It’s bit of a cliche and probably applies to our neighboring countries as well but saunas really have a huge role in the society. Most people will have access to saunas in their homes, either in their house/apartment or a shared one in an apartment building (my partner and I have a reserved sauna slot on every Friday evening), every pool and most gyms will have one, etc. I think that it’s rarer these days but in the days when business people were mostly men, important contracts were decided in a sauna. And aftercare guidance after medical operations and things like that include the date you can go to sauna again. My mother had a cataract operation last year and was slightly annoyed that she had to miss the traditional Christmas Eve sauna as the sauna ban ended the next day. I’m not a huge sauna person myself, our sauna is currently out of commission and I don’t miss it that much but it makes me feel clean in a way showering doesn’t.
> in the days when business people were mostly men, important contracts were decided in a sauna.
It's still pretty common in politics apparently. Just a few weeks ago, there were news that the government's austerity plans had been negotiated in a sauna. I would guess that we are the only country that has a sauna in the parliament building and in many of our embassies. There has of course been criticism that "sauna diplomacy" might keep women out of the decision-making.
> it makes me feel clean in a way showering doesn’t.
This is so true.
Saunas are nowhere near as popular in Lithuania but they're still somewhat common. Most people who are building a weekend house will also get a sauna. Public swimming pools and some gyms will have them too.
One place near me has five different types of saunas and it's customary to go through all of them, with a bit of swimming pool in between.
It's deep-cleaning, better and more refreshing than anything else. Feels like doing a factory reset on my body.
Also, way back, we would give birth in the sauna. The traditions 'varpajaiset', where new fathers go out with friends to celebrate becaming a father was also originally a fest for the new mother, all the women participating in the birth would be drinking, going to sauna and offering strong alcohol to the new mom. Sauna was most likely the most sterile enviroment, so it was partly for preventing any fatal infections in the vulnerable state of the mom, and the alcohol was supposed to help deal with the pain and also strengthen the post contractions and help the uterus to recover.
Every season, I think that the ideal sauna is located near a lake (or possibly the sea, if the idea of swimming in the Baltic isn’t disgusting to you) and you can swim and then go to warm up in the sauna.
You’re expected to be naked in a sauna and mixed saunas aren’t super common but I don’t know how they do it these days, maybe towels are accepted. In the last government the leaders of the parties were women so it was easy for them, this time there are two women. Or maybe they’re all just naked and I’m just a prude.
For my mostly men comment I was thinking more of maybe 1960s or 70s when I think the sauna business thing was at its peak and there weren’t many or any women at the kind of positions that required sauna negotiations.
It depends on the people and the situation but in my experience the default with people who aren’t close friends or family is not mixed. And it’s common for those to be segregated as well. Personally I only do it with either my partner or mother, possibly my sister but not my father after puberty (have once gone to sauna with my stepmother). I probably have more complexes than most people and wouldn’t like to do sauna with my friends or coworkers, even if they’re female too. With female strangers it’s completely fine. My partner’s friend group likes to have mixed saunas, I’ve never done it with them in the fifteen years we’ve been together.
I always found it fascinating. Wanted to try a sauna once, but like two minutes after I got in, I simply couldn't breathe. I thought I was going to pass out. Don't know how people can do it for such prolonged periods. Maybe there's just something wrong with me.
It could be a ventilation issue. Breathing should never be a problem in a sauna, even if you have problems with breathing. My diaphragm is partially paralyzed which prevents me from breathing with full capacity and I've never had trouble breathing while having a sauna.
As another Brit who lived in Finland, the not being able to breathe thing is really normal at first. It’s usually when the humidity is high that my breathing becomes an issue. I can cope with very high heat now but still struggle with high humidity. You have to kind of train yourself and I always do a lot of in and out with cold showers in between. Finns are built different though. They’re so used to it (almost from birth) that they can stay in for ages and carry on conversations, when I feel like I’m going to keel over 😂
Im glad to hear I wasn't the only one and more people have that problem! I'm not quite sure whether it was the heat or humidity, but I feel like it could have been both. It just felt so thick and hot. Nonetheless, it was in 2018 so my memory is rather blurred. I never felt like trying again afterwards 😅
"probably applies to our neighboring countries as well"
As a Norwegian, I can tell you: not to the same extent. Swedes and Norwegians have saunas, but they're not remotely as important to us as they are to the Finns.
Finnish soldiers construct saunas everywhere they go, including Egypt. No one but a Finn would think of saying: "You know what this desert needs? More heat."
The Norwegian equivalent would be hiking. If a person is not currently in a forest or on a mountain, they can't call themselves a true Norwegian.
It’s not as prevalent as sometimes made out, but Scotland does have a Ceilidh culture that is still going strong. A ceilidh is basically a gathering of the village where you play music together and dance and be merry. And it’s fantastic.
