Any attempts to change the format have also been met with heavy resistance, like when the broadcaster removed `Ferdinand the Bull´ from the programme in 1982. The question is, when will daddy or daughter take their phones out to update their status telling their friends they are currently watching Kalle Anka (the Swedish name for Donald Duck). Every year, since 1959, at 3.00pm on Christmas Eve, the TV station TV1 shows the Disney special "From All of Us to All of You" or in Swedish it's "Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar God Jul" meaning "Donald Duck and his friends wish you a Merry Christmas." See, it's true! report. @ryebreadgirl: Well, he starred in more movies than any other Disney character, so that should have boosted the popularity everywhere. Every Christmas Eve, at 3 o´clock, over three million Swedes gather in front of their TVs to enjoy an hour of Disney cartoons. On this day. Kitschy and sweet? Every country has its own festive holiday traditions. For some cultures, turkey is the bird of choice at Christmas. In 1982, the network made the seemingly innocuous decision to replace one of the special’s most beloved cartoons, the 1938 Oscar-winning short “Ferdinand the Bull,” with “The Ugly Duckling.” Again newspapers picked up the story and public outcry ensued. Once Christmas Eve is over, a series of enjoyable − or, in some cases, dutiful − visits to friends and relatives ensues. Kalle Anka (pronounced kah-lay ahn-kah) gets its name from the star of the show’s second animated short, a 1944 cartoon called “Clown of the Jungle,” in which Donald Duck is tormented by a demented Aracuan Bird during a luckless ornithological expedition. Over the last half-century, the characters and sketches have become as much a part of the holiday as the Christmas tree, so much so that each time TV1 has suggested modifying the schedule, public outcry has forced the network to back down. For others it may be goose. Watch the Christmas cartoon One of the most unique Christmas traditions in Sweden is watching Donald Duck (Kalle Anka) on Christmas Eve. (In the 1932 “Silly Symphonies” short “Santa’s Workshop,” there is a scene involving a black doll who yells “Mammy” at the sight of Santa Claus then moons the screen. “And then, like in a fairy tale from when we were kids, there’s something familiar.” Kalle Anka, he said, “offers security in a confusing world.”. In Sweden, the show is colloquially known as `Kalle Ankas Jul´ or just `Kalle Anka´, and while it is a staple in Swedish Christmas celebrations, it can appear very strange for the uninitiated. In 1992, when he attempted to get the network to record his portion of the program in advance so that he could spend Christmas with his family, newspapers got a hold of the story and helped scuttle the change. ... for a second there I thought you meant “I watch Pitch Black at 3pm every Christmas Eve ... for us Swedes it's literally THE Donald Duck Episode. And he is the most published comic book character. “You couldn’t have done this in 1970,” said Charlotte Hagström, an ethnology professor at Lund University and archivist of the university’s Folk Life Archives. “It’s the dream of the old peasant village before people moved to towns,” she said. https://twitter.com/anetteklund/status/1077262712558673920. Sweden is famous for flying their flags just about everywhere and on 6 June, … Nobody talked, except to recite favorite lines along with the characters. It’s pretty much the exact same cartoons every year and even grown-ups join in. Kalle Anka is typically one of the three most popular television events of the year, with between 40 and 50 percent of the country tuning in to watch. Despite the consistently strong ratings, SVT’s Haegerström could not predict how much longer Kalle Anka will last as a national institution. Demonstrations in Hong-Kong: Interview of a witness of this crisis, VIDEO – This fish is a coral reef preserver and sand producer. She plays Santa Lucia, the Italian saint of light. Since 1983, when Ferdinand was returned to its rightful place in the lineup, the program has remained largely unaltered. (1966) Part 2 - Donald hates Christmas. If you want to make a … That the message resonates with a nation defined by a centuries-long policy of neutrality shouldn’t come as a big surprise. Rachael Blackmore: The first female Grand National winner. A Guide To Navigating Public Transport In Dublin. Age does not matter—every member of the family is expected to sit quietly together and watch a program that generations of Swedes have been watching for 50 years. Agent Provocateur: Nick Mullen versus the maddening moan of Twitter’s Leftist comrades, Watch what you post: Instagram pictures are used, The Most Left-Wing Football Clubs Of The World, Interview with Mat Watson: A Motoring Journalist at Carwow (Audio). Kalle Anke and Friends has made national icons out of its cartoon characters—Kalle, Ferdinand, Piff och Puff (Chip and Dale), Musse Pigg (Mickey Mouse), Långben (Goofy), Pluto—but also its Swedish stars. This is what we do on Christmas Eve. 