Consul General Series - 駐香港瑞典總領事Mrs. Helena Storm

Dr. Serina Ha: May Mrs. Helena, Consul General to say something to our listeners?

夏妙然博士：請問瑞典駐港總領事Mrs. Helena想對我們的聽眾說些什麼呢？

Swedish Consul General in Hong Kong, Mrs. Helena Storm: Hello everyone, my name is Helena Storm. I am the Swedish Consul General here in Hong Kong. I’ve been Hong Kong since 2015, so this is my fifth year in Hong Kong.

瑞典駐港總領事：大家好，我是瑞典駐港總領事Helena Storm。自2015年起，我一直都在香港生活，今年是我在香港的第五年。

Dr. Serina Ha: Can Consul General please introduce some specific culture or festival in Sweden for us?

夏妙然博士：總領事可以為我們介紹瑞典一些特定特文化或節日嗎？

Swedish Consul General in Hong Kong, Mrs. Helena Storm: Yes, I would love to. We actually have several specific Swedish culture and tradition we would like to bring to Hong Kong, and we had brought to Hong Kong. We have the winter tradition that Swedish Christmas tradition which contains many different features to show Hong Kong people what Swedish Christmas and what Swedish winter are all about. We have decided to organize Swedish celebration here in Hong Kong on Tsim Sha Tsui.

瑞典駐港總領事：當然可以。實際上，我們有幾種特定的瑞典文化和傳統想帶到香港，有些更已經帶到香港。我們冬季的傳統節日是瑞典聖誕節，其中包含許多不同特色的活動，絕對可以向香港人展示出瑞典聖誕節和瑞典的冬天活動。我們已經決定在尖沙咀舉行瑞典的慶祝活動。

Dr. Serina Ha: Is Swedish winter famous all over the world?

夏妙然博士：瑞典的冬季活動在世界各地聞名嗎？

Swedish Consul General in Hong Kong, Mrs. Helena Storm: Yes, that’s true so we have decided to organize a Christmas at Tsim Sha Tsui between 13th and 15th of December and I am very excited to tell everyone that the real Santa Claus from Sweden would come and visit the children of Hong Kong in

Tsim Sha Tsui because the real Santa Claus is actually living with Sweden.

瑞典駐港總領事：的確如此。所以在12月13日至15日期間，我們會在尖沙咀舉辦聖誕慶祝活動，而且我很高興地告訴大家，來自瑞典的聖誕老人將來這裡拜訪香港的孩子，而這位聖誕老人真的是住在瑞典。

Dr. Serina Ha: Is it the same one or there is another Santa Claus?

夏妙然博士：這位是瑞典中同一個聖誕老人還是另一個？

Swedish Consul General in Hong Kong, Mrs. Helena Storm: Of course, this is the real Santa Claus, the single and the one and only. On the more serious tone, the first Santaland was created in Sweden in 1984. One year after that, there was a similar Santaland created in Finland, but the original and first one was in Sweden in 1984, so we will bring him here from the region of Dalecarlians. He will come here with his reindeers to meet the children in Tsim Sha Tsui. At least he will bring an elk hopefully and he will meet the children in Hong Kong in Tsim Sha Tsui between 13th and 15th of December, so they can greet him make their Christmas wishes to him and also take a photo with him.

瑞典駐港總領事：當然，這是真的瑞典聖誕老人，是獨一無二的。更認真地說，第一個Santaland於1984年在瑞典成立。一年後，在芬蘭也有類似的Santaland成立，但最初的是在瑞典成立，所以我們將他從Dalecarlians的地區帶到這裡。他將在12月13日至15日期間，帶著馴鹿來到尖沙咀與孩子見面，至少他會帶來一隻麋鹿，孩子們可以向聖誕老人打招呼，並與他拍照。

Dr. Serina Ha: Wow great. This is the most important festival at the end of the year, so how about like other festival in the middle of the year or any other special festival you want to mention?

夏妙然博士：太好了，這是年底最重要的節日，那麼您要提及年中的節日或其他特別的節日嗎？

Swedish Consul General in Hong Kong, Mrs. Helena Storm: Well, a festival is also relating to Swedish winter and Christmas which is called Lucia that celebrates light, because winter in Sweden is very dark. In many parts of Sweden, the sun never rises, so you have 24 hours of darkness to celebrate light during this dark period that we do in Lucia celebration. And that’s kind of procession, and music, and choir (singing), and we will do this in St. John’s Cathedral here in Hong Kong on 17th of December.

瑞典駐港總領事：有一個節日是與瑞典的冬季和聖誕節有關，名為Lucia，這是慶祝光的節日，因為瑞典的冬季非常黑，在瑞典許多地方，太陽永遠不會升起，因此在我們在Lucia會有24小時的黑暗來慶祝光明的一刻，而這個節日包括遊行、音樂和合唱團唱歌。在香港，我們將在12月17日在聖約翰大教堂舉辦這個慶祝活動。

Dr. Serina Ha: That’s another quit amazing festival. Are there any supplement details about Sweden you want to mention to us?