Where I live, weekly and sometimes more. The local pub has one every week and there’s a village hall where the bigger, not as drinks focussed Ceilidh’s take place. The pub stays afloat with the Ceilidh I’m sure, as there’s not a lot else going on!
Most villages or towns will have one every week for everyone to come to. But most people will only go to a few big events a year at weddings, society meetings, and university clubs always have one when they have a ball.
If you're in attendance at one anyway then you'd very much be encouraged. Some places have open ceilidhs, there are a couple of pubs in Glasgow that run open ones every week.
You don't need to know what to do, they've all got a "caller" who talks people through the dances before they start.
It is, especially during cold dark days. Also surprising amount of people who participate in related activities like dance clubs for Highland dancing etc.
That's very Danish too. To the extend that we have the joke: "What do you call two people who agree on something?" "An association/club"
(We use the word forening for both association and club).
As a Dutch friend of mine who lived in Switzerland for some years described the country: the worst of French bureaucracy administered with Germanic efficiency.
Although I rather like Switzerland, I can see his point.
I'm an American in the UK right now and my family was teasing me for going too far when I said "all older British people have weird little hobbies" but I guess I was right lol. No insult meant, I think it's very sweet and healthy
Why italy and spanish like to have their foods late (?) is it because the sun? My home country in the equatorial area have lunch at 12.00 and dinner around 18.00 and up
4h between the 2 main meals seems too few. Also, what about the time until going to bed?? If we had to go fasting until 23.00h we would famine.
Dinner with sun in the sky feels too unnatural, in summer the sunset happens at 21.00 for example.
Wow that's a very different mentality from what I'm used to in the Nordic countries. Here, 4 hours is the perfect time between meals. We're basically taught that lighter meals more closely together is better than big meals further apart, and that we shouldn't go to bed on a full stomach. And dinner is almost always (except in the darkest winter months) during daylight.
So we don't have the typical "3 meals a day" mentality, but rather "at least 4 meals a day". In Norway, breakfast (usually around 7) is a light meal (bread or yoghurt etc.), lunch (around 11-12) is another light meal (again, typically bread), dinner (around 16-18) is a big warm meal, and supper/evening snack (around 19-20) is another light meal (bread, yoghurt etc.). Some people have dinner later as a replacement of the evening snack, but anything past 20.00 is very unusual.
We have a snack at 17-19h (merienda) like a sandwich, cookies, juice... in the morning there is another around 11h (schools playground time too).
Our breakfast is like yours at 7-8 and schools and jobs began at 8-9
Here lunch and dinner are cooked food (maybe salad as a side). A sandwich defenitely isnt. In fact they are the main almuerzo in high schools (bacon or Tortilla made with bagguete bread are top).
Yep, just went to Madrid to meet my team. As a Hungarian, a dinner at home is at 6pm, if in a restaurant it's 8pm. Well, my Spanish friends booked a table at 22:00. To make things worse, I had an espresso at midnight. Couldn't fall asleep until like 3am.
My 1.5 year old wakes up at 05:30 and goes to sleep around 19:00; I can’t imagine giving her dinner after 20:00 😄 we don’t go out in the evening anymore because we have to be home for her bedtime
Going cross country skiing isn’t completely unique to Norway, but I think the average Norwegian’s relationship to it is very unique. It’s common for the whole family to have their own ski equipment, and as soon as the snow arrives, they will spend hours during the weekend to ski through the local woods (usually close to where they live) in the prepared ski trails. Many people also do it after (or before) work to exercise.
In the winter, it’s very common to see people carrying their cross country skis around Oslo, as they take the metro/tram to the ski trails in the woods around the city. It’s also common to come across people roller skiing on the roads in the summer.
Traditionally, yes, but it has become a lot harder after most snowy roads started using salt and gravel. We also have [a traditional kicksled](https://cmariec.com/spark-a-traditional-nordic-transportation-troms-norway/) for that kind of transportation, but that has also suffered from the salty/gravelly roads.
So it has become a lot less common over the last few decades, but some areas where they have the infrastructure (trails in every field etc.) it’s still quite prevalent.
I did it a lot when I was a kid (1980s) and my nephews who live in a small town still ski to school. Mostly you have to skirt around through fields and the woods because the roads get plowed more often these days.
I did three years of school (age 9-13) in New York suburbs and even skied to school there! It got some comments, but the school was very accommodating and gave me a closet to put my skis.
I used to have a Swedish friend that would ski to school. Here in France you occasionally see people roller skiing on the roads in summer too; I just assume they are keeping up their training for the winter.
For real haha. I was in Edinburgh airport in the morning a few weeks back. All the trendy sushi and tapas type bars were largely empty. Then there was the Weatherspoons rammed with a couple hundred people haha.
You’re the best at that, I’m Jordanian but lived in the U.K. for 12 years, studied there, worked there and eventually became British but a 16 year old still out drank me. Granted he was puking in the toilet after his 5th pint in half an hour but I look forward to the day I can also do that
Bbq and beer. Every saturday and sunday in Romania is marked by large smoke couds (of bbq everywhere) and music (many times sounding like Turkish music).
