1.
Uppsala Municipality
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Uppsala Municipality is a municipality in Uppsala County in east central Sweden. Uppsala has a population of 211,411 and its seat is located in the university city of Uppsala. Uppsala Municipality was created through amalgamations taking place during the late sixties, there are about thirty original local government units combined in the present municipality
2.
Uppsala Cathedral
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Uppsala Cathedral is a cathedral located between Uppsala University and the River Fyris in the centre of Uppsala, southeastern Sweden. Controlled by the Lutheran Church of Sweden, Uppsala Cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Uppsala, the archbishop is Antje Jackelén and the current bishop is Ragnar Persenius. The cathedral dates to the late 13th century and at a height of 118.7 metres, originally built under Roman Catholicism, it was used for coronations of Swedish monarchs for a lengthy period following the Protestant Reformation. Several of its chapels were converted to house the tombs of Swedish monarchs, including Gustav Vasa, Carl Linnaeus, Olaus Rudbeck, Emanuel Swedenborg, and several archbishops are also buried here. The church was designed in the French Gothic style by French architects including Étienne de Bonneuil and it is in the form of a cross formed by the nave and transept. Most of the structure was built between 1272 and 1420 but the end was completed only in the middle of the 15th century. Twin towers were built shortly afterwards on the west end of the church, High spires were added later, but after a fire in 1702, they were adorned with low helms by Carl Hårleman in 1735. They were completely redesigned by Helgo Zetterwall who undertook substantial changes to the building in the 1880s, the cathedrals principal construction material is brick but the pillars and many details are of Gotland limestone. The vaults were all built according to the original 13th-century plan although some of them were erected as late as around 1440, in addition to the artwork in the funeral chapels, several of the churchs older furnishings can be seen in the Treasury Museum. In 1702, many features were destroyed in a major fire, during the renovation work carried out in the 1970s, many of the medieval frescoes which had been whitewashed over after the Reformation were uncovered and restored. At the end of the Viking Era, the temple at Gamla Uppsala. Although the exact date of its construction is not known, in 1123 Siward was ordained Bishop of Uppsala by the Archbishop of Bremen-Hamburg and it is however uncertain if Siward ever assumed office, as he had been expelled and was in Germany in the early 1130s. The catalogue of bishops mentions Severeinus as the first bishop, henrik, ‘Finlands Apostle’, was the fourth bishop. In 1164, Sweden became an archbishopric under the control of Lund, the first archbishop was the Cistercian monk Stefan of Alvastra. After the cathedral in Gamla Uppsala was damaged by fire in 1204, Pope Alexander IV granted this request in 1258 on condition that the name of Uppsala be maintained. At a meeting in Söderköping in September 1270, Archbishop Fulco Angelus, formal authorization of the move was issued in 1271 by Bishop Carolus of Västerås whom the Pope had appointed to oversee the case. About 1272, work began on building a new cathedral in Östra Aros near the Fyris River to the south and it was constructed on the site of the earlier stone church dedicated to the Holy Trinity, located almost exactly where the cathedrals chancel now stands. It was here that Swedens patron saint Eric Jedvardsson had attended mass before he was murdered in 1160, the name of Uppsala was kept, and the surrounding town Östra Aros soon changed its name accordingly
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
5.
Provinces of Sweden
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The provinces of Sweden are historical, geographical and cultural regions. Sweden has 25 provinces and they have no function, but remain historical legacies. Dialects and folklore rather follows the borders than the borders of the counties. Several of them were subdivisions of Sweden until 1634, when they were replaced by the counties of Sweden, some were conquered later on from Denmark–Norway. Others, like the provinces of Finland, were lost, Lapland is the only province acquired through colonization. In some cases, the administrative counties correspond almost exactly to the provinces, as is Blekinge to Blekinge County and Gotland, which is a province, county, while not exactly corresponding with the province, Härjedalen Municipality is beside Gotland the only municipality named after a province. In other cases, they do not, which enhances the cultural importance of the provinces. Since 1884 all the provinces are also ceremonial duchies, but as such have no administrative or political functions, the provinces of Sweden are still used in colloquial speech and cultural references, and can therefore not be regarded as an archaic concept. The main exception is Lapland where the see themselves as a part of Västerbotten or Norrbotten. Two other exceptions are Stockholm and Gothenburg, where the see themselves as living in the city. English and other languages occasionally use Latin names as alternatives to the Swedish names, the name Scania for Skåne predominates in English. Some purely English exonyms, such as the Dales for Dalarna, East Gothland for Östergötland, Swedish Lapland for Lappland, swedes writing in English have long used Swedish-language name forms only. The origins of the provincial divisions lay in the petty kingdoms that became more and more subjected to the rule of the Kings of Sweden during the consolidation of Sweden. Until the country law of Magnus Ericson in 1350, each of these still had its own laws with its own assembly. The historical provinces were considered duchies, but newly conquered provinces added to the kingdom either received the status of a duchy or a county, after the separation from the Kalmar Union in 1523 the Kingdom incorporated only some of its new conquests as provinces. Other foreign territories were ruled as Swedish Dominions under the Swedish monarch, Norway, in personal union with Sweden from 1814 to 1905, never became an integral part of Sweden. The division of Västerbotten that took place with the cession of Finland caused Norrbotten to emerge as a county and it was granted a coat of arms as late as in 1995. Some scholars suggest that Sweden revived the concept in the 19th century
6.
Uppland
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Uppland is a historical province or landskap on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland and it is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic sea. It has a short and strangely shaped land border with Åland. The name literally means up land, a name which is encountered in especially older English literature. Its Latinised form, which is used, is Uplandia. The traditional provinces of Sweden serve no administrative or political purposes, the corresponding administrative county, or län, is Uppsala County, which occupies the larger part of the territory. The bulk of the population, however, is within Stockholm County, minor parts of the province are also in Västmanland County, Gävleborg County and Södermanland County. Upplands arms were granted in 1560, distinctive in its depiction of a Globus cruciger, historically, Uppland ranked as a duchy and the coat of arms is represented with a ducal coronet. Blazoned thus, Gules, a Royal Orb Or gemmed of the field, despite the fact that the Uppsala län has a different name and a smaller territory it was granted the same coat of arms in 1940. Uppland was historically divided into chartered cities and districts, within Roslagen they were called skeppslag, and in the rest of the province hundreds. The abovementioned districts and cities have no administrative function today, the provincial population corresponds to the different overlapping counties as follows, Uppland is the birth place of Saint Brigitta of Sweden. The earliest unambiguous mention of the province of Uppland comes from the 1296, the Swedish capital of Stockholm is divided between two provinces. The southern half lies in Södermanland and the half in Uppland. Prince Waldemar Princess Ingiburga, his wife Prince Gustav Prince Sigvard Uppsala is the seat of the archbishop of the Lutheran Church of Sweden. The archaeological site Birka and the castle of Drottningholm are UNESCO World Heritage sites, football in the province is administered by Upplands Fotbollförbund. Uppland - Tourist site Uppland - Tourist information
7.
Counties of Sweden
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The counties of Sweden are the top-level geographic subdivisions of Sweden. Sweden is today divided into 21 counties, however, the numbers of counties has varied over time, due to territorial gains/losses, at that time, they were what the translation of län into English literally means, fiefdoms. The county borders often follow the borders, but the Crown often chose to make slight relocations to suit its purposes. In every county except Gotland there is a county administrative board headed by a governor, appointed by the government, the county council is the elected regional political assembly for the municipal affairs of the county, primarily regarding public healthcare, public transport and culture. A number of other government agencies are organised on a county basis, including the main bodies of the police, employment, social insurance. With county codes, which were official until 1974, each county region contains a number of municipalities, the existence of which is partly at the discretion of the central government. Since 2004 their number has been 290, thus an average of 13.8 municipalities per county. Until 1968, the City of Stockholm had its own county code A, which is used interchangeably with AB in some contexts. L was for Kristianstad County and M was for Malmöhus County but since they were merged to form Skåne County, O used to stand for Gothenburg and Bohus County but has been used for Västra Götaland County since it was merged with Skaraborg County and Älvsborg County. Swedens provinces, or landskap, and the lands, or landsdelar, the provinces had their own laws and justice systems and could have large cultural and religious differences. Note that the province of Småland historically was several provinces with its own laws, here burial tradition in the era before the Viking age could differ significantly from province to province. The province of Norrbotten is a recent creation, it was part of Västerbotten which extended all the way to Österbotten into todays Finland before 1809. Finnish and Swedish Lappland was also one province until 1809, historically, the provinces were grouped in three lands, Götaland, being southern and western Sweden, Svealand being eastern and south-eastern, and Norrland being the entire northern half. The names of the first two refer to ancient tribes, and the third is a geographical reference and they are still commonly used as geographical references. The boundaries have changed over time, with the most significant in 1658 and 1812, in 1812 some provinces were moved from Götaland to Svealand. After the Finnish War, Sweden was forced to cede the counties in Finland to Russia following the Treaty of Fredrikshamn in, however, the counties were upheld in Finland until a reform in 1997. They are still in use in Sweden,370 years later, the counties in Finland established in 1634 were, Turku and Pori County, Nyland and Tavastehus County, Viborg and Nyslott County, Ostrobothnia County and Kexholm County. Over time the number of subdivisions in Finland increased to twelve, until a reorganization in 1997 reduced their number to six provinces, the counties in Finland were abolished in 2010
8.
