Consul General Series - 驻香港瑞典总领事Mrs. Helena Storm

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

夏妙然博士：请问瑞典驻港总领事Mrs. Helena想对我们的听众说些什么呢？

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.

瑞典驻港总领事：大家好，我是瑞典驻港总领事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：总领事可以为我们介绍瑞典一些特定特文化或节日吗？

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.

瑞典驻港总领事：当然可以。实际上，我们有几种特定的瑞典文化和传统想带到香港，有些更已经带到香港。我们冬季的传统节日是瑞典圣诞节，其中包含许多不同特色的活动，绝对可以向香港人展示出瑞典圣诞节和瑞典的冬天活动。我们已经决定在尖沙咀举行瑞典的庆祝活动。

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

夏妙然博士：瑞典的冬季活动在世界各地闻名吗？

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.

瑞典驻港总领事：的确如此。所以在12月13日至15日期间，我们会在尖沙咀举办圣诞庆祝活动，而且我很高兴地告诉大家，来自瑞典的圣诞老人将来这里拜访香港的孩子，而这位圣诞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：这位是瑞典中同一个圣诞老人还是另一个？

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.

瑞典驻港总领事：当然，这是真的瑞典圣诞老人，是独一无二的。更认真地说，第一个Santaland于1984年在瑞典成立。一年后，在芬兰也有类似的Santaland成立，但最初的是在瑞典成立，所以我们将他从Dalecarlians的地区带到这里。他将在12月13日至15日期间，带着驯鹿来到尖沙咀与孩子见面，至少他会带来一只麋鹿，孩子们可以向圣诞老人打招呼，并与他拍照。

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，这是年底最重要的节日，那么您要提及年中的节日或其他特别的节日吗？

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.

瑞典驻港总领事：有一个节日是与瑞典的冬季和圣诞节有关，名为Lucia，这是庆祝光的节日，因为瑞典的冬季非常黑，在瑞典许多地方，太阳永远不会升起，因此在我们在Lucia会有24小时的黑暗来庆祝光明的一刻，而这个节日包括游行、音乐和合唱团唱歌。在香港，我们将在12月17日在圣约翰大教堂举办这个庆祝活动。

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：那真是一个令人惊叹的节日，还有其他有关瑞典节日的补充吗？

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.

瑞典驻港总领事：是的，我认为就我们在香港举办的所有文化活动而言，都包含着我们认为很重要的价值观，其中一个是开放和透明，以往举办的活动都欢迎每一个人，开放给所有人，而且都是免费，我们希望尽可能吸引更多香港人，这就是我们举办的国庆节总是开放给香港所有人的原因，我们不会只是邀请人们到空间有限的舞厅里，更多的是会在公共场所里举办活动。此外，我们会在活动中宣扬其他价值观和原则，例如创新和可持续性。在创新方面，瑞典是名列世界前茅，我们一直以创新的方式来推广瑞典，之后在尖沙咀也会展示创新的活动。此外，仲夏是另一个非常传统及最重要的瑞典节日，当我们庆祝这个节日时，会与国庆日的活动有联系，而且仲夏更是一年中最长的一天，来庆祝光和太阳从不下山的时候，是24小时的日照。

Dr. Serina Ha: When will it be usually?

夏妙然博士：仲夏通常在什么时候？

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.

瑞典驻港总领事：仲夏通常是在六月底。我们庆祝的日子取决于冬至时太阳在最高点的时候，总是会在星期五及6月底的21日和23日左右，具体是取决于年份。正如我所说，我们在香港也会举办对公众开放的庆祝活动，在活动中，我们会展示瑞典的传统夏季音乐、花卉和花冠制作方面历史悠久的传统。

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

夏妙然博士：您最喜欢的中国或香港文化是什么？

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.

瑞典驻港总领事：我在香港待了生活了四年，我非常高兴可以在周六和周日，与家人和朋友，享用具有香港特色的点心及饮茶，这会令我想起在瑞典的聚会，但我们聚会的食物不是点心，而是围绕着瑞典的Fika，与爱人、家人及朋友见面及聊天，所以我非常喜欢广东文化，它将瑞典和香港联系在一起。

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

夏妙然博士：瑞典的国花是什么？还是任何重要的？

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.

瑞典驻港总领事：制作花冠是我们庆祝仲夏的一项非常传统的活动，俗话说，如果您是未婚的年轻女性，收集七种不同的花朵，然后将它们放在枕头下过夜，您就会在梦到您的未来丈夫。

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

夏妙然博士：您可以教我们一些瑞典潮语吗？

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.

瑞典驻港总领事：好的，瑞典有很多潮语。其中一个是不用担心，我们会说“there is no cow on the eyes”，这意味着没有理由担心。我们也有其他的单词，这是典型的瑞典语“lagom”，它的意思不是太多，不是太少，不是太热，不是太冷，不是太高，不是太短，在许多方面都恰好，我们也会用这个单词来形容瑞典，而“Lagom är bäst”是表示事物是平衡的。