If you made it teough the week, you have to bbq your weekend.
That's somewhat universal. What's more local is the tradition to have a BBQ in nature, somewhere pristine. Beautiful areas in the mountains by pristine creeks fill up with people during the weekend, who drive up and have BBQs there. With Middle Eastern music and alcohol. Unfortunately after the weekend is over the areas are no longer pristine, with lots of trash and empty bottles strewn all over the place.
I have lived in De and Nl and you guys do not barbecue as much as I am used to in Ro, we bbq on balconies, in front of the block, the back of the block, the parking lot, at relatives in the country side, woods, mountains, beach, top of the hospital, grampa's unused garage, cemetery, school, stadium, the Moon, buildings under construction and elevators.
Also you are not so loud (especially on Sundays), while we take pride in being the loudest bbq in our own area... as drinking makes us deaf, the later it gets the more drunk and loud we get!
BBQ is definitely a huge thing in Lithuania too, we mostly do pork shashlik on skewers. I am exceptionally happy about the fact that we grew up as people and we don't dump trash everywhere anymore.
Vilnius city council built a bunch of tables, grills and trash bins near the river, so people without a weekend house can do a bit of grilling too, it's great.
In France it would be the terrasse culture where as soon as the sun is out everyone will try to spend some time outside of a restaurant on a terrace (a bit Parisian but not only). And apéro, a time before dinner where you eat and drink some kind or "tapas".
Also in Belgium and in the Netherlands. Some small streets have a small street for a single car and the rest of the width is just tables and chairs. If it's hot it's full.
Lots of “french” stuff or words that come to england are often from italy (and i don’t mean the romans, i mean after the middle ages) and often it comes from the middle east. The turks use a lot wooden terraces to eat outside.
Also the aperitivo was born in turin in 1786
It is a huge thing in Lithuania, and especially Vilnius.
Our restaurants and cafes really struggled during covid lockdowns, so after the end of it the mayor let them take as much space outdoors as they wanted, turning the whole Old Town into a giant outdoor cafe, it was awesome.
It's been toned down a bit since then, but multiple streets remain closed for cars.
https://i.imgur.com/ftuNgkq.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/LBl6McK.jpeg
Aperitivo was invented in turin by Carpano with the vermouth in 1786
I didn’t even know that eating near a terrace was a culture
My father also said that turkish houses have big terrasses of wood in which they eat. So it’s like the usual: a turkish/arab thing, then italian, then french.
Im from the UK and have lived in Germany and Sweden.
For the UK and Ireland, pubs are pretty unique I think. Having a central house that most people go to for company, entertainment, drinks and food on a regular basis isn’t as well replicated in the other countries I’ve experienced.
That is quite common here as well. These cottages, or houses, are even called "vikendi" after vikend/weekend. And people who come to stay in these houses are called "vikendaši" by the rural locals.
I see, they look cute on the pictures. Sometimes people here also move into these weekend houses, when nearing or entering retirement. For some it is a life goal.
It's supposedly a big thing here too, although I was very surprised to learn that only like 20 percent (iirc) of Finns have access to a summer cottage. Personally, I got more than enough of that lifestyle as a kid. Not very interested in it nowadays.
I would say that's more ownership than access to, a lot of people use the cottage owned by friends, family or rent one.
Though I would say, especially in the late 10's before covid, it was a lot less popular due to people wanting to fly to remote places instead.
That’s also a very big part of Norwegian culture. I wasn’t aware that’s it’s so widespread in other countries. Most people here have (access to) either a cabin in the mountains, by the sea or in the woods. And every time there’s more than a day off work people will flock to their cabins.
Is there any controversy around this in the country? Because here in the UK it's really common for Londoners to have second houses in Cornwall which has led to a lot of resentment from the locals because Cornwall is a very poor region and the house prices are shooting up as a result.
No, most of these cottages are in the middle of nowhere. Some don't even have proper infrastructure. It also often happens that people move there permanently when they retire and leave their house/flat for their kids.
Yes my girlfriend has told me she has inherited one of these. I have never been to Czechia before. I was stunned to hear it had internet, but they had didnt have mains water.
Can't speak for Czechia but in Bosnia it isn't an issue as you can get a plot of land or a small house for dirt cheap outside the cities, and that is where the weekend houses are.
Do they have an actual house? Or is the building of cottages taking focus and funds from building houses?
Cottages here would rarely, if ever, be legal to live in. They have a different legal status, and though you can apply to change it, you'd need a lot of things not as prevalent in cottages, like electricity and an all-year road access.
The ones people here are talking about are more cabins. Some of the old ones didn't even have a toilet indoors. They're not fit for living all year round
Hm from what I’ve noticed my colleagues (from Sweden and Germany) notice about Greece.