Uppsala County
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Uppsala County is a county or län on the eastern coast of Sweden. It borders the counties of Dalarna, Stockholm, Södermanland, Västmanland, Gävleborg, for History, Geography and Culture see, Uppland The province of Uppland encompasses Uppsala County. The County Administrative Board is a Government Agency headed by a Governor, the County Council of Uppsala or Landstinget i Uppsala län, which is appointed by the electorate of the county, is primarily responsible for health care and public transportation. Älvkarleby Tierp Östhammar Uppsala Enköping Håbo Knivsta Heby The County of Uppsala inherited its coat of arms from the province of Uppland, when it is shown with a royal crown it represents the County Administrative Board. Uppsala County Administrative Board Uppsala County Council Regional Association of Uppsala Hotels in Uppsala
9.
Municipalities of Sweden
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The municipalities of Sweden are its lower-level local government entities. There are 290 municipalities which are responsible for a proportion of local services, including schools, emergency services. The Local Government Act of 1991 specifies several responsibilities for the municipalities and it also regulates a process through which any citizen can appeal the decisions of a local government to a county court. Municipal government in Sweden is similar to city government and cabinet-style council government. The assembly in turn appoints an executive committee from its members. The executive committee is headed by its chairman, the chairman is often referred as Municipal Commissioner. The first local government acts were implemented on January 1,1863, there were two acts, one for the cities and one for the countryside. The total number of municipalities was about 2,500, the rural municipalities were based on the old parishes and the then 89 cities/towns were based on the old chartered cities. There was also a type, köping or market town. The status of these was somewhere between the municipalities and the cities. There were only eight of them in 1863, rising to a peak of 96 in 1959, up until 1930, when the total number of municipalities reached its peak, there were more partitions than amalgamations. After years of preparations the first of the two nationwide municipal reforms of the 20th century was implemented in 1952, the number of rural municipalities was reduced from 2,281 to 816. Rather soon it was established that the reform of 1952 was not radical enough, a new commission,1959 års indelningssakkunniga concluded that the next municipal reform should create new larger mixed rural/urban municipalities. The Riksdag decided in 1962 that the new reform should be implemented on a voluntary basis, the process started in January 1964, when all municipalities were grouped in 282 kommunblock. The co-operation within the blocks should ultimately lead to amalgamations, the amalgamations within the blocks started in 1965 and more were accomplished in 1967 and 1969, when the number of municipalities dropped from 1006 to 848. The Riksdag, however, found the process too slow. In 1971 the unitary municipality was introduced and the number of entities went down to 464, in one case the process was not accomplished until 1977. Most of the municipalities were soon consolidated, but in cases the antagonism within the new unities was so strong that it led to divorces
10.
Demonym
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A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above
11.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
12.
Central European Summer Time
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It corresponds to UTC + two hours. Other names which have been applied to Central European Summer Time are Middle European Summer Time, Central European Daylight Saving Time, and Bravo Time. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed between 1,00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1,00 on the last Sunday of October, the following countries and territories use Central European Summer Time. In addition, Libya used CEST during the years 1951–1959, 1982–1989, 1996–1997, European Summer Time Other countries and territories in UTC+2 time zone Other names of UTC+2 time zone
13.
Stockholm
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The city is spread across 14 islands on the coast in the southeast of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, by the Stockholm archipelago and the Baltic Sea. The area has settled since the Stone Age, in the 6th millennium BC. It is also the capital of Stockholm County, Stockholm is the cultural, media, political, and economic centre of Sweden. The Stockholm region alone accounts for over a third of the countrys GDP and it is an important global city, and the main centre for corporate headquarters in the Nordic region. The city is home to some of Europes top ranking universities, such as the Stockholm School of Economics, Karolinska Institute and it hosts the annual Nobel Prize ceremonies and banquet at the Stockholm Concert Hall and Stockholm City Hall. One of the citys most prized museums, the Vasa Museum, is the most visited museum in Scandinavia. The Stockholm metro, opened in 1950, is known for its decoration of the stations. Swedens national football arena is located north of the city centre, Ericsson Globe, the national indoor arena, is in the southern part of the city. The city was the host of the 1912 Summer Olympics, and hosted the equestrian portion of the 1956 Summer Olympics otherwise held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Stockholm is the seat of the Swedish government and most of its agencies, including the highest courts in the judiciary, and the official residencies of the Swedish monarch and the Prime Minister. The government has its seat in the Rosenbad building, the Riksdag is seated in the Parliament House, and the Prime Ministers residence is adjacent at the Sager House. After the Ice Age, around 8,000 BCE, there were already a number of people living in the present-day Stockholm area. Thousands of years later, as the ground thawed, the climate became tolerable, at the intersection of the Baltic Sea and lake Mälaren is an archipelago site where the Old Town of Stockholm was first built from about 1000 CE by Vikings. They had a positive impact on the area because of the trade routes they created. Stockholms location appears in Norse sagas as Agnafit, and in Heimskringla in connection with the legendary king Agne, the earliest written mention of the name Stockholm dates from 1252, by which time the mines in Bergslagen made it an important site in the iron trade. The first part of the name means log in Swedish, although it may also be connected to an old German word meaning fortification, the second part of the name means islet, and is thought to refer to the islet Helgeandsholmen in central Stockholm. Stockholms core, the present Old Town was built on the island next to Helgeandsholmen from the mid 13th century onward. The city originally rose to prominence as a result of the Baltic trade of the Hanseatic League, Stockholm developed strong economic and cultural linkages with Lübeck, Hamburg, Gdańsk, Visby, Reval, and Riga during this time
14.
Gothenburg
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Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, the city has a population of approximately 550,000 in the urban area, Gothenburg was founded as a heavily fortified, primarily Dutch, trading colony, by royal charter in 1621 by King Gustavus Adolphus. At a key location at the mouth of the Göta älv, where Scandinavias largest drainage basin enters the sea. Gothenburg is home to students, as the city includes the University of Gothenburg. Volvo was founded in Gothenburg in 1927, the original, parent Volvo Group and the now separate Volvo Car Corporation are still headquartered on the island of Hisingen in the city. Other key companies are SKF and Astra Zeneca, Gothenburg is served by Göteborg Landvetter Airport 30 km southeast of the city center. The smaller Göteborg City Airport,15 km from the city center, was closed to airline traffic in 2015. The city hosts some of the largest annual events in Scandinavia, the Gothenburg Film Festival, held in January since 1979, is the leading Scandinavian film festival with over 155,000 visitors each year. In summer, a variety of music festivals are held in the city, such as Way Out West. The city was named after the Geats, the inhabitants of Gothia, the river on which the city sits is the Göta älv or Gothia River. Göta borg Gothia Fortress is the fort on the Göta Älv, in Dutch, Scots, and English, all languages with a long history in this trade and maritime-oriented city, the name Gothenburg is used for the city. The French form of the city name is Gothembourg, but in French texts, Gothenburg can also be seen in some older English texts. In Spanish the city is called Gotemburgo and these traditional forms are sometimes replaced with the use of the Swedish Göteborg, for example by The Göteborg Opera and the Göteborg Ballet. However, Göteborgs universitet, previously designated as the Göteborg University in English, the Gothenburg municipality has also reverted to the use of the English name in international contexts. Other old variations in Swedish are Götheborgh, and the more common Götheborg, one English text, written in the late 15th century, states the name as Guthaeborg. In 2009, the city launched a new logotype for Gothenburg. Since the name Göteborg contains the Swedish letter ö the idea was to make the more international. As of 2015, the name is spelled Go, teborg on a number of signs in the city
15.
