and then His Royal Majesty the King himself would pick one of them.

- I do declare!

Or sometimes the government would do it in his name.

But Richard eventually got bored of being mayor so he quit, and started to pursue his

real passion: Folklore research.

Now, I realise “folklore researcher” is the most Dungeons & Dragons sounding job description

ever, but what it really entailed was the study of traditional spoken poetry, folk belief

and religion, and traditional customs, including traditional celebrations.

So basically he played folk music at parties for a living.

He was basically the original hipster.

In 1844, Richard visited a native Sami province called Idre, very close to the border of Norway.

Today it’s a ski resort where a 3-star hotel costs 130 dollars a night.

But back then it was just a quiet settlement with very beautiful scenery.

Supposedly, Richard saw the mountain Städjan, which he found so beautiful that he wanted

to write a poem about it.

The fact that Richard studied traditional poetry and folk music can definitely be seen

in the lyrics.

Of course as as a Swedish person I’m going to say that the lyrics are more poetic in