Peasant Homes in Sweden
First of all, then, we shall pay a flying visit to Skansen, where, in the midst of a beautiful park-like landscape these old cottages stand—peasants' cottages, militiamen's cabins, cottars' dwellings…
From: Unknown To: 1910 C.E.
Location: Skansen, Sweden
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From “Sweden.” in Peasant Art in Sweden, Lapland, and Iceland by Sten Granlund, 1910.
First of all, then, we shall pay a flying visit to Skansen, where, in the midst of a beautiful park-like landscape these old cottages stand—peasants' cottages, militiamen's cabins, cottars' dwellings and charcoal-burners' huts, church-belfries and Laplanders' huts.
They lie close to each other, but, as one wanders from one to the other, a strong feeling comes over one that Sweden is, in a most extraordinary degree, a land of contrasts. This character is, in a great measure, the result of its being a country whose length extends over fourteen degrees of latitude, where the conditions of landscape and climate show every grade of variation, from the wide-stretching wastes where the Laplanders live their nomadic life, to plains where the climate is the same as that of the great level lands of Central Europe.
The Oktorp Farmhouse from Sweden. Images from book.
It follows, as a matter of course, that such variations in the character of the country and in the conditions of life must, especially in the case of an agricultural population so strongly attached to the soil as that of Sweden is, necessarily create very striking differences in temperament, manners and customs, in ideas and in needs.
Living-Room from Transtrand in Dalarne.
That "triunial" cottage from the province of Halland (Nos. 1, 2 and 4), a wonderful block of buildings with the "low-loft cottage" (lågloftstuga) to the right, the "high-loft cottage" (höganloftstugan) to the left, and with the "high house" (ryggåsstugan, the chamber ceiling-less and open up to the ridge tree) as the connecting link, bear witness to the solid affluence of the South Swedish farmer. Large, shining copper pans dazzle the eyes of the visitor. The walls are hidden behind woven or painted hangings, and on the table stands the mighty "welcoming-bowl" (välkomman). Through the small, diamond-shaped windows one catches a glimpse of the little garden, where peonies flame round the bee-hives. Everything breathes a solid opulence, a secure comfort.
A few steps away we see the "Mora" house (Nos. 6 and 7), as it is called; the type is older and more confined than that of the house from Halland, and everything—both furniture and domestic utensils—differs noticeably from the Halland type. Similar distinctions can be seen in every building one goes into, until we finally reach the Laplander's primitive hut (lappkåta), where the watch-dogs bark at the visitor, the reindeer move quickly or lazily about on their rocky home, and we are able to form some faint idea of the fell-people's world, where the wastes are white with snow and the northern lights flash in the cold winter sky.
Peasant’s House from Mora, Dalarne.
But it is not geographical distances alone that have created differences in buildings, furniture and domestic utensils. Sweden has been, and, in some measure, still is, the land of almost impenetrable forests, and consequently a land where there was formerly little communication between the different provinces. Thus it is that peculiarities in house construction arose in districts quite near to each other, peculiarities which have been retained until our own days. Not only in separate provinces, but in the different hundreds, and parishes even, a varying development has taken place, and on this account very distinct peculiarities can be pointed out. Within a certain tract—and especially in the parishes of northern Dalecarlia—even the larger villages present such marked diversities in culture that a trained eye and an accustomed ear can tell to which villages people belong, merely by observing the differences in dress, dialect, etc.
It is just the peculiarities in building in the various districts of the same province that it is necessary to keep in mind when we endeavour to illustrate the objects which are given here dealing with the life of the Swedish peasant.
Even the methods of building make an interesting contribution to the illustration of the differences and cast of mind among the Swedish country-folk. Amongst the ancient forms of house still constructed are that of the fire-house, with the hearth in the centre of the room (eld-huset) and the high-house—the house whose ceiling went up to the ridge-pole (ryggasstugan), representing the dwellings in use in heathen times and in the middle ages.