Ecclesiology
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The word ecclesiology was defined in the 19th century as the science of the building and decoration of church buildings and at least one publication still uses the word in this sense. The Ecclesiologist was first published in October 1841 and dealt with the study of the building and its successor Ecclesiology Today is still, as of 2017, being published by The Ecclesiological Society. The situation regarding the etymology has been summed up by Alister McGrath, is it a visible or earthly corporation, or a unified and visible society — a church in the sense of a specific denomination or institution, for instance. Or is it the body of all believing Christians, regardless of their denominational differences, what is the relationship between living Christians and departed Christians —do they constitute together the Church. What is the relationship between a believer and the Church and that is, what is the role of corporate worship in the spiritual lives of believers. Can salvation be found outside of formal membership in a faith community. What is the authority of the Church, who gets to interpret the doctrines of the Church. Is the organizational structure itself, either in a corporate body, or generally within the range of formal church structures. For example, is the Bible a written part of a wider revelation entrusted to the Church as faith community, or is the Bible the revelation itself, and the Church is to be defined as a group of people who claim adherence to it. What are the sacraments, divine ordinances, and liturgies, in the context of the Church, what is the comparative emphasis and relationship between worship service, spiritual formation, and mission, and is the Churchs role to create disciples of Christ or some other function. Is the Eucharist the defining element of the rest of the sacramental system, is the Church to be understood as the vehicle for salvation, or the salvific presence in the world, or as a community of those already saved. How should the Church be governed, what was the mission and authority of the Apostles, and is this handed down through the sacraments today. What are the methods of choosing clergy such as bishops and priests. Who are the leaders of a church, must there be a policy-making board of leaders within a church and what are the qualifications for this position, and by what process do these members become official, ordained leaders. Must leaders and clergy be ordained, and is possible only by those who have been ordained by others. What are the roles of spiritual gifts in the life of the church, how does the Churchs New Covenant relate to the covenants expressed in scripture with Gods chosen people, the Jewish people. What is the destiny of the Church in Christian eschatology. This shift is most clearly marked by the encyclical Divino afflante Spiritu in 1943, avery Robert Cardinal Dulles, S. J. contributed greatly to the use of models in understanding ecclesiology
16.
Archbishop of Uppsala
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The archbishop of Uppsala has been the primate in Sweden in an unbroken succession since 1164, first during the Catholic era, and from the 1530s and onward under the Lutheran church. There have been bishops in Uppsala from the time of Swedish King Ingold the Elder in the 11th century and they were governed by the archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen until Uppsala was made an archbishopric in 1164. The archbishop in Lund was declared primate of Sweden, meaning it was his right to select, to gain independence, Folke Johansson Ängel in 1274 went to Rome and was ordained directly by the pope. This practice was increasing, so that no Uppsala archbishop was in Lund after Olov Björnsson, in 1457, the archbishop Jöns Bengtsson was allowed by the pope to declare himself primate of Sweden. Uppsala was originally located a couple of miles to the north of the present city, in 1273, the archbishopric, together with the relics of King Eric the Saint, was moved to the market town of Östra Aros, which from then on is named Uppsala. In 1531, Laurentius Petri was chosen by King Gustav I of Sweden to be archbishop, taking that privilege from the pope, the archbishop was then declared primus inter pares i. e. first among equals. The archbishop is both bishop of his diocese and Primate of Sweden, he has no more authority than other bishops. In 2000, the Archbishop of Uppsala was aided in the diocese by a bishop of Uppsala, the labours of the archbishops extended in all directions. The archbishops and secular clergy found active co-workers among the regular clergy, among the orders represented in Sweden were the Benedictines, Cistercians, Dominicans, Franciscans, Brigittines and Carthusians. Swedish sources never mention him either in Sigtuna or Uppsala and he is apparently the same Bishop Henry who died at the Battle of Fotevik in 1134, fighting along with the Danes after being banished from Sweden. Known from the Chronicon Roskildense written soon after his death and from Saxo Grammaticus Gesta Danorum from the early 13th century, also he is omitted from, or at least redated in, the first list of bishops made in the 15th century. In this list, the first bishop at Uppsala was Sverinius, succeeded by Nicolaus, Sveno, with the exception of Henricus, the list only mentions their names. Johannes was ordained by the Archbishop of Lund, Absalon by November 1185, in 1187, a ship from the pagan Estonia entered Mälaren, a lake close to Uppsala, on a plundering expedition. It sailed to Sigtuna, a city at that time. On its way back, barricades were set up at the exit point at Almarestäket to prevent the ship from escaping. As the ship struggled to pass through, Johannes were among those killed, Sweden got a new king, Sverker II of Sweden in 1196, who was related to the Danish Royal Court, whereby Absalon extended his authority over Sweden. When Petrus in 1196 elected three bishops, Absalon requested that the pope decide since the bishops were the sons of priests. He also mentioned that several Swedish bishops refused to travel to his synods, Absalon was an authoritative person whom the pope trusted and gave him rights, but by the time the message reached Uppsala Petrus had already died
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Church of Sweden
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The Church of Sweden is the largest Christian church in Sweden. A member of the Porvoo Communion, the Church professes the Lutheran branch of Christianity and it is composed of thirteen dioceses, divided into parishes. It is a national church which, working with a democratic organisation and through the ministry of the church. The Primate of the Church of Sweden is the Archbishop of Uppsala — currently Antje Jackelén, today, the Church of Sweden is an Evangelical Lutheran church. 6.2 million people are members of the Church of Sweden and it is liturgically and theologically high church, having retained priests, vestments, and the Mass during the Swedish Reformation. In common with other Evangelical Lutheran churches, the Church of Sweden maintains the historical episcopate, the Church of Sweden is known for its liberal position in theological issues, particularly the question of homosexuality. When Bishop Eva Brunne was consecrated as Bishop of Stockholm in 2009, despite a significant yearly loss of members, its membership of 6,225,091 people accounts for 63. 2% of the Swedish population. Until 2000 it held the position of state church, the high membership numbers are because until 1996 all newborn children were made members, unless their parents had actively cancelled their membership. Approximately 2% of the members regularly attend Sunday services. According to a Gallup poll conducted in 2009, 17% of the Swedish population considered religion as an important part of their daily life, King Gustav I Vasa instigated the Church of Sweden in 1536 during his reign as King of Sweden. This act separated the church from the Roman Catholic Church and its canon law, in 1571, the Swedish Church Ordinance became the first Swedish church order following the Reformation. The Church of Sweden became Lutheran at the Uppsala Synod in 1593 when it adopted the Augsburg Confession to which most Lutherans adhere, at this synod, it was decided that the church would retain the three original Christian creeds, the Apostles, the Athanasian, and the Nicene. In 1686, the Riksdag of the Estates adopted the Book of Concord, although certain parts, labelled Confessio fidei, were considered binding. Confessio dei included the three aforementioned Creeds, the Augsburg Confession and two Uppsala Synod decisions from 1572 and 1593, during the 20th century the Church of Sweden oriented itself strongly towards liberal Christianity and human rights. In 1957, the assembly rejected a proposal for ordination of women. Since 1960, women have been ordained as priests, and since 1994, a proposal to perform same-sex weddings was approved on October 22,2009 by 176 of 249 voting members of the Church of Sweden Synod. The Christian church in Scandinavia was originally governed by the archdiocese of Bremen, in 1104 an archbishop for all Scandinavia was installed in Lund. Uppsala was made Swedens archdiocese in 1164, and remains so today, the papal diplomat William of Modena attended a church meeting in Skänninge in March 1248, where the ties to the Catholic Church were strengthened
18.