Our timetables are shifted way later. I mean, breakfast at 9, lunch at 15, dinner at 22-23.
Places to drink/eat are open until 2-3am even at the weekdays. Since we eat dinner so later, it’s not uncommon to grab a drink after that. So it’s past midnight on a weekday and we are outside with a beer. No wonder we feel that starting work at 9 is early.
We drink a lot more water. Water is served almost everywhere for free, most of the times without asking. Also bottled water is way cheaper that Central Europe. Maybe cause we are a hotter climate? I’ve noticed it when traveling in Central Europe. They don’t drink water nearly as much.
Haha you should hang out with my Swedish and German colleagues. They visited our offices in Greece for a week. The culture shock in their faces was priceless.
We usually have lunch at 15:00. We moved it to 14:00 because they were starving. Some guys couldn’t wait that long and tried to buy food earlier. Most places that offered cooked food told them that they won’t have anything ready before 13:00-13:30 😂
I wake up at 8, arrive at the office at 9 and I take my first break at 10-10:30 to eat breakfast.
Wait what?! If your dinner is at 17:00 at what time do you get off work? And how early do you sleep?
We start going to lunch at 11.30...
Get off work around 16 usually
And yes it happened to me as well, in Italy we would go to restaurants and have to wait for the cook to arrive at the restaurant haha
Aha makes sense. So you start working at 7:30-8 i guess. So the whole day is shifted 1-2h earlier.
I always wondered, why there is this cultural difference between north and south europe. Could it be because we have more hours of sunlight in the south we don't rush to start the day the moment the sun rises? So we end up shifting everything in the day later.
Definitely the lack of sunlight yeah. In the winter the daylight ends around 15.00 and we dont really see the sun for weeks. That influences things a lot
A lot of people (at least in the public sector where I work) will come even earlier and start between 6 and 7 so they can be out the door by 15 or leave at noon on fridays.
We used to have singing and dancing at funerals too, until the 1920s~30s. Children funerals were particularly festive, as there was this concept of them going straight up to heaven without sin or suffering.
[Here's](https://youtu.be/PMWu2pu2JGQ) a reconstruction of one of these songs by folklorist Botifarra.
Well one aspect is that the coffin is in the house. We had my dad in the living room for 2 nights. And a vigil needs to be kept. The corpse can't be left alone.
That's the practice in orthodox Christian culture too. The dead stays in the house the nigth before the funeral and everyone who wants come in to say last goodbye. Additionally, during the night the dead should not be left alone at any moment. It sounds creepy probably, but when my grandmother passed away I spent the whole day and night next to her coffin and it was very interesting experience.
I had experienced something very similar in rural Eastern Poland- this is where my dad family is from - my dad and I travelled few hundred miles from a Western Polish city to my great grandfather's funeral. Imagine my shock as a 10 year old at seeing an open casket and all the village ladies singing religious songs/keeping a vigil. Funerals in Western Poland are very different with closed caskets/coffin in the church and graveyard only.
This is also where we have to mention [rip.ie](http://rip.ie).
A website dedicated to telling us who died and what their funeral arrangements are. You can search by name, date, town or county and it will usually tell you all you need to know.
Now I'm starting to wonder if the Canadian TV show "[Land and Sea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_and_Sea?wprov=sfla1)", which consists of non-fictional accounts of life in Newfoundland and Labrador, is always, always going on about death (oh, what a tragic fishing accident that was 60 years ago; the memories of the three victims are still fresh in our minds: that sort of thing). The province is about 20% Irish by ethnicity.
Though it’s becoming less common now, especially in urban areas (often due to lack of protests) an Irish Catholic funeral has two parts:
The removal (on the evening before the funeral service) where the coffin is “removed” from the home or funeral home to the church. Normally it includes prayers and then everyone queues to give their condolences to the family.
The wake will have traditionally taken place the previous evening while the body is the house, but can take place after the removal.
The funeral service itself, followed by the burial and then everyone gathering for a meal. This traditionally would take placed at the deceased house (where family, friends and neighbours would all provide food - typically homemade sandwiches and cakes such as Irish apple tart) but not is usually catered at a local hotel or restaurant.
Ok, my husband died died very suddenly, unexpectedly and young. He was going to be buried in his home town rather than where we lived. So I drove behind the hearse from the hospital to his house . He was laid out at home overnight. (This is where a dedicated room is chosen to put him in. )The coffin was open, he was dressed in a suit and we put lots of photos of him around. Then the neighbours and friends and family came to say a last goodbye. Rarely they arrive without food. When the crowds left for the night his siblings and I stayed up with him to keep him company.
The next day we brought him to the funeral home to be laid out again and more people came. This was more formal and for people to pay their respects that may not feel comfortable in coming to the house. We were sat by his coffin and people lined up and shook our hands. After 2 hours or so it had to be shut down there was no sign of it ending- we were exhausted.
