CHAPTER VIII
DALECARLIA[5]
[5] Dalarna in Swedish.
I know few parts of Europe where traditions, costumes and customs have remained so little affected by the levelling process of civilisation as Dalecarlia, and here amid surroundings that reproduce all the characteristic features of Swedish scenery, with the exception of the mountainous regions of Lapland, is found a race of virile and independent men and women characterised by ready wit, good humour, and great bodily strength who have contributed more to the shaping of their country’s history than all the rest of Sweden put together.
To know Dalecarlia is, therefore, almost as good as knowing Sweden, for not only the scenery but also the characteristics of the population inhabiting it are typically Swedish.
In the centre of the province are rich smiling pasture and farm-land alternating with wooded hills and lakes, great pine forests and birch groves; in the south, mining and industrial districts which are among the most productive regions of the country. Dalecarlia is intersected by the Dalälven river, which flows down from the mountains of the border in two branches, Öster Dalälven, its eastern branch, flowing through Lake Siljan. Here, and scattered around its pleasantly wooded shores, are ten little towns which are each the centre of a distinctive community that possess not only remarkable historical memories, but individual costumes which their inhabitants have continued to wear unchanged from the Middle Ages.
Like all independent and liberty-loving races, the Dalecarlians have never been able to tolerate oppression or the yoke of the foreigner, and it was this same proud national spirit which has always induced them to take the lead, whenever the liberties of their country were at stake.
Manhood, pluck, and hardy men Still are found in old Dale land.
So runs an old Dale song, and again and again the peasants of the province have risen to arms to defend the liberties of the Fatherland.
[Illustration: LAKE SILJAN]
In 1435, under the leadership of Engelbrecht, a prominent miner, they succeeded in temporarily freeing Sweden from the tyranny and misrule of the successors of Queen Margaret of Denmark, their subsequent defeat at the hands of their oppressors being more than avenged by the remarkable success which crowned their efforts at liberating the country in the years immediately following the accession of King Christian II. of Denmark to the Swedish crown in 1520. Self-willed and obstinate, this able but short-sighted monarch signalised his advent to power by treacherously murdering eighty-two leading Swedish noblemen who had assembled in the capital for the coronation festivities. This cold-blooded murder so fired the imagination of Gustavus Vasa, the son of one of its victims, that breaking away from the prison in which he had been confined as hostage for Christian’s safe keeping, he dashed across to Sweden by way of Lübeck, and started on a long 900-mile tramp northward, with the vague idea of rousing his countrymen to arms. Hotly pursued by the King of Denmark’s followers, he finally reached the district of Lake Siljan in Dalecarlia, and on the last Sunday in Advent proceeded to address the good people of Rättvik after the morning service, as they were gathering on the shores of the lake. He described the incidents which had occurred, and laying stress on the many unjust and tyrannical measures which had been perpetrated by the Danish monarch, urged them to rally to his standard and free the country from its oppressors. The Dalecarlians sympathised with the young leader, but refused to do anything definite until they had received confirmation of the massacre. Then as Gustavus saw his pursuers closing once again upon him, he continued his flight towards the Norwegian frontier and had proceeded some ninety miles when he was overtaken by the swift ski runners whom the Dalecarlians had sent after him as soon as they had received tardy confirmation of the news. He then turned back, and after a succession of marvellous escapes that recall the exploits of Alfred the Great, succeeded in warding off his pursuers and in organising armed resistance to the Danish king.
Backed by a numerous army, whose principal mainstay consisted of the peasantry in the district of Rättvik and the mining population of the south of Dalecarlia, he declared Sweden independent of Danish sovereignty, and by a succession of rapid triumphs on the field of battle converted this declaration into a reality, his coronation in 1528 as King of Sweden inaugurating a new epoch in the history of the country and consecrating the rule of a dynasty which was destined to produce some of the ablest rulers in Scandinavia.