Uppsala University
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Uppsala University is a research university in Uppsala, Sweden, and is the oldest university in Sweden and all of the Nordic countries, founded in 1477. It ranks among the best universities in Northern Europe in international rankings, the university uses Gratiae veritas naturae as its motto and embraces natural sciences. Uppsala also has an important historical place in Swedish national culture, identity and for the Swedish establishment, in historiography, literature, politics, many aspects of Swedish academic culture in general, such as the white student cap, originated in Uppsala. It shares some peculiarities, such as the student nation system, with Lund University, Uppsala belongs to the Coimbra Group of European universities. The university has nine faculties distributed over three “disciplinary domains” and it has about 24,000 full-time students and 2,400 doctoral students. It has a staff of roughly 1,800 out of a total of 6,500 employees. Twenty-five per cent of the 674 professors at the university are women, of its turnover of SEK5.9 billion in 2013, 30% was spent on education on basic and advanced level, while 66% was spent on research and research programs. Architecturally, Uppsala University has traditionally had a presence in the area around the cathedral on the western side of the River Fyris. Despite some more contemporary building developments further away from the centre, as with most medieval universities, Uppsala University initially grew out of an ecclesiastical center. The archbishopric of Uppsala had been one of the most important sees in Sweden proper since Christianity first spread to this region in the ninth century, Uppsala had also long been a hub for regional trade, and had contained settlements dating back into the deep Middle Ages. As was also the case with most medieval universities, Uppsala had initially been chartered through a papal bull, Uppsalas bull, which granted the university its corporate rights, was issued by Pope Sixtus IV in 1477, and established a number of provisions. Among the most important of these was that the university was given the same freedoms. This included the right to establish the four faculties of theology, law, medicine, and philosophy, and to award the bachelors, masters, licentiate. The archbishop of Uppsala was also named as the universitys Chancellor, Swedish students generally travelled to one of the Protestant universities in Germany, especially Wittenberg. The Meeting of Uppsala in 1593 established Lutheran orthodoxy in Sweden, and Charles, Theology still had precedence, but in the privileges of 1593, the importance of a university to educate secular servants of the state was also emphasized. Three of the seven professorial chairs which were established were in Theology, of the other four, a fourth chair was given to Ericus Jacobi Skinnerus, who was also appointed rector, but whose discipline was not mentioned in the charter. Of the professors, several were taken over from the Collegium Regium in Stockholm, an eighth chair, in Medicine, was established in 1595 but received no appointee for several years. In 1599 the number of students was approximately 150, in 1600 the first post-reformation conferment of degrees took place
19.
Scandinavia
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Scandinavia /ˌskændᵻˈneɪviə/ is a historical and cultural region in Northern Europe characterized by a common ethnocultural North Germanic heritage and mutually intelligible North Germanic languages. The term Scandinavia always includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the remote Norwegian islands of Svalbard and Jan Mayen are usually not seen as a part of Scandinavia, nor is Greenland, an overseas territory of Denmark. This looser definition almost equates to that of the Nordic countries, in Nordic languages, only Denmark, Norway and Sweden are commonly included in the definition of Scandinavia. In English usage, Scandinavia sometimes refers to the geographical area, the name Scandinavia originally referred vaguely to the formerly Danish, now Swedish, region Scania. Icelanders and the Faroese are to a significant extent descended from the Norse, Finland is mainly populated by Finns, with a minority of approximately 5% of Swedish speakers. A small minority of Sami people live in the north of Scandinavia. The Danish, Norwegian and Swedish languages form a continuum and are known as the Scandinavian languages—all of which are considered mutually intelligible with one another. Faroese and Icelandic, sometimes referred to as insular Scandinavian languages, are intelligible in continental Scandinavian languages only to a limited extent, Finnish and Meänkieli are closely related to each other and more distantly to the Sami languages, but are entirely unrelated to the Scandinavian languages. Apart from these, German, Yiddish and Romani are recognized minority languages in Scandinavia, the southern and by far most populous regions of Scandinavia have a temperate climate. Scandinavia extends north of the Arctic Circle, but has mild weather for its latitude due to the Gulf Stream. Much of the Scandinavian mountains have a tundra climate. There are many lakes and moraines, legacies of the last glacial period, Scandinavia usually refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Some sources argue for the inclusion of the Faroe Islands, Finland and Iceland, though that broader region is known by the countries concerned as Norden. Before this time, the term Scandinavia was familiar mainly to classical scholars through Pliny the Elders writings, and was used vaguely for Scania, as a political term, Scandinavia was first used by students agitating for Pan-Scandinavianism in the 1830s. After a visit to Sweden, Andersen became a supporter of early political Scandinavism, the term is often defined according to the conventions of the cultures that lay claim to the term in their own use. More precisely, and subject to no dispute, is that Finland is included in the broader term Nordic countries, various promotional agencies of the Nordic countries in the United States serve to promote market and tourism interests in the region. The official tourist boards of Scandinavia sometimes cooperate under one umbrella, Norways government entered one year later. All five Nordic governments participate in the joint promotional efforts in the United States through the Scandinavian Tourist Board of North America, Scandinavia can thus be considered a subset of the Nordic countries
20.
Celsius
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Celsius, also known as centigrade, is a metric scale and unit of measurement for temperature. As an SI derived unit, it is used by most countries in the world and it is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius, who developed a similar temperature scale. The degree Celsius can refer to a temperature on the Celsius scale as well as a unit to indicate a temperature interval. Before being renamed to honour Anders Celsius in 1948, the unit was called centigrade, from the Latin centum, which means 100, and gradus, which means steps. The scale is based on 0° for the point of water. This scale is widely taught in schools today, by international agreement the unit degree Celsius and the Celsius scale are currently defined by two different temperatures, absolute zero, and the triple point of VSMOW. This definition also precisely relates the Celsius scale to the Kelvin scale, absolute zero, the lowest temperature possible, is defined as being precisely 0 K and −273.15 °C. The temperature of the point of water is defined as precisely 273.16 K at 611.657 pascals pressure. This definition fixes the magnitude of both the degree Celsius and the kelvin as precisely 1 part in 273.16 of the difference between absolute zero and the point of water. Thus, it sets the magnitude of one degree Celsius and that of one kelvin as exactly the same, additionally, it establishes the difference between the two scales null points as being precisely 273.15 degrees. In his paper Observations of two persistent degrees on a thermometer, he recounted his experiments showing that the point of ice is essentially unaffected by pressure. He also determined with precision how the boiling point of water varied as a function of atmospheric pressure. He proposed that the point of his temperature scale, being the boiling point. This pressure is known as one standard atmosphere, the BIPMs 10th General Conference on Weights and Measures later defined one standard atmosphere to equal precisely 1013250dynes per square centimetre. On 19 May 1743 he published the design of a mercury thermometer, in 1744, coincident with the death of Anders Celsius, the Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus reversed Celsiuss scale. In it, Linnaeus recounted the temperatures inside the orangery at the University of Uppsala Botanical Garden, since the 19th century, the scientific and thermometry communities worldwide referred to this scale as the centigrade scale. Temperatures on the scale were often reported simply as degrees or. More properly, what was defined as centigrade then would now be hectograde.2 gradians, for scientific use, Celsius is the term usually used, with centigrade otherwise continuing to be in common but decreasing use, especially in informal contexts in English-speaking countries
21.