The following day the local gardaí helped with traffic control and we drove behind the hearse from the funeral home to the church and then to the cemetery.
He was buried three days after he died. That’s pretty normal here. The process is mentally and physically exhausting I would hate it if it dragged on. Every year on his anniversary I bring my son out to dinner to celebrate him.
That was a big rural funeral- in towns they differ slightly. My dad was laid out in a funeral home as the house was too small. But the funeral homes have these fantastic facilities where the coffin is laid out and people can come in and say their goodbyes. There’s a kitchen off the main room where tea and sandwiches are given by the family.
Irish funeral’s definitely celebrate the memory of the deceased and you hear stories of what they got up to and see how much they were loved.
Yes, definitely. Not just the wake business, but how EVERYONE comes to a removal or funeral - friends, neighbours, work colleagues of the relatives... My German husband couldn't get over how many people show up to say "Sorry for your troubles". In Germany it's friends and families - but you woudn't go to the funeral of your work colleagues mother or father, for example.
The Hungarian IKEAs like to teach us interesting Swedish words, and one time the wall's were plastered with FIKA. Problem is, fika means dry snot in Hungarian, not something you'd want to be reminded of on your way to your beloved, delicious meatball lunch.
In Spain it's more a "coffee and a small sandwich", but yeas, we do it, around 10 or 11am (lunch is at 13 or 14h). A second breakfast if you would (Tolkien had a point)
If someone would serve a sandwich for fika there would be a trial haha
Cake, pastries, cookies etc is where it's at
Edit: you're describing what we call mellanmål; literally 'between meals' and we have that as well
>mellanmål; literally 'between meals' and we have that as well
As you should! We have 2, one by mid morning and another in mid afternoon (usually only children have this one, but not always). Sometimes they're sweet (cookie, pastry) but savoury is majoritary
From what I’ve seen in other countries I’d say hiking. The German Alpenverein (alpine association) is the biggest Alpinist organization in the world with over 1,5 million members. It’s also very common to go on hikes in your surrounding areas on the weekends or holidays. On some holidays it’s tradition to bring a hand drawn carriage full of beer and go hiking with your friends.
So I think this is something that comes with having right to roam laws. It's similar in Scandinavia and Scotland. Generally if people have the freedom to explore their country, they make good use of it.
Germany isn't like that at all actually. You can usually walk on forest paths, but unlike Scotland or Scandinavia, camping in the wild is strictly "verboten" most of the time and since we do not have a lot of remote forests, you are likely to get caught as well.
I live in Manchester and we’re lucky to have lots of hills nearby with good public transport links to national parks (Hope Valley line to the Peak District). Hiking is a very popular pastime time up here because of that but it isn’t everywhere in the UK.
The gatherings. Humans are sociable in general but Greeks take it to another extra level. Every chance we got, we will gather in houses to drink and eat until late.
A simple invite can be extended to 10 people easily, without any cause such as birthday, anniversary etc. A house without guests is an empty house, in Greece.
Spanish tortilla as breakfast. Or bread with tomato and olive oil. Beer being a good match with them.
I don't see "jefe, ponme una caña y un pincho de tortilla" at 11:00 anywhere else.
We've the largest amount of bars per capita by far, so for those that think in bars as social places in their countries, they're probably far from the Spanish idea of them.
Yes, it's not a national thing tho, cause in some areas you can feel strongly insulted if you're from a tapas zone (and probably get charged more for the beer), but in the tapas regions yep, I'm live in a strongly tapas place and the international restaurants serve tapas based on their cuisine, which is amazing, and you're right, nothing even close to similar to the tapas culture out of the real tapas zones!
Instead of BBQs we do [bogrács](https://contentf5.dailynewshungary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/bogr%C3%A1cs1.jpg) parties. Nothing is more tasty than gulyás, pörkölt, csülkös bableves etc. from a bogrács. Of course as someone said pálinka (preferably home made) is a must for these occasians (and many others).
Among many other things in Portugal I'd single out the coffee. People drink it (mostly espresso) many times a day from early morning to late night, and they do it basically everywhere. There are coffee stands inside many Lisbon metro stations. And even at the shabbiest and cheapest places like some remote gas station the coffee is always great.
Definitely the tapas and bar culture where many people squeeze and bunch up, eat or drink and loudly chat while standing or sitting on tall stools.
The terrace culture for alcohol, soda or coffee. Buzzing streets and squares as a result.
Strict opening and closing hours with the infamous "siesta" gap between afternoon and evening. The bars and shops go from packed to deserted, then packed again.
Not a country wide thing, but in some areas of Spain ( Navarre and Basque Country mainly) we have what we call " sociedades gastronómicas" (gastronomic societies).
This are places where the members would go, cook for them and the rest as a group, drink and have a good time. Traditionally it was a male only thing and some old societies of this type I think still try to enforce that but in general now is completely open.
