Take a tour and get to know the Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.

Visit five countries for the price of one this year as you encounter all things Scandinavian at one of the oldest Folklorama pavilions.

Selma Parsons, treasurer of the Scandinavian Pavilion, describes the Scandinavian Pavilion experience as a "mini-United Nations." Parsons has participated in Folklorama many times before, acting as a cultural coordinator for the pavilion in previous years.

Born in Canada, Parsons is Norwegian by her grandparents who immigrated to Manitoba during the late 1800s. "It was at a time when they were opening the land grants in Western Canada so they could come for free land.

"Things were getting crowded back in Norway and it was a way to get a new start."

That surge of homesteaders immigrating to Canada is primarily, in fact, how all the five Nordic countries came to Canada, varying only slightly in their reasons for coming and the timeframe in which they arrived, says Parsons.

She shared that celebrating a Norwegian Christmas was one way that her family was able to maintain their roots in Canada.

"People around could still speak the language," says Parsons, which she believes was a crucial way for her to see her culture alive and represented.

One of the original Folklorama pavilions, the Scandinavian Pavilion represents Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, which contain similarities but also preserve their own identities as individual countries.

Finland: the "most unusual" (but the happiest)

Finland is known for being a bit unique, Parsons explained, partly due to it's split heritage of Finnish and Swedish.

Swedish Fins and Finnish Fins live together in the country, with both Swedish and Finnish considered Finland's official languages.

Parsons says Finnish is the most unusual language. "It is unrelated, basically, to any other European language," she said, commenting that only one other country in the world has similarities to it.

"They are not actually part of Scandinavia; here they are considered part of Scandinavia, but there they are a Nordic country."

The further east you travel, the more reserved Fins become, according to Parsons. In direct contrast to their reserved personalities, however, the tango serves as their national dance, while their music tends to be "a bit towards the Russian side of things.

"It's this really lively tango," Parsons laughed. "It's a different tango but they love the tango."

Add to the list Nokia (who also made rubber boots), Angry Birds, and moomintrolls, and a very well-rounded country emerges.

Parsons says Finland has also been consistently ranked as the happiest country in the world by the World Happiness Report.

Sweden: home of IKEA

Home to IKEA, the plain and simple, brightly-coloured decor found in the furniture retail company is actually indicative of the style many Swedes appreciate in the country.

"[It] really reflects what they are ... their culture; lots of colour, very outdoors, clean lines."

ABBA has been a popular re-occurring theme that the Scandinavian Pavilion has celebrated over the past 50 years.

Swedish authors have been responsible for a number of notable murder mysteries, Parsons noted, as well as Pippi Longstocking (thanks to Astrid Lindgren).

And meatballs. Don't forget the meatballs.

Demark: the former happiest (and sweetest)

"We all suspected it was because of the chocolate," chuckled Parsons. "They are the number one consumers of chocolate."

In fact, in Denmark's individualized cultural room at the Scandinavian Pavilion, Parsons says the room has often been modelled as a candy shop.

Continuing along the Scandinavian furniture retail company line, Jysk can be attributed to the Danish.

The country is also famous for having The Little Mermaid, courtesy of Hans Christian Anderson, and all of his other infamous fairy tales and characters.

"What more could you want?"

 

Norway: the pants and the Fjords

Norway takes a slightly different turn in notoriety, relying more on its landscape than pop culture.

The Fjords are the long, narrow inlets with steep sides that were initially formed by glaciers on the land. "Most of the country is actually mountainous and highly known now for North Sea oil."

Parsons says that the country stands quite well-to-do financially with seafood a large part of their diet due to their coastline position.

"I suppose the most recent cultural thing with [Norway] would be the Norwegian men's curling team and their pants," said Parsons, remembering when the teams' colourful, patterned pants took centre ice during the 2010 Winter Olympics.

"You have to see it to believe it," Parsons laughed. "It's a thing. Nobody else is going to touch that one."

Speaking of the Winter Olympics, Norway is known for its exceptional skiing. According to Parsons, they are one of the top countries for total number of medals.

"There's the rumour that Norwegian babies are born with skis on their feet."

At Eastertime, Norwegian tradition has locals flocking to their cabins to ski with a twist. On these trips, people bring along two things: a murder mystery and a chocolate bar.

"You sit there and you eat your chocolate bar and you read your murder mysteries, and every year, they actually have an Easter murder mystery that is published by the local papers," explained Parsons. "What a way to spend Easter!"

Eric the Red is also attributable to Norway for his voyage to Iceland, and for his son, Leif Ericson, who is believed to be the first to have lead an expedition to North America and landing on Newfoundland.

Borrowing from the Danish, Norway also has an incredible assortment of chocolate. "I actually like theirs better," shared Parsons, "don't tell the Danes."

Iceland: the independent one

Finally, Iceland is a Nordic country that is completely independent of the core Scandinavian countries.

Their parliament, Parsons says, has been continuously operating since the year 1000. Small in population, the country has just over 300,000 inhabitants and is very democratic.

And, contrary to popular belief, it is not covered in ice.

"Rumour has it that that was kind of a travel thing," shared Parsons. "There's the joke. 'Iceland's the one with green and Greenland's the one with ice."

Parsons is willing to give Eric the Red's explorers the benefit of the doubt, however, saying that the country was largely formed and occupied by glaciers at the time. "If you landed in the wrong spot, you might think it was."

Its maritime climate has been compared to that of Vancouver Island.

Björk, the Icelandic singer-songwriter, is one that Iceland lays claim to, along with their excellent chocolate and their free-range lambs (since 1876 as the plane advertisements will inform you, Parsons says).

Visit the Scandinavian Pavilion as part of your travels during Folklorama's 50th year at the Scandinavian Cultural Centre (764 Erin Street) from Sunday, August 4 to Saturday, August 10, 2019.