History of Uppsala
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The city of Uppsala is one of the oldest in Sweden. It has played a dominant role in the political, intellectual and historical development of the country, the two main institutions in the history of Uppsala are the Archdiocese which is located in the city, and Uppsala University, founded in the city in 1477. These have long established on the western banks of the Fyris river with a bourgeois trading town on the other side of the river. The site where Uppsala stands is a fertile plain, the city lies in the intersection of the esker Uppsalaåsen and the river Fyrisån. In prehistoric times most of the area was below sea level, therefore, the first communities in the area were established at a higher altitude in Gamla Uppsala, about 5 kilometres north of the current city. In the 3rd and 4th centuries Gamla Uppsala grew into an important religious and political centre, according to the mythological Heimskringla the city was founded during the reign of Augustus by the pagan god Freyr. In 1087 the temple at Uppsala was burned as a part of the Christianisation of Sweden, in 1164 Gamla Uppsala became the seat of the Swedish Archdiocese. Due to isostasy the shoreline had moved down from Gamla Uppsala, at this site the modern city of Uppsala was founded as a port city to Gamla Uppsala, under the name of Aros. In the first centuries of the first millennia the port city outgrew Gamla Uppsala, in 1273 the Archdiocese was moved from Gamla Uppsala to Aros, on the condition that the name Uppsala moved with the Archdiocese, which is how the city got its current name. After the relocation the construction of Uppsala cathedral began, continuing until 1435 when the cathedral was inaugurated, in 1477 Uppsala University was founded through a papal bull as the first university in northern Europe. In 1523 Gustav Vasa seized power in Sweden, during his reign Uppsala experienced a severe decline. The ecclesiastical city was affected by his reduction and the university closed due to lack of funds. As a result of the protestant reformation much of the churchs power moved from Uppsala to the court in Stockholm. As a demonstration and consolidation of his power King Gustav began the building of a fortification on Uppsalaåsen, Uppsala Castle. In the 16th century several important church meetings were held in Uppsala, a new Church Ordinance was accepted in 1571, and in 1593 the Uppsala Synod took place. During the meeting the Augsburg Confession was accepted as the religious doctrine. However, the university took several decades to resume its full functioning. During the Swedish Empire Uppsala flourished and became viewed as the capital of the empire
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Gamla Uppsala
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Gamla Uppsala is a parish and a village outside Uppsala in Sweden. It had 17,973 inhabitants in 2016, as early as the 3rd century AD and the 4th century AD and onwards, it was an important religious, economic and political centre. Early written sources show that already during pre-history, Gamla Uppsala was well known in Northern Europe as the residence of the Swedish kings of the legendary Yngling dynasty. In fact, the oldest Scandinavian sources, such as Ynglingatal, the Westrogothic law and it was also the location of the Thing of all Swedes which was a thing held from pre-historic times to the Middle Ages, at the end of February or early March. It was held in conjunction with a fair called Disting. It was not only the Norse cultic centre, it also became Swedens archbishopric in 1164, Gamla Uppsala lies on Fyris Wolds, a cultivated plain in the valley of the River Fyris which is densely populated in its southern part, while the northern part consists of farms. Medieval Scandinavians held Gamla Uppsala as one of the oldest and most important locations in Scandinavia and this tradition was also known by the Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson, who, however had Odin reside in nearby Fornsigtuna, whereas the god Freyr lived in Gamla Uppsala. He was, like his father, fortunate in friends and in good seasons, frey built a great temple at Uppsala, made it his chief seat, and gave it all his taxes, his land, and goods. Then began the Upsal domains, which have remained ever since, for he paid to the gods abominable offerings, by beginning to slaughter human victims. What kind of tree it is nobody knows, there is also a spring there where the pagan are accustomed to perform sacrifices and to immerse a human being alive. As long as his body is not found, the request of the people will be fulfilled, a golden chain encircles that temple and hangs over the gables of the building. Those who approach see its gleam from afar off because the shrine, for nine days feasts and sacrifices of this kind are celebrated. Every day they sacrifice one human being in addition to other animals and this sacrifice takes place about the time of the vernal equinox. In 2000, the Swedish AsatruSociety restarted the tradition of holding blóts at Gamla Uppsala. The 16th-century Archbishop of Uppsala Johannes Magnus asserted that the city was founded by, and named for, an early Swedish king named Ubbo. However, in the absence of any corroborating evidence, Magnus accounts no longer enjoy widespread acceptance among scholars today. It is a testimony to the sanctity of the location in the mindset of followers of medieval Norse religion that Gamla Uppsala was the last stronghold of pre-Christian, Norse Germanic kingship. During the 1070s and 1080 there appears to have been a renaissance of Norse religion with the magnificent Temple at Uppsala described in a contested account through an eye-witness by Adam of Bremen
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Adam of Bremen
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Adam of Bremen was a German medieval chronicler. He lived and worked in the half of the eleventh century. He is most famous for his chronicle Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum, little is known of his life other than hints from his own chronicles. He is believed to have come from Meissen in Saxony, the dates of his birth and death are uncertain, but he was probably born before 1050 and died on 12 October of an unknown year. From his chronicles it is apparent that he was familiar with a number of authors, the honorary name of Magister Adam shows that he had passed through all the stages of a higher education. It is probable that he was taught at the Magdeburger Domschule, in 1066 or 1067 he was invited by archbishop Adalbert of Hamburg to join the Church of Bremen. Adam was accepted among the capitulars of Bremen, and by 1069 he appeared as director of the cathedrals school, soon thereafter he began to write the history of Bremen/Hamburg and of the northern lands in his Gesta. His position and the activity of the church of Bremen allowed him to gather information on the history. A stay at the court of Svend Estridson gave him the opportunity to find information about the history and geography of Denmark, among other things he wrote about in Scandinavia, includes the sailing passages across Øresund such as todays Elsinore to Helsingborg route Chłopacka Hanna, Adam Bremeński. Literature by and about Adam of Bremen in the German National Library catalogue Adamus Bremensis, repertorium Historical Sources of the German Middle Ages
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Paganism
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Paganism is a term that derives from Latin word pagan, which means nonparticipant, one excluded from a more distinguished, professional group. The term was used in the 4th century, by early Christian community, the term competed with polytheism already in use in Judaism, by Philo in the 1st century. Pagans and paganism was a pejorative for the same polytheistic group, Paganism has broadly connoted religion of the peasantry, and for much of its history a derogatory term. Alternate terms in Christian texts for the group was hellene. In and after the Middle Ages, paganism was a pejorative that was applied to any non-Abrahamic or unfamiliar religion, there has been much scholarly debate as to the origin of the term paganism, especially since no one before the 20th century self-identified as a pagan. In the 19th century, paganism was re-adopted as a self-descriptor by members of various artistic groups inspired by the ancient world. Forms of these religions, influenced by various historical pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe, exist today and are known as contemporary or modern paganism, while most pagan religions express a worldview that is pantheistic, polytheistic, or animistic, there are some monotheistic pagans. It is crucial to stress right from the start that until the 20th century people did not call themselves pagans to describe the religion they practised, the notion of paganism, as it is generally understood today, was created by the early Christian Church. It was a label that Christians applied to others, one of the antitheses that were central to the process of Christian self-definition, as such, throughout history it was generally used in a derogatory sense. The term pagan is from Late Latin paganus, revived during the Renaissance and it is related to pangere and ultimately comes from Proto-Indo-European *pag-. The evolution occurred only in the Latin west, and in connection with the Latin church, elsewhere, Hellene or gentile remained the word for pagan, and paganos continued as a purely secular term, with overtones of the inferior and the commonplace. However, this idea has multiple problems, first, the words usage as a reference to non-Christians pre-dates that period in history. Second, paganism within the Roman Empire centered on cities, the concept of an urban Christianity as opposed to a rural paganism would not have occurred to Romans during Early Christianity. Third, unlike words such as rusticitas, paganus had not yet acquired the meanings used to explain why it would have been applied to pagans. Paganus more likely acquired its meaning in Christian nomenclature via Roman military jargon, Early Christians adopted military motifs and saw themselves as Milites Christi. As early as the 5th century, paganos was metaphorically used to persons outside the bounds of the Christian community. In response, Augustine of Hippo wrote De Civitate Dei Contra Paganos, in it, he contrasted the fallen city of Man to the city of God of which all Christians were ultimately citizens. Hence, the invaders were not of the city or rural
25.
Temple at Uppsala
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In Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum, Adam of Bremen provides a description of the temple. Adam records that a famous temple called Ubsola exists in a town close to Sigtuna. Adam details that the temple is adorned with gold and that the people there worship statues of three gods that sit on a triple throne. Thor, whom Adam refers to as the mightiest, sits in the throne, while Wodan. Adam adds that, in addition, they also worship gods who were once men, Adam says that the three gods have a priest appointed to them each who offer up sacrifices to the deities from the people. If famine or plague occurs, a sacrifice is made to Thor, if there is war, a sacrifice is made to Wodan, if a marriage is to be held, a sacrifice is made to Fricco. Adam details sacrificial practices held at the temple, Adam describes that nine males of every living creature are offered up for sacrifice, the corpses of the nine males are hung within the grove beside the temple. Adam reveals that one Christian informed him that he had seen seventy-two cadavers of differing species hanging within the grove. Adam expresses disgust at the songs they sing during these sacrificial rites, quipping that the songs are so many, Adam describes that near the temple stands a massive tree with far-spreading branches, which is evergreen both in summer and winter. At the tree is also a spring where sacrifices are also held, according to Adam, a custom exists where a man, alive, is thrown into the spring, and if he fails to return to the surface, the wish of the people will be fulfilled. Adam writes that a golden chain surrounds the temple that hangs from the gables of the building, the chain is very visible to those approaching the temple from a distance due to the landscape where the temple was built, it is surrounded by hills, like an amphitheatre. The feasts and sacrifices continue for a total of nine days, therefore, in a total of nine days twenty-seven sacrifices occur, and, Adam notes, these sacrifices occur about the time of the spring equinox. Simek says that details of Adams accounts have cited as potentially influenced by the description of Solomons Temple in the Old Testament. Orchard states that it is unclear to what extent Adams description has a basis in fact rather than lurid fiction yet that Adams account contains a good deal of useful information. In the Ynglinga saga compiled in Heimskringla, Snorri presents an origin of the Norse gods. In chapter 5, Snorri asserts that the æsir settled in what is now Sweden, Snorri writes that Odin took up his residence at the Maelare lake, at the place now called Old Sigtun. There he erected a temple, where there were sacrifices according to the customs of the Asaland people. He appropriated to himself the whole of district, and called it Sigtun
26.