0. I f you’re new to Stockholm you might be surprised to discover that Donald Duck (known as Kalle Anka in Sweden) plays an integral part in Swedish Christmas celebrations. Eat a julbord with your colleagues. She plays Santa Lucia, the Italian saint of light. Share. After newspapers got wind of the plans to cancel the show, the station was bombarded with letters, phone calls, and negative press. “So even if you don’t want to watch it yourself, you can’t call anyone else or do anything else, because no one will do it with you.”, To Kättström Höök, Sweden’s affection for Kalle Anka is tied up with older holiday traditions. The programme uses voice-over translation, instead of just directly translating everything into Swedish, and the Swedish voices are done by Bengt Feldreich, who sadly passed away in 2019, meaning that any new clips will from now on have to be introduced by someone else. 3 Answers. My soon-to-be father-in-law, a burly man built like a Scandinavian spruce, laughed at jokes he had obviously heard scores of times before. I was not prepared for this: Every year on Dec. 24 at 3 p.m., half of Sweden sits down in front of the television for a family viewing of the 1958 Walt Disney Presents Christmas special, “From All of Us to All of You.” Or as it is known in Sverige, Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar God Jul: “Donald Duck and his friends wish you a Merry Christmas.”. But how did these tales become part of Sweden’s folklore? The other popular national figure to emerge from the program is Bengt Feldreich, the Swedish voice of Jiminy Cricket and narrator of much of the program. Copyright © 2021 | WordPress Theme by MH Themes, From a Family that has diabetic people myself,i know the struggles and pain that come with living with diabetes.You all…, Lovely write up...it is time to change the narrative, we really need to challenge the norm, plus size women should…. Not only will you be forced to sit through hours of pickled herring, … “I wasn’t easy to live with—I was in a bad mood out of nervousness before going on air, and tired afterwards. Every Christmas Eve at 3pm, Swedes gather around the TV to watch a series of old Donald Duck (“Kalle Anka”) Disney cartoons from the 1950s. There are “Silly Symphonies” shorts and clips from films like Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and The Jungle Book. “It felt odd that watching TV was such a big part of Christmas; in Mexico, we never even turn on the TV”, she says, and adds that, “my boyfriend said the only way I could offend anyone was by making fun of `Kalle Anka´!”. Jo Malone Vs Jenny Glow: Same scents, but different price. More people than ever before tuned in to watch Disney's From All of Us to All of You (or, as it is more known in Sweden, Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar en god jul – Donald Duck and friends wish you a Merry Christmas) this year. For many Swedes, there is something comforting about knowing that every year there is one hour, on one day, when you sit down with everyone in your family and just be together. (1966) Part 2 - Donald hates Christmas - YouTube. In Sweden, “fika” breaks are taken very seriously. 75. And it turns out the pull of Kalle Anka is so strong that the tech-loving Scandinavians even briefly put down their phones down. share. hide. Feldreich, a Swedish television reporter who built his name interviewing Nobel Laureates for SVT’s news division, is now most famous for his impromptu rendition of “When You Wish Upon a Star” during the original taping of the show. Nothing says Christmas like Donald Duck ... if you're Swedish. Swedish National Day. As did the fact that, for years, Christmas was the only time when Swedes could see Disney animation—or any American cartoons—on television. Kalle Anka, for short, has been airing without commercial interruption at the same time on Sweden’s main public-television channel, TV1, on Christmas Eve (when Swedes traditionally celebrate the holiday) since 1959. How Donald Duck Stole Christmas! The Swedes have a slightly odd tradition of religiously watching the same 1950s Disney cartoons over and over again. Austrian children fear Krampus, the half-goat, half-demon who beats naughty children with sticks. There are many good Italian cartoonists that have created many fun characters and stories. The programme, in English called `From All of Us to All of You´, was originally broadcast in 1958 as an episode of the TV show `The Wonderful World of Disney´ and is in Sweden known as `Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar God Jul´ (Donald Duck and His Friends Wish you a Merry Christmas) and has been shown every Christmas Eve in Sweden since 1960. More than 4.5 million people – almost half of Sweden's entire population – watched Donald Duck on Christmas Eve, making its 2020 incarnation Sweden's most watched TV show since modern records began. It is presented by Jiminy Cricket and features several full cartoons as well as scenes from various Disney movies, such as `Cinderella´, `Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs´, `The