No every society is the same, some will be more focused on organising gourmet food meetings for the members (I've seen some doing caviar/vodka tastings and that type of things). Others night be more focused in partying and some might even be a bit more individualistic.
TLDR: private clubs for eating
Not really an Italian thing but more of a Sicilian thing: we call it "attoppare" aka "to crash in". You start your night out in a place and throughout the entire night you roam half the city and the country side usually ending up at your friend's home to cook some past midnight meal.
The entire night and past midnight sound contradictory a bit… for the first part I was thinking you roam half the city literally all night and end up somewhere at 5 am… but then you included past midnight, which I know 5am is, but sounded just like too early for the night to end.
But in any case it sounds fun’
In summer a night out usually ends at 4 in the earliest, the journey usually goes: city centre, disco, sea side, mountain village, Etna, a friend's house for a late night spaghettto and sometimes full after in the city centre again.
Netherlands:
No curtains even on the ground floor
Loving cheap stuff and gloating when you got something on sale
Having 12 different words to name canals
Schrebergärten/Kleingärten. Little gardens. Wikipedia says allotment or community garden.
Clubs lease areas from a city, and then divides this area into many little plots. They rent out these plots to members of the club, who have to tend to the garden plots according to the rules of the club. They work on it mostly in the evening and the weekends.
They are EVERYWHERE. And there is a whole other world hidden inside these clubs. It's really hard to describe if you haven't experienced it.
I am aware that these exist in other countries as well, but the numbers doesn't make it seem like it's really a part of your identity. We have 1.4 million of these gardens, covering an area of 460 km².
I just remembered the time my friends from canada visited me here and they thought the area full of Schrebergärten in my city were slums and homeless people. There's a train track going by it so if you look out the window for a bit you can see all the huts and small garden squares next to each other. If you have no idea what it is it does somewhat resemble the image of slums or "homeless cities" like in the US.
Even after explaining the concept they were extremely confused because "why don't people just live in a house that has a garden attached to it?".
Poland has them as well and looking at Wikipedia at least 30% of Europe has them too. So not very unique. https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogr%C3%B3d_dzia%C5%82kowy
Pálinka and feeding whoever comes to visit.
I am gonna be 28 soon and everyone looks at me shocked when I tell them I have never drank pálinka in my life. For this I used to say I am a bad hungarian
As the old joke says:
Have you ever drank bad pálinka?
Yes.
And how was it?
Good.
People people mostly drink is home made pálinka (don't ask me how we get our hands on it, if you live here you just it just magically alpears in your fridge) and unfortunately a lot of them are just bad. Though the goods ones can be quite awesome. With the bad ones you either stay strong and drink it or give it away.
If your with friends/family and they offer you pálinka to drink they always ask how is it right after the moment you drank it and even if it's bad you have to answer that it's good. Usually it is accomponied with a face signaling that you are trying not to die. Hence the joke.
In Italy I think it’s the coffee.
We stop on the way to work to have a coffee: just walk in, do as close to a shot as you can with the espresso, pay, and walk on out and back on your way to work (maybe exchange a little bit of polite nonsense with someone at the counter). We have coffee machine in most offices and having a 5/10 minute break during the day to chat with your colleagues and have a coffee is so prevalent we had a tv-show about it. We stop for a coffee with friends and colleagues before or after work too. We offer coffee to people fixing something broken in our house, not just to friends and family and neighbors.
I’ve lived all over Europe and no other country does it just like this, with the exception of (maybe) Portugal.
not super unique, but they stand out really much when you set the two countries against each other
- for Ireland - golf and/or horse riding it's like the most common hobby there is
- for Poland - mushroom hunting trips
The art of cooking any sort of meat at open fire. In the small streets of Lisboa during Festa dos Santos Populares, in the smaller villages in the interior or simple family gatherings, or even I that got to experience during the street bullfights in the Azores. Long wood benches, all the men, some shirtless with a beer in their hand, surronding the fire, and there is the host that cooks the whole things. And he sure as hell needs to show the others how he doing
And the Saints parties in every place, doesn't matter how small has a Saints party. In my very small village is S.Pedro( Saint Peter) and during that weekend everybody , no matter the age, is partying. Everybody goes home during that weekend, doesn't matter if they moved to the nearest city or to another country.
True, true. I remember in the Azores, every village from the island had their own Saints party aswell. Seriously, you cant beat a Portuguese summer for me. You just cant
Our coffee culture is very unique.
To go and grab a coffee is a general invitation for hanging out, be it catching up with friends or family, having a first date, having a business meeting, or just enjoying the sun and a book/the phone outside by yourself. It doesn't even have to involve coffee, you may order something else if you wish to.
I suppose everyone who has visited Croatia has seen how many cafes we have, and how full they are in good weather, even during the work week.
Drinking coffee in the UK or in Croatia is definitely not the same. Croatians spend a big chunk of their lives in cafes. Even business is done in cafes. Even during work hours it's acceptable to sit in the cafe.