Fyrisvellir
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The name is related to, or derived from, Old Norse Fyrva which meant to ebb and it referred to the partially inundated soggy plains that today are dry farmland and the modern town of Uppsala. In mediaeval times, an estate called Førisæng, Fyris meadow, was located near this field. The small lakes Övre Föret, the Upper Fyri, and Nedre Föret, the field went alongside what was renamed the Fyris river in the 17th century to make the connection between the river and the Sagas more obvious. In Scandinavian mythology, the battle between Haki and Hugleik took place on these wolds, as well as that between Haki and Jorund and it was also the location of the Battle of the Fýrisvellir between Eric the Victorious and his nephew Styrbjörn the Strong, in the 980s. According to a story about Hrólf Kraki found in texts, Hrólf spread gold on this plain as he. The kings men then dismounted to collect the gold, in skaldic poetry gold was often referred to with the kenning the seed of the Fyris Wolds. This article contains content from the Owl Edition of Nordisk familjebok, carl L. Thunberg, Slaget på Fyrisvallarna i ny tolkning
27.
Eric IX of Sweden
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Eric IX of Sweden, also called Eric the Lawgiver, Erik the Saint, Eric the Holy, and, in Sweden, Sankt Erik, meaning Saint Eric, was a Swedish king c. No historical records of Eric have survived, and all information about him is based on legends that were aimed at having him established as a saint. The Roman Martyrology of the Roman Catholic Church names him as a saint memorialized on 18 May and he is the ancestor of the House of Eric which ruled Sweden with interruptions from c.1156 to 1250. Osteological investigations of Erics remains suggest that he may have lived the last 10-15 years of his life in Västergötland rather than in Uppland where he died, on the other hand, the only manor he is known to have possessed is situated in Västmanland in Svealand. Eriksberg in central Västergötland has been suggested as the manor of the family. As for his family he had a brother, whose name began with a J and this brother has been identified with a Joar Jedvardsson. This in turn fits with King Sverres Saga which refers to Eirik the Saint, late medieval Swedish tradition likewise knows the king by the name Eric Jedvardsson. The name of the father, Jedvard is not Scandinavian and may point to English missionary influence and his mother was, according to 14th-century tradition, Cecilia, a daughter of King Blot-Sweyn. This information is highly debatable, however, the only full account of Erics life is a hagiographic legend dating from the late 13th century. The historicity of the legend has been much-discussed by Swedish historians and it tells that Eric was of royal blood and was unanimously chosen king of Sweden when there was a vacancy of the kingship. It also states that Eric reigned for ten years, which would put the beginning of his reign in c, if this is correct he would have been a rival king to Sverker the Elder who had ascended the throne in c.1132 and was murdered in 1156. At any rate it is assumed that Eric was recognized in most provinces after 1156, while his paternity is obscure, there is good evidence that he strengthened his claims to the throne by marriage to the Danish princess Christina Björnsdotter, a granddaughter of King Inge I. His realm did not include Östergötland where Sverkers son Karl Sverkersson ruled in the late 1150s, according to the legend, Eric did much to consolidate Christianity in his realm. However, the reliable source mentioning his reign is a Cistercian chronicle from c. Quite contrary to the impression of pro-clerical policy of the Eric Legend, it says that King Eric, some monks left for Denmark where Vitskøl Abbey was founded in 1158. After this, however, Eric and Christina changed their stance, an early 13th-century source adds that he made donations to Nydala Abbey in Småland. Legend also attributes Eric with the spread of the Christian faith into Finland. In an effort to conquer and convert the Finns, he led the First Swedish Crusade east of the Baltic Sea
28.
Gothic architecture
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Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished in Europe during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture and its characteristics include the pointed arch, the ribbed vault and the flying buttress. Gothic architecture is most familiar as the architecture of many of the cathedrals, abbeys. It is also the architecture of many castles, palaces, town halls, guild halls, universities and to a less prominent extent, private dwellings, for this reason a study of Gothic architecture is largely a study of cathedrals and churches. A series of Gothic revivals began in mid-18th-century England, spread through 19th-century Europe and continued, largely for ecclesiastical and university structures, the term Gothic architecture originated as a pejorative description. Hence, François Rabelais, also of the 16th century, imagines an inscription over the door of his utopian Abbey of Thélème, Here enter no hypocrites, slipping in a slighting reference to Gotz and Ostrogotz. Authorities such as Christopher Wren lent their aid in deprecating the old medieval style, the Company disapproved of several of these new manners, which are defective and which belong for the most part to the Gothic. Gothic architecture is the architecture of the medieval period, characterised by use of the pointed arch. As an architectural style, Gothic developed primarily in ecclesiastical architecture, the greatest number of surviving Gothic buildings are churches. The Gothic style is most particularly associated with the cathedrals of Northern France. At the end of the 12th century, Europe was divided into a multitude of city states, norway came under the influence of England, while the other Scandinavian countries and Poland were influenced by trading contacts with the Hanseatic League. Angevin kings brought the Gothic tradition from France to Southern Italy, throughout Europe at this time there was a rapid growth in trade and an associated growth in towns. Germany and the Lowlands had large flourishing towns that grew in comparative peace, in trade and competition with other, or united for mutual weal. Civic building was of importance to these towns as a sign of wealth. England and France remained largely feudal and produced grand domestic architecture for their kings, dukes and bishops, the Catholic Church prevailed across Europe at this time, influencing not only faith but also wealth and power. Bishops were appointed by the lords and they often ruled as virtual princes over large estates. The early Medieval periods had seen a growth in monasticism, with several different orders being prevalent. Foremost were the Benedictines whose great abbey churches vastly outnumbered any others in France, a part of their influence was that towns developed around them and they became centers of culture, learning and commerce
29.
Carl Linnaeus
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Carl Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as Carl von Linné, was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who formalised the modern system of naming organisms called binomial nomenclature. He is known by the father of modern taxonomy. Many of his writings were in Latin, and his name is rendered in Latin as Carolus Linnæus, Linnaeus was born in the countryside of Småland, in southern Sweden. He received most of his education at Uppsala University. He lived abroad between 1735 and 1738, where he studied and also published a first edition of his Systema Naturae in the Netherlands and he then returned to Sweden, where he became professor of medicine and botany at Uppsala. In the 1740s, he was sent on journeys through Sweden to find and classify plants. In the 1750s and 1760s, he continued to collect and classify animals, plants, and minerals, at the time of his death, he was one of the most acclaimed scientists in Europe. The philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau sent him the message, Tell him I know no man on earth. The German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote, With the exception of Shakespeare and Spinoza, Swedish author August Strindberg wrote, Linnaeus was in reality a poet who happened to become a naturalist. Among other compliments, Linnaeus has been called Princeps botanicorum, The Pliny of the North and he is also considered as one of the founders of modern ecology. In botany, the abbreviation used to indicate Linnaeus as the authority for species names is L. In older publications, sometimes the abbreviation Linn. is found, Linnæus was born in the village of Råshult in Småland, Sweden, on 23 May 1707. He was the first child of Nicolaus Ingemarsson and Christina Brodersonia and his siblings were Anna Maria Linnæa, Sofia Juliana Linnæa, Samuel Linnæus, and Emerentia Linnæa. One of a line of peasants and priests, Nils was an amateur botanist, a Lutheran minister. Christina was the daughter of the rector of Stenbrohult, Samuel Brodersonius, a year after Linnæus birth, his grandfather Samuel Brodersonius died, and his father Nils became the rector of Stenbrohult. The family moved into the rectory from the curates house, even in his early years, Linnæus seemed to have a liking for plants, flowers in particular. Whenever he was upset, he was given a flower, which calmed him. Nils spent much time in his garden and often showed flowers to Linnaeus, soon Linnæus was given his own patch of earth where he could grow plants
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Uppsala Castle
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Uppsala Castle is a 16th-century royal castle in the historic city of Uppsala, Sweden. Throughout much of its history, the castle played a major role in the history of Sweden. Uppsala Castle was built during the time Sweden was on its way to become a power in Europe. Kings Erik XIV, John III and Charles IX all remodeled and expanded the citadel into a renaissance palace. During Erik XIVs reign, the castle was the site of the Sture Murders, in 1630, King Gustavus II Adolphus announced the decision that Sweden should participate in the Thirty Years War. It was in the castle that the Swedish government announced the abdication of Queen Kristina in 1654, Uppsala Castle was seriously damaged by fire in 1702, being reduced essentially to a ruin. Reconstruction took many years and was indeed hampered by the remains of the castle being used as a quarry for stone to be used in building Stockholm Palace, Uppsala Castle was the administrative center of Uppland and the site of the Hall of State for many years. Uppsala Castle is the residence of the County Governor of Uppsala County, dag Hammarskjöld, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, spent his childhood days in the castle when his father, Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, was governor of Uppsala County. Today, the castle is also the site of the Uppsala Art Museum
31.