The district surrounding Lake Siljan is consequently intimately associated with the name of Gustavus Vasa, for not only Rättvik, where a stately monument has been erected to commemorate his memory, but many other towns and villages, can point to homely farms or other buildings in which the national hero is supposed to have lain concealed from his pursuers. I have seen at Ornäs a well-preserved farmstead with overhanging balconies in which the fugitive is said to have taken refuge, disguised as a simple labourer, and also the kitchen in which he was discovered sitting near the hearth by the pursuing Danes. The story relates that the farmer’s wife, seeing that the suspicions of the Danes had been awakened, suddenly turned towards Gustavus and, after rebuking him violently for his laziness, struck him a hard blow on the back with a shovel, this action having the effect of convincing the soldiers that the Swedish labourer was not the man whom they were looking for. Every year a ski Marathon race is held from Mora to commemorate the athletic feat of the ski runner whom the Dalecarlians sent post-haste after Gustavus to recall him to Rättvik, and the course that is followed by the runners of to-day is almost identically the same as that which was followed by the sixteenth-century ski runner. The race is the most important sporting event of the year.
Apart from these many historical memories and legends, the district of Lake Siljan possesses an appeal which is quite its own and which lies not only in the loveliness of its scenery and light salubrious air, but in the faithful observance of ancient tradition and the old-world style of dress that have ever characterised its people.
Nowhere in Dalecarlia are these characteristics so strongly marked as in Siljansdalen, the district surrounding the lake.
Of the ten little towns that lie on its verdant shores the three largest and perhaps the most beautiful are Rättvik, Leksand, and Mora.
Rättvik, which lies on an inlet of the most eastern portion of the lake, has an exceptionally beautiful situation on the slopes of wooded ridges that command a splendid view, its sixteenth-century white church being finely placed on a point projecting in the lake and being surrounded by so-called ‘Kyrkstallar,’ _i.e._ a number of makeshift buildings built of timbers placed roughly one above the other which possess no windows but are usually provided with a stove for making coffee. These structures, it is interesting to note, are largely used as rest-houses on Sundays by those church-goers who have had to come many miles by foot, cycle, or horse, in order to attend divine service. No visitor to Rättvik should fail to attend one of these celebrations, for the opportunities that it will provide him of seeing the farmers and townsfolk of the locality coming to worship apparelled in their picturesquely becoming national dress. On week-days you may occasionally come across workers in the fields or even housewives wearing the costume of their forefathers, but on Sundays and feast days you will see thousands of men and women each in the costume peculiar to his or her own district. These dresses are made by the women themselves or are often heirlooms to which each successive generation has afforded its quota and, if substantially the same, differ slightly in details, certain fixed variations depending on whether the wearer is married or single, or on the particular feast day that is being commemorated. In imagery of colour and beauty of design, the level of excellence reached by these peasant artists often approaches that attained by the Slovaks and Roumanians, though they evince less concern for effect and bold colouring than either of these two races.
The characteristic dress of the Rättvik peasant women consists of a lofty, pointed conical bonnet, a corseted skirt which is usually flowered, and a horizontally striped and rainbow-coloured strip that, sewn in the front of the skirt, recalls the gaily striped aprons that are found in Ragusa, while a flowered kerchief held in front by a brooch is fastened around the neck. Extremely fair of complexion and with hair that is usually straw-coloured, the good-looking women of Rättvik are among the finest specimens of the Swedish race which I have seen, and are so strong and energetic that even the hardest manual labour presents no difficulty to them.
The costume of the Rättvik men consists of a very long blue coat that is very similar to an old-fashioned frock-coat, only that it is cut high in the neck and single-breasted; a waistcoat, with two rows of brass buttons, of the same colour; yellow leather knee-breeches that reach half-way up the waistcoat, and a blue soft felt hat recalling a harlequin. Only the older men continue, however, to wear the attractive apparel of their ancestors, the younger men preferring the more drab fashions of to-day.
Apart from its lovely scenery, its many historical memories, and its quaint peasant costumes, Rättvik possesses many attractions. Its beautiful pine forests, high bracing situation and invigorating air, combine to make it an ideal spot for those who need rest and recuperation, while its position half-way down the lake renders it the best starting-point for the various excursions which can be made in any direction.
Lying at the very northernmost point of Siljan and easily accessible from Rättvik by rail or water, the village of Mora is not as famous as Rättvik for the beauty of its costumes, but has played as distinguished a part in the history of the country. It was the men of Mora who were the first to flock to the standard of Gustavus Vasa as soon as confirmation of the Swedish massacre had arrived, and it is from here that Sweden’s national ski race, the Vasaloppet, is run every year to commemorate the stirring athletic feat which undoubtedly started the War of Liberation. In Mora church-yard, moreover, can be seen the tomb of Anders Zorn, the great Swedish painter, sculptor, and pioneer of old Swedish peasant culture, even more than Ankarcrona, who not only enriched his native town, and especially its parish church, by presenting it with a statue of Gustavus Vasa that is representative of the best Swedish sculpture of to-day, but has founded a People’s High School which contains a collection of paintings by Prince Eugen, Liljefors, Tiren, and other famous Swedish masters that is in every respect a notable one.