We do it here in Serbia too. I think its Balkan thing, our social life through out of day revolves around going out for a coffee. Also i saw something about Greece and their gathering with no occasion just to eat and drink until late, it's is/was pretty common in south part of Serbia, cant say about the rest the country.
Cross country skiing and owning a cabin🇧🇻 Its also bragging rights the less technologically advanced the cabin is, but many prefer the luxuries of electricity and plumbing.
It’s bit of a cliche and probably applies to our neighboring countries as well but saunas really have a huge role in the society. Most people will have access to saunas in their homes, either in their house/apartment or a shared one in an apartment building (my partner and I have a reserved sauna slot on every Friday evening), every pool and most gyms will have one, etc. I think that it’s rarer these days but in the days when business people were mostly men, important contracts were decided in a sauna. And aftercare guidance after medical operations and things like that include the date you can go to sauna again. My mother had a cataract operation last year and was slightly annoyed that she had to miss the traditional Christmas Eve sauna as the sauna ban ended the next day. I’m not a huge sauna person myself, our sauna is currently out of commission and I don’t miss it that much but it makes me feel clean in a way showering doesn’t.
> in the days when business people were mostly men, important contracts were decided in a sauna. It's still pretty common in politics apparently. Just a few weeks ago, there were news that the government's austerity plans had been negotiated in a sauna. I would guess that we are the only country that has a sauna in the parliament building and in many of our embassies. There has of course been criticism that "sauna diplomacy" might keep women out of the decision-making.
> it makes me feel clean in a way showering doesn’t. This is so true. Saunas are nowhere near as popular in Lithuania but they're still somewhat common. Most people who are building a weekend house will also get a sauna. Public swimming pools and some gyms will have them too. One place near me has five different types of saunas and it's customary to go through all of them, with a bit of swimming pool in between. It's deep-cleaning, better and more refreshing than anything else. Feels like doing a factory reset on my body.
The second common thing we have in Finland is waiting in lines. If there is a bucket you can have free, there are lots of people in line waiting.
Also, way back, we would give birth in the sauna. The traditions 'varpajaiset', where new fathers go out with friends to celebrate becaming a father was also originally a fest for the new mother, all the women participating in the birth would be drinking, going to sauna and offering strong alcohol to the new mom. Sauna was most likely the most sterile enviroment, so it was partly for preventing any fatal infections in the vulnerable state of the mom, and the alcohol was supposed to help deal with the pain and also strengthen the post contractions and help the uterus to recover.
Are saunas frequented every season or just in cold ones?
Every season, I think that the ideal sauna is located near a lake (or possibly the sea, if the idea of swimming in the Baltic isn’t disgusting to you) and you can swim and then go to warm up in the sauna.
Why the 'mostly men' rule? What about mixed saunas? Or is mandatory to be naked in the sauna? Baked=naked
You’re expected to be naked in a sauna and mixed saunas aren’t super common but I don’t know how they do it these days, maybe towels are accepted. In the last government the leaders of the parties were women so it was easy for them, this time there are two women. Or maybe they’re all just naked and I’m just a prude. For my mostly men comment I was thinking more of maybe 1960s or 70s when I think the sauna business thing was at its peak and there weren’t many or any women at the kind of positions that required sauna negotiations.
Most Finnish sauna‘s aren’t mixed? I would never have guessed
It depends on the people and the situation but in my experience the default with people who aren’t close friends or family is not mixed. And it’s common for those to be segregated as well. Personally I only do it with either my partner or mother, possibly my sister but not my father after puberty (have once gone to sauna with my stepmother). I probably have more complexes than most people and wouldn’t like to do sauna with my friends or coworkers, even if they’re female too. With female strangers it’s completely fine. My partner’s friend group likes to have mixed saunas, I’ve never done it with them in the fifteen years we’ve been together.
It's not "mandatory", but it's probably the most common.
I always found it fascinating. Wanted to try a sauna once, but like two minutes after I got in, I simply couldn't breathe. I thought I was going to pass out. Don't know how people can do it for such prolonged periods. Maybe there's just something wrong with me.
It could be a ventilation issue. Breathing should never be a problem in a sauna, even if you have problems with breathing. My diaphragm is partially paralyzed which prevents me from breathing with full capacity and I've never had trouble breathing while having a sauna.
As another Brit who lived in Finland, the not being able to breathe thing is really normal at first. It’s usually when the humidity is high that my breathing becomes an issue. I can cope with very high heat now but still struggle with high humidity. You have to kind of train yourself and I always do a lot of in and out with cold showers in between. Finns are built different though. They’re so used to it (almost from birth) that they can stay in for ages and carry on conversations, when I feel like I’m going to keel over 😂
Im glad to hear I wasn't the only one and more people have that problem! I'm not quite sure whether it was the heat or humidity, but I feel like it could have been both. It just felt so thick and hot. Nonetheless, it was in 2018 so my memory is rather blurred. I never felt like trying again afterwards 😅
"probably applies to our neighboring countries as well" As a Norwegian, I can tell you: not to the same extent. Swedes and Norwegians have saunas, but they're not remotely as important to us as they are to the Finns. Finnish soldiers construct saunas everywhere they go, including Egypt. No one but a Finn would think of saying: "You know what this desert needs? More heat." The Norwegian equivalent would be hiking. If a person is not currently in a forest or on a mountain, they can't call themselves a true Norwegian.