The fire-house, which can still be found in Norrland and in Dalecarlia, has the open hearth in the middle of the floor, with a hole in the roof above, through which the smoke is carried off. The high-house, in which the hearth has become a corner fire-place with a chimney, and where the smoke-hole has been turned into a window, probably occurs in its original form only in the ancient Swedish-Danish border provinces of Smaland, Blekinge, northern Scania, Halland and Vastergotland. As an ancient feature it may be noted that the cottage must always he sol-rätt, i.e., with its gable-ends due east and west, and with the roof-window and the door towards the south. In the erection of church-buildings in the country this custom is still strictly observed.
Interior from Blekinge.
It would take too long if, during this cursory visit, we should go into all the cottages at Skansen. We must be contented with peeping into one or two of them, which will enable us to assure ourselves that the most minute care has been taken to make the picture lifelike and exact in the very smallest detail. The typical room-interiors in the Museum will give us a better opportunity of examining, undisturbed, the interior of a Swedish peasant home. We see there, for example, the Ingelstad cottage, representing a Skanian farmer's home of the decade 1820-30, and which, on the whole, is typical of south and south-west Skane or, in other words, of the populated tracts in the plains.
The farm buildings erected in this old-fashioned way consisted in these districts of a collection of houses arranged in a group, and forming a square frame about a yard which, as a rule, was paved. One side of this square was called the “stuelängan'' (the main building) and contained the large dwelling-room of the family, and was flanked by the "back-house" or box-room, the "cellar-house" (källarhuset), the porch, and the kitchen. From the porch, which was towards the yard, one came in through a door into the dwelling-room, where both the farmer's family and the servants lived.
When we have crossed the threshold, we have the front part of that room before us. At the far gable-end is the door leading to the box-room, which formed both a spare bedroom and also a kind of strong room, in which the farmer kept his great chests full of linen, figured woven materials and the like, cushions, ornaments and clothes. To the right of the door we see the end table-bench, which was also called the seat of honour, the corner cupboard, and, supported against one of the long walls, "the bench along the wall" (bakbörds bänken); to the left is the clock in its case, and the curtained four-post bedstead with its "bed-help strap" (sänghjälprem), a rope round which was twisted gaily-coloured yarn, with a kind of holds for the hands. This rope hung from the top of the bed and served to help the old and the sick to raise themselves, or to turn over in bed. The curtain in front of the long side of the bed dates from heathen times.
Amongst the other furniture of the room may be noted the characteristic table on trestles called the "table chest" (bordkistan), the "goose-bench" (for the geese when sitting on their eggs), and the armchairs with straw seats. The floor is made of well-pounded clay and is strewn with sea-sand.
Living Room in the Oktorp Farmhouse.
The white-washed walls are generally bare, but perhaps the room has been arranged for some festive occasion. The figured woven cloth or a piece of tapestry covers the walls, the chairs and benches have large and small cushions, and the table is laid for the banquet with peculiar bread-baskets and candlesticks.
From the house from the plains we now betake ourselves to one representative of the forest districts. This presents an example of a large farm in the parish of Lima in Dalecarlia, and consists of a hall with outhouses, living-room and "best-room" (“nystuga") a kind of fine room used on great occasions, and a "chamber" taken off from the hall. Two doors lead from the living-room, one to the "chamber," the other to the hall. There is a window in each of the long walls and at the gable-end.
The fire-place embraces the oven, with a niche outside the mouth of the oven, and the fire-place proper. At the side of the fire-place, which is towards us, there is seen a door which closes the entrance to a chamber above the roof of the oven; this forms a sleeping-place very much appreciated by the old. The stands around the fire-place are drying-places for wet clothes.
The furniture consists of two beds, one at each end of one of the long walls, the space between them being taken up by a bench fastened to the wall and shelves for cooking utensils and the like; here too is the place for the water-pail. On the floor in front of the bench there is a stone on which the pots and pans are placed on being lifted from the fire, and which therefore had the name of "pot-stone" (grytsten). Along the gable-end and the other long wall are benches fastened to the walls, and, in the angle between these walls, a table.
This short description gives some idea of the appearance of a couple of typical peasants' houses. In order to get a more detailed picture of the various objects that furnished these homes we will turn to the numerous illustrations which accompany this article.
Granlund, Sten. “Sweden.” Peasant Art in Sweden, Lapland, and Iceland. Edited by Charles Holm. Translated by E. Adams-Ray, The Studio Ltd, 1910.
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