Swedish confusion

Ooops. I wanted to post an unabashedly pro-Swedish review on June 6, our national holiday, but forgot about it. Never mind, here goes, two months too late (local time).

Besides, nobody seems to know why we celebrate June 6 anyway. Apparently, Gustavus Vasa was "elected" king of Sweden on this date in 1523, marking the beginning of Sweden as an early modern sort-of nation-state. Except, of course, that Herr Vasa (whose real name was Eriksson) wasn't elected king on that date at all, but rather on June 16 according to our modern (Gregorian) calenders. The "June 6" date is according to the old Julian calendar! Another important event that took place on June 6 was the adoption of the Constitution of 1809 by King Charles XIII (the biggest non-entity in Swedish history), but the final approval didn't come until June 27, when the Estates voted in favor of it.

Well, glad to have that sorted out! When 6 June was declared National Holiday, the newspapers had very different ideas about what we were really celebrating. Nobody mentioned 1809. Some did mention Gustav Vasa, er, Eriksson. Most claimed that June 6 marks the abolition of the Estates in favor of a modern Parliament in 1866 (actually June 22) or the introduction of universal suffrage in 1917 (actually a prolonged process from 1917 to 1921)...

I suppose this shows how confused we are concerning our national identity. We must be the only nation in the world who doesn't know what we are supposed to commemorate on our foremost holiday?! It was easier when I was younger, when June 6 was simply called the Day of the Swedish Flag.

Ah, now there's something to celebrate...