Allemansrätten: Sweden’s Right of Public Access

In Sweden, all are encouraged to maximize usage of the outdoors under a common law privilege called the “right of public access,” or as the Swedes call it, “Allemansrätten.” Put it this way: You won’t find a “No Trespassing” sign anywhere around there.

Even a tourist can wander from the main trail onto someone else’s property to pick blueberries, or while driving the country roads pull over wherever seems fit to pitch a tent for the night, so long as the few simple guidelines are followed. For example, you can only use branches lying on the ground for a fire and cannot break a live limb, and you should maintain a distance of 70 meters from any house in view–it’s really just common sense stuff.

500,000 Tons of Berries to Pick

This privilege is definitely convenient for the northern Swedes: According to Biotech Sweden, the forests produce an average of 500,000 tons of wild berries annually, of which only 2-4% are picked! The most common are blueberries, but a casual walk through a city park can also provide a handful of wild strawberries, raspberries, or black and red currants to munch on along the way. The lingonberries are also as plentiful as they are popular among the Swedes and are made into a jam served with traditional dishes such as Swedish meatballs and Swedish pancakes.

The Rare Cloudberry

There are also a few rare species that can only be found with a serious gatherer’s assistance. The cloudberry, a yellowish, tart fruit similar to the size and shape of a raspberry, is a delicacy in high demand internationally and grows deep in the northern forests of Sweden in marshes and bogs: Hence the name, as when you enter the cloudberry zone it feels like you’re walking on top of the clouds.

The Swedes traditionally use the cloudberry to create jam as a warm topping for ice cream, or to prepare a special after-dinner aperitif. But as the chance for you to bounce on the clouds and pick them yourself is quite slim, you can find them on the dessert menus in restaurants or buy your own jar at a local market. They may be pricey but your palate will be grateful.

So maybe the closest you’ll ever get to the Terra Cotta Warriors is in the National Geographic Museum, but here’s the good news: It’s possible to be an “off the books” archaeologist in your own neighborhood, even with only 30 extra seconds to spare.

Beginners Relic Hunting: Where and How

Whether you’re on your way to the bus station in the morning, at the park for an afternoon jog, or in the garden on a Sunday afternoon, start looking for ground surfaces where dirt is still exposed. Is there a variety of strange debris scattered in the dirt, such as shells, rocks, and broken glass? If so, you are probably looking at “turned over” earth, or a deep layer that has been surfaced from a major construction project.

These areas are most noticeable after a hard rain, as the water rinses the debris and adds a shine that may catch your eye. Also, try poking around large trees: chances are they were around 200 years ago, and just as they do today, people then liked to break and picnic under the shady foliage.

Common Artifacts to Find

Remnants of glassware from Colonial America are abundant in the “turned over” dirt: Look for shards of blue and white China, fragments of old glass bottles, and glass bottle stoppers. If you find something and have extra time, try digging a little as there may be more fragments in the same proximity.

Clay tobacco pipes from the settlers are also common to find: The fragments of pipe stems are easily mistaken for cigarette butts from afar. Colonists purchased the pipes in bulk and discarded them after one or two uses. If you’re lucky, you may find a pipe bowl or the upper portion of the pipe stem bearing the maker’s name.

Artifacts such as Civil War and Revolutionary War uniform buttons, belt buckles, and old coins are possible to find with a little extra effort. Due to years of corrosion and rust, they are harder to identify in the debris, but when found and cleaned they are priceless.

Developing the Hobby and Resources

Chances are you’ll want to expand the search after finding a specific treasure that sparked your interest. It’s just not enough to have that fragment of a beautiful blue cobalt bottle; you’d do anything to find one in its complete form. Or maybe you’ll buy a metal detector to become a hardcore Civil War uniform button collector.

There’s a plethora of resources available to develop your hobby, but a great starting point is finding others in your field of interest. Try stopping by a current construction site towards the end of the workday. Seasoned relic hunters of all types can be found scanning the area during off work hours, and they are a wealth of information.

Continue to stroll along and you’ll run into another dragon scaling vertically along the facade of a building. Ten seconds later you’ll be looking into the eyes of a winged dragon suspended high in the air. It’s the Sundsvall Dragon Parade

Fire of 1888 Turns the Wooden City to Stone

1888 marked the third and most devastating fire for the one-time city of Sundsvall, leaving 9,000 of 11,000 without a home in less than 9 hours. But learning from previous disastrous fires, the people were prepared by properly insuring their homes, and more importantly, they had created a detailed plan for the rebuilding of the city.

Sundsvall would no longer be the flammable wooden city: under the plan’s building ordinances, the new town would be constructed entirely from stone. But as a tragic past cannot be forgotten, superstition still plagued the Sundsvallers, and in a final gesture to protect their homes from the curse of fire, they placed dragon figurines on their rooftops.

Dragons in the City

The dragon has since become the symbol of Sundsvall, representing their devastating past and triumphant move forward from the ashes. From high school mascots to store names, their presence can be found everywhere in the city.

But the most noticeable dragons are those of the Annual Dragon Parade: the dragon in the bathtub, the dragon pulling a camping trailer, the dragon with a copy of Pippi Longstocking snug between its jaws, or the female Terminator dragon wearing lipstick. The list goes on.

2009 Summer Art Exhibition

May 9th of this year marked the opening ceremony for Sundsvall’s 9th annual festival. Local business owners placed their dragons in the streets for the summer art exhibition, each designed and hand painted by local artists. Until July 31st, individuals have the opportunity to go on a “Dragon Walk” throughout the city and place a vote for their favorite critter.

But besides the intricate colors and unique expression found in each of the dragons, there was something else much more endearing about the festival, and more so about the city of Sundsvall.

Anna Broman, tour guide for Sundvall’s Upplev Mer Tour Group says, “The idea of the dragons is to show creativity and get people in town to be proud of it.”

This statement is nothing short of reality: the many onlookers strolling through the streets on their “Dragon Walk” were locals of the city.

Such a unique and beautiful city like this deserves to draw more visitors. The Dragon Parade was only one golden coin in an extremely heavy treasure chest.