Coat of arms of Sweden
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The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Sweden has a lesser and a greater version. This includes any mark or text referring to the Swedish State which thus can give the commercial mark a sign of official endorsement and this includes municipal coats of arms which are registered. Any representation consisting of three crowns ordered two above one are considered to be the coat of arms, and its usage is therefore restricted by law 1970,498. The greater coat of arms is blazoned in Swedish law as follows, A shield azure, quartered by a cross Or with outbent arms, in the first and fourth fields three open crowns Or, placed two above one. In the second and third fields three sinisterbendwise streams argent, a lion crowned with an open crown Or armed gules, the inescutcheon is party per pale the arms for the House of Vasa, and the House of Bernadotte. The main shield is crowned by a crown and surrounded by the insignia of the Order of the Seraphim. Supported by two lions regardant, crowned and with forked tails Or armed gules, standing on a compartment Or, all surrounded by ermine mantling, crowned with a royal crown and tied up with tasseladorned strings Or. The greater arms may also be displayed only with the crowned escutcheon, while the arms have undergone significant changes over the years, such as changing the inescutcheon with the ruling dynasty, they are based on arms created by King Karl Knutsson in 1448. The escutcheon used in the greater blazon has in total five elements,4 quarterings on the main escutcheon, however, Bernadotte never used any stars in the arms of Pontecorvo contrary to the illustration below. The Big Dipper, or as it is called in Swedish, Karlavagnen, the arms are supported by two lions with forked tails, facing away from the shield and crowned with Royal Crowns. For centuries, the lion has been an important element in Swedish heraldry, the shield may be surmounted by the Collar of the Order of Seraphim, the foremost order in Sweden, and the highest honour the Swedish state can bestow on an individual. Blazon, The greater state arms consist of a shield azure, quartered by a cross or with outbent arms. In the first and fourth fields three coronets or, placed two above one, in the second and third fields three sinisterbendwise streams argent, a lion crowned with an open crown or with armaments gules. The inescutcheon is party per pale the arms for the House of Vasa, the main shield is crowned by a royal crown and surrounded by the insignia of the Order of the Seraphim. Supported by two lions regardant or crowned, with parted tails and armaments gules, standing on a postament, all surrounded by hermine mantling crowned with a royal crown and tied up with tasseled strings or. The lesser coat of arms is used by the Government of Sweden. As such it may be joined by insignias symbolising the activity of government agencies. It is, for instance, embroidered on all Swedish police uniforms, blazon, Azure, with three coronets Or, ordered two above one
32.
Esker
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Eskers are frequently several kilometres long and, because of their peculiar uniform shape, are somewhat like railway embankments. The term esker is derived from the Irish word eiscir, which means ridge or elevation, the Irish word was and is used particularly to describe long sinuous ridges, which are now known to be deposits of fluvio-glacial material. Most eskers are argued to have formed within ice-walled tunnels by streams which flowed within and they tended to form around the time of the glacial maximum when the glacier was slow and sluggish. After the retaining ice walls melted away, stream deposits remained as long winding ridges, water can flow uphill if it is under pressure in an enclosed pipe, such as a natural tunnel in ice. Eskers may also form above glaciers by accumulation of sediment in supraglacial channels, in crevasses, Eskers form near the terminal zone of glaciers, where the ice is not moving as fast and is relatively thin. Plastic flow and melting of the basal ice determines the size and this in turn determines the shape, composition and structure of an esker. Eskers may exist as a channel, or may be part of a branching system with tributary eskers. They are not often found as continuous ridges, but have gaps that separate the winding segments, the ridge crests of eskers are not usually level for very long, and are generally knobby. Eskers may be broad-crested or sharp-crested with steep sides and they can reach hundreds of kilometers in length and are generally 20–30 metres in height. The path of an esker is governed by its pressure in relation to the overlying ice. This process is what produces the wide eskers upon which roads, less pressure, occurring in areas closer to the glacial maximum, can cause ice to melt over the stream flow and create steep-walled, sharply-arched tunnels. The concentration of debris in the ice and the rate at which sediment is delivered to the tunnel by melting. The sediment generally consists of coarse-grained, water-laid sand and gravel and this sediment is stratified and sorted, and usually consists of pebble/cobble-sized material with occasional boulders. Bedding may be irregular but is almost always present, and cross-bedding is common, Eskers are critical to the ecology of Northern Canada. In Sweden Uppsalaåsen stretches for 250 km and passes through Uppsala city, great Esker Park runs along the Back River in Weymouth, Massachusetts and is home to the highest esker in North America. Pispala in Tampere, Finland is on an esker between two lakes carved by glaciers, a similar site is Punkaharju in Finnish Lakeland. The village of Kemnay in Aberdeenshire, Scotland has a 5 km esker locally called the Kemb Hills, there are over 1,000 eskers in the state of Michigan, primarily in the south-central Lower Peninsula. The longest esker in Michigan is the 22 mile long Mason Esker, Esker systems in the U. S. state of Maine can be traced for up to 100 miles
33.
Stockholm Arlanda Airport
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The airport is located within Stockholm County and the province of Uppland. It is the largest airport in Sweden and the third-largest airport in the Nordic countries, the airport is the major gateway to international air travel for large parts of Sweden. Arlanda Airport was used by close to 25 million passengers in 2016, Stockholm Arlanda Airport is the larger of Stockholms two airports. The other, Stockholm–Bromma, is located north-west of the citys centre, the smaller airports in Nyköping and Västerås are both located around 100 kilometres away from the Swedish capital. Stockholm Arlanda serves as a hub for NextJet, Norwegian Air Shuttle. The airport was first used in 1959, but only for practice flights and it opened for limited civil traffic in 1960, and in 1962 the official opening ceremony took place. It was used from the start for intercontinental traffic because the runway at Bromma was too short, Scandinavian Airlines started using Douglas DC-8s on North American routes. The airport was used very early by Pan American World Airways. The name Arlanda was decided after a prior to the airport opening. It is derived from Arland, an old name for the parish Ärlinghundra where the airport is situated, the -a was added in analogy with other Swedish place names ending with -landa and also plays on the Swedish verb landa, which means to land. The 1960s and 70s saw increases in traffic with scheduled traffic, the Boeing 747 jumbojet started to be used in the 1970s, both on one-stop scheduled flights to New York and on weekend nonstop charters to the Canary Islands. Domestic flights to Gothenburg, Malmö, Luleå and Kiruna were operated by SAS DC-9s from Arlanda since they were considered too noisy to be used at downtown Bromma, the rest of domestic traffic operated out of Bromma and all international traffic out of Arlanda. In 1983 the domestic traffic operated by Linjeflyg moved from Bromma to Arlanda, in 1990 two new domestic terminals called Domestic 2 and 3 were built south of the first domestic terminal. In 1992 the terminal 2 was partly abandoned because of traffic decrease and it started to be used for international traffic the year after, and the main domestic and international terminals were renumbered into 4 and 5. The third runway was built between 1998 and 2002, however, a recession in 2002 delayed its opening until 2003. At that time protests were raised by people living under its flight path in the municipality of Upplands Väsby, traffic has recovered since and is now showing healthy increases but the third runway is only used during peak hours for environmental reasons. In September 2010 the first Airbus A380 superjumbo landed at the airport, the plans were approved by the Environmental Court of Appeals in December 2014, and construction was scheduled to commence in the spring of 2015. Arlanda has three runways, Runway 1, Runway 2 and Runway 3, Runway 1 is 3,301 m long and can handle take-offs and landings of the heaviest aircraft in use today
34.