[Illustration: MORA CHURCH]
Across the lake, and at its most southernmost point, lies Leksand, which with Rättvik and Floda shares the distinction of being a centre of old mediæval Swedish peasant folklore and costume. The excursion to it is particularly interesting on a Sunday morning, if one travels to it by the special church boat. On these occasions the steamer calls in at various localities on the way to Leksand to collect the more distant parishioners, all clothed in their most becoming costumes, and her deck soon presents a very picturesque and animated appearance. On arrival at Leksand the crowd makes its way to the fine birch-tree avenue leading to the quaint Russian-looking steepled church in which the service is to be held, and here the visitor should follow them and either join the worshippers inside the building, or await them as they come out after service. Of the two alternatives I found the second infinitely the more agreeable, as a Swedish Protestant service is an interminable affair, and sermons of thirty minutes’ duration appear to be lasting hours when one does not understand a word of what is being spoken. Nowhere, except perhaps in Slovakia and Roumania, have I seen such an array of picturesque and colourful costumes as those which are to be seen in Leksand on these occasions; and the scene that the people present in church as they troop down the nave preliminary to leaving it, or the kaleidoscope of colour which they make as they emerge into the avenue and stroll about or talk in groups, forms an unforgettable picture.
The bodices of the women are mostly fashioned of flowered and gaily-coloured velvet or are embroidered with many colours, while the apron-looking material which is sewn in the front of the plain cloth black or white skirt is often beautifully embroidered, but more usually attractively striped in either red, black, or white, there appearing to be endless variations of these colours and of the size and direction of the stripes; the caps or bonnets are sometimes conical with striped trimming, or very similar to a Breton _coiffe_, and held together by a black or white embroidered ribbon which is fastened with a bow at the back of the head; at other times plain white like a hospital nurse’s cap or the same colour but beautifully edged with lace. And if the women’s dress is picturesque that of the men wearing national costume is almost equally so; blue or plum-coloured is the old-fashioned single or double-breasted tunic or frock-coat that is cut high in the neck and sometimes reaches to the knee, while yellow buckskin knee breeches, blue or red stockings with the most attractive red tassels imaginable peering merrily from the turned-up tops, and a hat which when not large-brimmed and of felt is red or of an equally vivid colour strongly reminiscent of a romantic opera, complete the costume. As for the children, they are an exact replica of their elders.
Leksand Church, which was originally built in the Middle Ages and given its present form and bulb-shaped dome after a fire in 1709, is distinctly Russian in character, its tower having been rebuilt by Russian prisoners of war according to a model which Lars Siljeström, a military chaplain and the architect who had been entrusted with the rebuilding of the church, had brought back from Russia, after accompanying Charles XII. to that country.
Dalecarlian peasant art as revealed in the attractive costumes which the peasants continue to wear on all festive occasions reveals an innate artistic talent and a striving after beauty that mark it out among all peasant artistic productions, while it proves how easy it is to acquire technique if one only seeks to give faithful expression to one’s inspiration. And just as in the peasant art of other countries, this striving after beauty shows itself, not only in the painstaking and loving care that is lavished in the making and adorning of the peasant costumes, but in the equally unstinting thought and labour that is devoted to the embellishing of the home and to making life beautiful even for the poorest. I visited several small farms and cottages and found in even the humblest abode walls that had been adorned with peasant drawings and paintings. Produced with house-painter’s colours and obviously intended to decorate in conjunction with woven material, these quaint and artless paintings often convey an original and pleasing effect, while they depict Biblical personages and events whose general colour scheme, like those of the costumes, are dictated by district and devised with surprising skill.
If Dalecarlia is therefore an ideal land for tourists during every season of the year, with its many beautiful excursions and fascinating peasant costumes and cottages, the quaintly picturesque customs of its people and the opportunities that it offers in winter for every kind of winter sports, it is also the home of industries which have long been famous in the history of Sweden. There is an old legend which relates that about 700 years ago a goat-herd, while tending his goats on a mountain in Dalecarlia south of Lake Siljan, noticed that one of his flock had suddenly become dyed red, and that the only plausible explanation that he could find of the phenomenon lay in the fact that the surrounding rock contained quantities of copper which had become oxidised by the atmosphere and converted into red ochre by the action of a forest fire.