夏妙然博士：那真是一個令人驚嘆的節日，還有其他有關瑞典節日的補充嗎？

Swedish Consul General in Hong Kong, Mrs. Helena Storm: Yes, I think in terms of all cultural activities we do here in Hong Kong. There are certain values that are important to us, one is openness and transparency, everyone is welcome, all our activities are open to everyone and it’s free of charge and we want to include as many people as many HongKongers as possible that’s why for example we always do National Day celebration open to everyone in Hong Kong. Not only certainly invite people in a ball room, but we do ours in a public space. And we also promote other values and principles such as innovation and sustainability. In term of innovation, Sweden ranks among the highest in the world, so we always promote innovative ways of showing our countries which we also display during the Swedish winter in Tsim Sha Tsui. We also do the connection in National Day celebration when we celebrate mid-summer which is another very traditional Swedish cultural festival, maybe the most important, is the longest day of the year, so we celebrate light and sun and that’s the time of year in Sweden when the sun never set, it’s 24-hour sunlight a day.

瑞典駐港總領事：是的，我認為就我們在香港舉辦的所有文化活動而言，都包含著我們認為很重要的價值觀，其中一個是開放和透明，以往舉辦的活動都歡迎每一個人，開放給所有人，而且都是免費，我們希望盡可能吸引更多香港人，這就是我們舉辦的國慶節總是開放給香港所有人的原因，我們不會只是邀請人們到空間有限的舞廳裡，更多的是會在公共場所裡舉辦活動。此外，我們會在活動中宣揚其他價值觀和原則，例如創新和可持續性。在創新方面，瑞典是名列世界前茅，我們一直以創新的方式來推廣瑞典，之後在尖沙咀也會展示創新的活動。此外，仲夏是另一個非常傳統及最重要的瑞典節日，當我們慶祝這個節日時，會與國慶日的活動有聯繫，而且仲夏更是一年中最長的一天，來慶祝光和太陽從不下山的時候，是24小時的日照。

Dr. Serina Ha: When will it be usually?

夏妙然博士：仲夏通常在什麼時候？

Swedish Consul General in Hong Kong, Mrs. Helena Storm: It’s usually in the end of June. The day we celebrated depends on the solstice when the sun is in the highest point, but it’s always on Friday and in the end of June around 21st and 23rd, depending on the year. We do that also here in Hong Kong as I said, open to public where we showcase Swedish traditional summer music and where we have a very strong tradition of flower and flower crown making.

瑞典駐港總領事：仲夏通常是在六月底。我們慶祝的日子取決於冬至時太陽在最高點的時候，總是會在星期五及6月底的21日和23日左右，具體是取決於年份。正如我所說，我們在香港也會舉辦對公眾開放的慶祝活動，在活動中，我們會展示瑞典的傳統夏季音樂、花卉和花冠製作方面歷史悠久的傳統。

Dr. Serina Ha: What is your best favorite culture of Chinese or Hong Kong?

夏妙然博士：您最喜歡的中國或香港文化是什麼？

Swedish Consul General in Hong Kong, Mrs. Helena Storm: When I think for me being in Hong Kong four years, I had the luck and the privilege to be invited several times to classical, HongKongnese, family and friends on Saturday and Sunday lunch, dim sum and yum cha lunch, this reminds me of same kind of events that we do in Sweden where we meet and gather around not maybe dim sum but around Swedish Fika as we call it, with love one, with family, with friends and meet and just have a quit causal chat and so I really like these features of Cantonese culture which I think really connect us, connect Sweden and Hong Kong.

瑞典駐港總領事：我在香港待了生活了四年，我非常高興可以在周六和周日，與家人和朋友，享用具有香港特色的點心及飲茶，這會令我想起在瑞典的聚會，但我們聚會的食物不是點心，而是圍繞著瑞典的Fika，與愛人、家人及朋友見面及聊天，所以我非常喜歡廣東文化，它將瑞典和香港聯繫在一起。

Dr. Serina Ha: What is the national flower in Sweden? Or any significant one?

夏妙然博士：瑞典的國花是什麼？還是任何重要的？

Swedish Consul General in Hong Kong, Mrs. Helena Storm: The flower crown making is a very traditional activity we do to celebrate mid-summer and the saying goes that if you are unmarry young woman, if you collect seven different flowers and then you put them under your pillow for one night, then you will dream about your future husband.

瑞典駐港總領事：製作花冠是我們慶祝仲夏的一項非常傳統的活動，俗話說，如果您是未婚的年輕女性，收集七種不同的花朵，然後將它們放在枕頭下過夜，您就會在夢到您的未來丈夫。

Dr. Serina Ha: Are there any trendy Swedish slangs that you can teach us?

夏妙然博士：您可以教我們一些瑞典潮語嗎？

Swedish Consul General in Hong Kong, Mrs. Helena Storm: Well, there are many slang words. One of them uses for people not to worry, we say there is no cow on the eyes. It means there is no reason to worry. We also have other words that typical Swedish word, lagom, it means not too much, not too little, not too hot, not too cold, not too tall, not too short, is just exactly how it should be, and in many ways, we choose to describe Sweden. "Lagom är bäst" means things are balance.

瑞典駐港總領事：好的，瑞典有很多潮語。其中一個是不用擔心，我們會說“there is no cow on the eyes”，這意味著沒有理由擔心。我們也有其他的單詞，這是典型的瑞典語“lagom”，它的意思不是太多，不是太少，不是太熱，不是太冷，不是太高，不是太短，在許多方面都恰好，我們也會用這個單詞來形容瑞典，而“Lagom är bäst”是表示事物是平衡的。