Town and gown
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The metaphor is historical in its connotation but continues to be used in the literature on urban higher education and in common parlance. During the Middle Ages, students admitted to European universities often held minor clerical status and these vestments evolved into the academic long black gown, worn along with hood and cap. The gown proved comfortable for studying in unheated and draughty buildings, the gown also served as a social symbol, as it was impractical for physical manual work. The hood was often adorned with the colours of the colleges, thus by their distinctive clothing, the students were set apart and distinguished from the citizens of the town, hence the phrase town and gown. The idea of a school of learning as a distinct. The Academy was established as a sanctuary for learning outside the city walls of Athens. The Academy endured for nine centuries until it was closed, along with other pagan schools, in the 12th century, when the early medieval universities came into existence – first in Italy and then across Europe – they were founded without physical campuses. The masters simply rented lecture halls in the host cities, early on, there were few identifiable campus buildings. Most students took lodging in the university towns, the scholars often congregated in identifiable areas of cities, most famously the Left Bank of the Seine in Paris – what became known as the Quartier Latin. Thus, the institutions were more integrated into the cities than in the case of the Academy. It is no accident that most medieval universities were founded within cities, the schools existence required a permanent population and an infrastructure that included a vibrant marketplace and system of governance, but their dependence on the host towns was limited. In most instances, the endowment of the universities was drawn largely, if not entirely. Consequently, the universities were largely independent of municipal revenues and, to a great extent, the medieval studium remained a sanctuary in its status as beneficiary of the Catholic Church and in the scholars exemption from civil law. Such special jurisdictions were by no means uncommon in the Middle Ages, the independent jurisdiction of the universities essentially was part of this system. Also, the encroachment of universities upon neighboring areas created a point of contention between town and gown. The medieval universities formed as guilds of masters and/or students on the established by the crafts guilds. Once the scholars were able to receive a charter, they would begin negotiations with municipal authorities to secure fair rents for lecture halls, because they had no investment in a physical campus, they could threaten to migrate to another town if their demands were not met. This was not an empty threat, the scholars at the University of Lisbon in Portugal migrated to Coimbra, and then later back to Lisbon in the 14th century
35.
Humid continental climate
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Precipitation is usually well distributed through the year. Some climatologists prefer to use the 0 °C isotherm as it is commonly used. In addition, the location in question must not be semi-arid or arid, humid continental climates tend to be found between latitudes 40° N and 60° N, within the central and northeastern portions of North America, Europe, and Asia. They are much less commonly found in the Southern Hemisphere due to the ocean area at that latitude. More extreme humid continental climates found in southern Siberia and the American Midwest combine hotter summer maxima, climatological averages are used to determine which locations are within a certain climate regime. The World Meteorological Organization has defined this average as through a 30 year period, the version from 1936 utilized a mean temperature of the coldest month of below −3 °C and there must be at least four months whose mean temperatures are at or above 10 °C. In Europe, the −3 °C average temperature isotherm was near the extent of winter snowpack. Many climatologists in the U. S. prefer to use 0 °C as the standard because they feel it better reflects consistency in regional landscapes, the 10 °C average temperature was found to be the minimum temperature necessary for the tree growth. Large temperature ranges are common within this climate zone, in addition, the location in question must not be semi-arid or arid. This is from an update to the climate regime definition introduced by Trewartha & Horn in 1980, despite the 1980 update, climate regimes are essentially the same within the Southern Hemisphere. The largest changes are seen in North America, Europe, under Köppen, the following variants of this climate are possible. The climate regime uses a three letter code, beginning with the letter D. Otherwise, The second letter f , s , A dry summer — the driest summer month has at most 30 millimetres of rainfall and has at most 1⁄3 the precipitation of the wettest winter month. W , A dry winter — the driest winter month has at most one‑tenth of the found in the wettest summer month. The third letter a , Warmest month averages above 22 °C b , Does not meet the requirements for a, within North America, moisture within this climate regime is supplied by the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent western subtropical Atlantic. Snowfall occurs in all areas with a continental climate and in many such places is more common than rain during the height of winter. In places with sufficient wintertime precipitation, the cover is often deep. Most summer rainfall occurs during thunderstorms, and in North America, though humidity levels are often high in locations with humid continental climates, the humid designation means that the climate is not dry enough to be classified as semi-arid or arid. By definition, forests thrive within this climate, biomes within this climate regime include temperate woodlands, temperate grasslands, temperate deciduous, temperature evergreen forests, and coniferous forests
36.
Summer solstice
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The summer solstice, also known as midsummer, occurs when a planets rotational axis, in either northern or southern hemispheres, is most inclined toward the star that it orbits. Earths maximum axial tilt toward the Sun is 23° 26′ and this happens twice each year, at which times the Sun reaches its highest position in the sky as seen from the north or the south pole. The summer solstice occurs during the hemispheres summer and this is the northern solstice in the northern hemisphere and the southern solstice in the southern hemisphere. The same dates in the opposite hemisphere are referred to as the winter solstice, when on a geographic pole, the Sun reaches its greatest height at the moment of solstice. It can be noon only along that longitude which at that moment lies in the direction of the Sun from the pole, for other longitudes, it is not noon. Noon has either passed or has yet to come, hence the notion of a solstice day is useful. The term is used like midsummer to refer to the day on which solstice occurs. The summer solstice day has the longest period of daylight – except in the polar regions,2016 was the first time in nearly 70 years that a full moon and the Northern Hemispheres summer solstice concur on the same day. The 2016 summer solstices full moon rose just as the Sun set, worldwide, interpretation of the event has varied among cultures, but most recognize the event in some way with holidays, festivals, and rituals around that time with themes of religion or fertility. In some regions, the solstice is seen as the beginning of summer. In other cultural conventions, the solstice is closer to the middle of summer, Solstice is derived from the Latin words sol and sistere. Day of Private Reflection Fremont Solstice Parade Guru Purnima Christmas typically marks the end of the solstice in the southern hemisphere. The data was collected from the website of the Finnish Meteorological Institute on 20 June 2016 as well as certain other websites. The data is arranged geographically and within the tables from the longest day to the shortest one, day length Equinox Midsummers day Stonehenge Winter solstice Xiazhi Table of dates/times from 1600-2400
37.
Winter solstice
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The winter solstice, also known as midwinter, is an astronomical phenomenon marking the day with the shortest period of daylight and the longest night of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere this is the December solstice and in the Southern Hemisphere this is the June solstice. The axial tilt of Earth and gyroscopic effects of its daily rotation mean that the two points in the sky to which the Earths axis of rotation points change very slowly. As the Earth follows its orbit around the Sun, the hemisphere that faced away from the Sun, experiencing winter, will, in half a year, face towards the Sun. This is because the two hemispheres face opposite directions along Earths axis, and so as one polar hemisphere experiences winter, although the winter solstice itself lasts only a moment in time, the term sometimes refers to the day on which it occurs. Other names are midwinter, the extreme of winter, or the shortest day, in some cultures it is seen as the middle of winter, while in others it is seen as the beginning of winter. In meteorology, winter in the Northern Hemisphere spans the period of December through February. The seasonal significance of the solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights. The solstice may have been a moment of the annual cycle for some cultures even during neolithic times. Astronomical events were used to guide activities such as the mating of animals, the sowing of crops. Many cultural mythologies and traditions are derived from this and this is attested by physical remains in the layouts of late Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological sites, such as Stonehenge in England and Newgrange in Ireland. The primary axes of both of these seem to have been carefully aligned on a sight-line pointing to the winter solstice sunrise. It is significant that at Stonehenge the Great Trilithon was erected outwards from the middle of the monument, the winter solstice was immensely important because the people were economically dependent on monitoring the progress of the seasons. Starvation was common during the first months of the winter, January to April or July to October, in temperate climates, the midwinter festival was the last feast celebration, before deep winter began. Most cattle were slaughtered so they would not have to be fed during the winter, the majority of wine and beer made during the year was finally fermented and ready for drinking at this time. The concentration of the observances were not always on the day commencing at midnight or at dawn, but at the beginning of the pagan day, also reversal is yet another frequent theme, as in Saturnalias slave and master reversals. Iranian people celebrate the night of the Northern Hemispheres winter solstice as, Yalda night, in this night all the family gather together, usually at the house of the oldest, and celebrate it by eating, drinking and reading poems. Nuts, pomegranates and watermelons are particularly served during this festival, the pagan Scandinavian and Germanic people of northern Europe celebrated a twelve-day midwinter holiday called Yule
listen); older spelling Upsala) is the capital of Uppsala County and the fourth largest city of Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. It had 149,245 inhabitants in 2015.[1]
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Uppsala travel guide from Wikivoyage