[Illustration: LEKSAND CHURCH] This incident, it is alleged, led to the discovery of important copper deposits in the neighbourhood of Falun and ultimately to the formation of the Stora Kopparberget, or Falun copper mine, one of the most remarkable mining undertakings in the world and probably the oldest. Whether this explanation is correct or not, the fact remains that the Falun Mine Company was certainly founded in 1284, as a purchase deed recording the sale of the mine to its present owners has been in existence from that year. And from that day it has never changed ownership in spite of the many vicissitudes through which it has passed. The first owners floated a company in which not only the greatest nobles of the age, but even the miners actually employed in the mine, were represented, and very soon the mine became the richest copper-producing concern in the world, the industry being at its height in the seventeenth century, when it constituted Gustavus Adolphus’s principal source of revenue during the Thirty Years’ War.
The Falun Mine has been very productive in the past, and up to the year 1900 there has been mined in it some 35 million tons of copper ore, while its extensive galleries are more than twelve miles in length and nearly a mile in depth in its deepest part. Its present copper output is insignificant, however, as it is no longer copper ore which is mined but principally pyrites, this ore constituting raw material for the manufacture of sulphuric acid and the other chemical products of the company or being utilised in its extensive sulphite pulp industry. It is only on the strength of its glorious historical traditions, therefore, that one should visit the mine, or for the insight that a visit paid to it will afford of the pump-houses, hoisting machinery, and other obsolete contrivances that satisfied our ancestors’ requirements, though an hour spent in the interesting museum of the company could be employed far more profitably.
The Stora Kopparberg’s principal activities being only indirectly concerned with the Falun mine, we must look elsewhere for an explanation of the prominent position which it continues to hold among Swedish industrial concerns of this century. Already before the copper ore was running short owing to excessive mining, it had started those fields of activity which now constitute its principal strength, such as iron and steel, forestry and wood, all these industries being located in the basin of the river Dalälven.
In 1735 the company built its first ironworks, and by 1870 it possessed no less than twenty furnaces and ironworks in different parts of the province. The company then established the Domnarvet Iron and Steel Works on the Dalälven river south of Falun, and closed down the smaller works, with the exception of the Korsa works, which still continued to manufacture hammered Lancashire iron. In addition to these works the Stora Kopparberg Company owns the Dannemora and over half the Grängesberg iron-ore mines in Central Sweden, from which raw material is obtained for the iron industry, and enormous forest tracts which provide its large sulphate and sulphite pulp mills at Skutskär and paper mill at Kvarnsveden with the necessary timber.
Falun itself is a clean and tidy little town which has gradually grown up around the mine, in which many attractive-looking workmen’s cottages, painted with the red ochre produced from the mine, can be seen. It boasts two interesting churches, those of Christine and Kopparberg, this last dating from the early Middle Ages, and a Town Hall dating from the seventeenth century, but possesses little else of interest apart from the collection that is housed in the Head Office buildings of the Stora Kopparberg Company in the eastern corner of the Market Square, and the museum of the same company, “Stora Gruvstugan”, one of the finest industrial museums of its kind to be found in Sweden.
The first contains many notable portraits of Swedish monarchs or of distinguished Swedes who at one time or another have been connected with the general management of the company; the second, not only a number of tools that were used at various times in mining operations and a very interesting selection of the copper coins formerly used in Sweden (all manufactured from the copper of the Falun mine), and among them the huge 10-daler silver coin, the largest in the world and weighing over 50 lb., but also many valuable pictures, prints, plans, and models illustrating the history of the Stora Kopparberg Company from its birth and the subsequent development of the Swedish iron, timber, paper, pulp, and water-power industries. The workmen of this immense undertaking, which is splendidly organised, possess their own club, libraries, wash-houses, technical and evening schools and sport grounds, while their wives are trained in house-keeping and children management, and the young receive the best education available. I have never seen any institution run more efficiently than the Falun Copper Company.
[Illustration: SUNDSVALL, A GREAT BALTIC TIMBER PORT]
The surrounding country is fertile and in places almost pretty, except in the district immediately surrounding the mine-fields. Here are numerous slag-fields, in which the copper ore used to be worked by repeated processes of roasting and smelting, the sulphurous fumes that were thus generated soon killing off all vegetation and giving the neighbouring houses a very scorched appearance.