Death in Scandinavia

I embrace death and when the Reaper comes for me I shall not feel fear but rather like welcoming an old friend. You will get to meet him during your existence, he will come for your loved ones but their passing should only help you to familiarize yourself with him. And then when he finally comes for you, you will be ready and at peace no matter how suddenly it happens. 

Us Scandinavians have a reputation for being very grim and dark when discussing these matters, and I guess I am making a great example of that right now. Thinking back, hearing some of Hans Christian Andersen’s more darker stories like Den Lille Pige med Svovlstikkerne (The Little Match Girl) and Historien om en Moder (The Story of a Mother) were some of my first encounters with death. They both tell the story of dying children and immense tragedy, but hey, this stuff actually happens. Especially so during the time of Hans Christian Andersen. But even then people would rather pretend, they want the happy ending, instead of facing reality which seldom ends like that. These fairytales greatly influenced me as a child triggering both sadness and fear, but also hope and love. They also prepared me for and gave me a sense of death, which greatly helped me once my grandparents started passing away. 

Since H.C. Andersen is arguably the most famous Dane and a cornerstone in our cultural legacy, maybe there is an integrated familiarity with the darker sides of life within us. Lord knows, our humor is SUPER dark, even I can see that. I sometimes struggle to find the humor in it myself, but then again, I am not that Danish. Not to say we do not know how to enjoy the brighter sides of life. After all, all Scandinavian countries consistently rank high in the World Happiness Surveys, making our attitude towards serious subjects such as death all the more paradoxical or maybe symptomatic. Perhaps due to our dark winters and cold weather Scandinavians have been forced to make light out of darkness, resulting in our – to some – warped sense of humor. For whatever reason, we do seem to share a higher degree of familiarity with death than other nationalities. I know I do, and honestly I encourage everyone to do the same; make death your friend and he will no longer scare you and you can then start to enjoy life to its fullest potential.