Finnish Swedish Heritage Day
Encyclopedia
Finnish Swedish Heritage Day (Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...

: Svenska dagen, Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

: Ruotsalaisuuden päivä) is a general flag day
Flag days in Finland
By law, the Finnish flag must be flown from public buildings on the following days:*February 28, day of Kalevala; the occasion is also celebrated as the Day of Finnish culture*May 1, Vappu, the Day of Finnish Labour*Second Sunday in May, Mother's Day...

, which is celebrated in Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 on November 6. The day celebrates the Finland-Swedish
Finland-Swedish
Finland Swedish is a general term for the closely related cluster of dialects of Swedish spoken in Finland by Swedish-speaking Finns as their mother tongue...

 culture, and the bilinguality of Finland. The main celebrations are aired in the radio, and many smaller celebrations are held around Finland in schools. Usually, the song Modersmålets sång
Modersmålets sång
Modersmålets sång is a piece of music in the Swedish language that forms a type of unofficial anthem for the Swedish-speaking Finns....

 is sung, celebrating the mother tongue. The Finnish Swedish Heritage Day is celebrated on the same day as Gustav Adolfsdagen
Gustav Adolfsdagen
Gustav Adolfsdagen is a general flag day, celebrated in Sweden on November 6 in memory of king Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden , who was killed on this day in 1632 at the Battle of Lützen. Gustav Adolfsdagen coincides with the Finnish Swedish Heritage Day.The date has been celebrated since the early...

 in Sweden, the day that king Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
Gustav II Adolf has been widely known in English by his Latinized name Gustavus Adolphus Magnus and variously in historical writings also as Gustavus, or Gustavus the Great, or Gustav Adolph the Great,...

 died. He was killed at the Battle of Lützen
Battle of Lützen (1632)
The Battle of Lützen was one of the most decisive battles of the Thirty Years' War. It was a Protestant victory, but cost the life of one of the most important leaders of the Protestant alliance, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, which caused the Protestant campaign to lose direction.- Prelude to the...

 in 1632.

The Finland Swedish Heritage Day was created in 1908, when the newly founded Swedish People's Party of Finland decided to celebrate a day for the Swedes. The intention was to strengthen the Swedish-speaking Finnish community. The reason why the day of the death of king Gustavus Adolphus
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
Gustav II Adolf has been widely known in English by his Latinized name Gustavus Adolphus Magnus and variously in historical writings also as Gustavus, or Gustavus the Great, or Gustav Adolph the Great,...

 was chosen was because this also was the time when the empire of Sweden was founded. In the beginning, the celebrations largely circled around the king's persona. During the language strife
Finland's language strife
The language strife was one of the major conflicts of Finland's national history and domestic politics. It revolved around the question of what status Swedish—the language which since the Middle Ages had been the main language of administration and high culture in Finland—and, on the other hand,...

 of the 1930s the celebrations were overshadowed by street fights between Finnish and Swedish groups. Finnish-speaking students saw this day as a day for celebrating "aggressive imperialism". During the Second World War, both sides stopped fighting each other and emphasized that both language groups were part of Finland, thus the celebration of the day spread outside the political spectrum. Today, the day is led by Swedish Assembly of Finland
Swedish Assembly of Finland
The Swedish Assembly of Finland is an official consultative parliament representing the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland.-Elections:Elections are held every four years, and candidates are nominated by the political parties which are either bilingual or Swedish-speaking...

.
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