Jungle Book´ and many other. Christmas Day with the Anderssons, Boxing Day with the Johanssons and a week’s skiing in the mountains with the Svenssons. “We had recorded everything, but no way,” SVT’s Haegerström said. During his final taping of the show, in 2002, Weise—whose history of alcohol problems is well-known to Swedes—claimed to have been “high as a kite” on the morphine pills he was taking at the time for psoriasis. Back in the 1960s, animated moving cartoons were rare, and the show, directly translated to ‘Donald Duck and his friends wishes a Merry Christmas,’ became a huge deal. For others it may be goose. It was largely an accident of history, specifically the history of television in Sweden. The short is typical of the random violence of many early Disney cartoons. We'll be showing a Donald Duck matinee on Friday, so come on over and get all Swedishy with us! All rights reserved. Sure. You do not tape or DVR Kalle Anka for later viewing. Sandblad received personal threats. most viewed programme in Sweden for the last three years, new or soon to be released animated Disney movies, Hell or High Water – My Morning With Dodder Action Group As They Continue Their Fight Against Littering and Illegal Dumping, Bosses Don’t Like WFH Because It’s a Type of Revolution, A Step-By-Step Guide to Cooking a Southern Style Deep Fried Turkey. It can be so many things but I'll give you some ideas. Donald Duck just set a new record for Sweden's most-watched TV show - The Local. The special is pretty much the same every year, except for the live introduction by a host (who plays the role of Walt Disney from the original Walt Disney Presents series) and the annual addition of one new snippet from the latest Disney-produced movie, which TV1’s parent network, SVT, is contractually obligated by Disney to air. Munro Leaf’s famous tale of a bull who would rather smell flowers than fight in a Spanish coliseum was touted by leftists during the Spanish Civil War and World War II as a parable of pacifism. Lines of dialogue from the cartoons have entered common Swedish parlance. “At 3 o’clock in the afternoon, you can’t to do anything else, because Sweden is closed,” Lena Kättström Höök, a curator at the Nordic Museum who manages the “Traditions” exhibit, told me. Anonymous. It was watched by an average of 4,519,000 people, according to overnight ratings by MMS which keeps statistics on Swedes' television habits. It was eventually censored from the American version of the cartoon but remains in Kalle Anka. In fact, millions of Swedish families make it a tradition to sitdown and watch the Donald Duck Christmas program on Swedishtelevision. Let me tell you about a very swedish code of conduct: it’s called Jante-lagen (Yantey-laagehn) and it means The Law of Jante. Three years ago, I wrote a piece for Slate explaining the peculiar Swedish tradition of coming together every Christmas Eve to watch Donald Duck.The ritual … Watching Kalle Anka for the first time, I was taken aback not only by the datedness of the clips (and the somewhat random dubbing) but also by how seriously my adoptive Swedish family took the show. To a Swede, there is nothing that says Christmas like Donald Duck. Lund University’s Hagström faced her own Kalle Anka backlash in 2004 when she gave an interview to the Swedish news agency TT, suggesting that the widespread popularity of DVDs and cable television had changed the meaning of Kalle Anka for younger Swedes. Arne Weise, who hosted the show live from 1972 to 2002, personified Christmas to two generations of Swedes. CHARLOTTE HAGSTROM: Every year on Christmas Eve in Sweden, we watch Donald Duck on TV for one hour. The headline in the popular tabloid Expressen read “Is Kalle Anka on His Way out of Christmas?” Critical comments soon flooded online messageboards. Alexander Lundquist Sweden’s staunch defense of Kalle against all attackers, perceived and real, suggests an affection that has long since transcended the circumstances that first made it popular. 716 comments. Back in the 1960s, animated moving cartoons were rare, and the show, directly translated to ‘Donald Duck and his friends wishes a Merry Christmas,’ became a huge deal. Relevance. Report Save. Every year on Christmas Eve Swedes gather around the TV to indulge in perhaps their greatest national pastime: watching a 60-year-old Disney cartoon featuring Donald Duck. I see my grandchildren, you know, they’re not as attached to it as their parents,” she told me. Lots of Swedes (adults as well as children) watch Donald Duck on Christmas Day. 1 decade ago. Nobody blinked at the antiquated animation, the cheesiness of the stories, or even the good-old-fashioned ’30s-era Disney-style racism. Favourite answer. According to mobile provider Telenor, data… Just as there’s a clear beginning to the festivities (the first … Ever since the TV first became a regular household appliance, Sweden has had the tradition of broadcasting an hour-long old Christmas special of Disney classics. 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