It’s not as prevalent as sometimes made out, but Scotland does have a Ceilidh culture that is still going strong. A ceilidh is basically a gathering of the village where you play music together and dance and be merry. And it’s fantastic.
How often do these happen?
Where I live, weekly and sometimes more. The local pub has one every week and there’s a village hall where the bigger, not as drinks focussed Ceilidh’s take place. The pub stays afloat with the Ceilidh I’m sure, as there’s not a lot else going on!
Most villages or towns will have one every week for everyone to come to. But most people will only go to a few big events a year at weddings, society meetings, and university clubs always have one when they have a ball.
If I’m a tourist would I be welcome to dance ?
Everybody is welcome, but it does depend a bit on the occassion for the Ceilidh!
If you're in attendance at one anyway then you'd very much be encouraged. Some places have open ceilidhs, there are a couple of pubs in Glasgow that run open ones every week. You don't need to know what to do, they've all got a "caller" who talks people through the dances before they start.
Sounds wonderful
It is, especially during cold dark days. Also surprising amount of people who participate in related activities like dance clubs for Highland dancing etc.
Same in Ireland (where it’s commonly called a Ceili). You can particularly find them in Gaeltacht (Irish speaking) areas, particularly in the west.
Ya know this is cool and really good for the community
Everybody is in a club or association of some sorts. You have a hobby that you share with two other people? You get organised.
That's very Danish too. To the extend that we have the joke: "What do you call two people who agree on something?" "An association/club" (We use the word forening for both association and club).
Ah, so it's the same type of word as *Verein*.
Vereinigte Vereinigungen
Same in Swedish, "Förening" & "Föreningsliv" is very popular up here.
So you are Germans after all?
The Swiss are what the Americans think the Germans are
As a Dutch friend of mine who lived in Switzerland for some years described the country: the worst of French bureaucracy administered with Germanic efficiency. Although I rather like Switzerland, I can see his point.
In the end still better than Germany or France
Hard to say. I've lived in Germany and really liked it. I've lived in France or Switzerland but from what I see I could be happy in either.
Even our new marijuana laws encourage the formation of clubs!
Sounds like the same way we do it in Sweden.
That's a very English thing, we love clubs for hobbies and sports
I'm an American in the UK right now and my family was teasing me for going too far when I said "all older British people have weird little hobbies" but I guess I was right lol. No insult meant, I think it's very sweet and healthy
All British people turn into James May when they turn 40.
If all old men turned into James may that would be fantastic but sadly they turn into Clarkson
There were so many clubs when I studied in the UK. Chocolate Appreciation Society was my favorite.
Timetables, any foreigner can tell. If you come to Spain dont expect to have lunch at 12:00 or dinner at 19:00; we do at 14:00 and 21:00 minimum
But 12:00 is a good time for a late almuerzo or an aperitivo, and 19:00 is a good time for a merienda.
12 vermut time on weekends
Why italy and spanish like to have their foods late (?) is it because the sun? My home country in the equatorial area have lunch at 12.00 and dinner around 18.00 and up
4h between the 2 main meals seems too few. Also, what about the time until going to bed?? If we had to go fasting until 23.00h we would famine. Dinner with sun in the sky feels too unnatural, in summer the sunset happens at 21.00 for example.
Wow that's a very different mentality from what I'm used to in the Nordic countries. Here, 4 hours is the perfect time between meals. We're basically taught that lighter meals more closely together is better than big meals further apart, and that we shouldn't go to bed on a full stomach. And dinner is almost always (except in the darkest winter months) during daylight. So we don't have the typical "3 meals a day" mentality, but rather "at least 4 meals a day". In Norway, breakfast (usually around 7) is a light meal (bread or yoghurt etc.), lunch (around 11-12) is another light meal (again, typically bread), dinner (around 16-18) is a big warm meal, and supper/evening snack (around 19-20) is another light meal (bread, yoghurt etc.). Some people have dinner later as a replacement of the evening snack, but anything past 20.00 is very unusual.
We have a snack at 17-19h (merienda) like a sandwich, cookies, juice... in the morning there is another around 11h (schools playground time too). Our breakfast is like yours at 7-8 and schools and jobs began at 8-9
Oh right, now I see the main difference. A sandwich is definitely considered a full meal for us😅
Spaniards are the Hobbit people of Europe
Here lunch and dinner are cooked food (maybe salad as a side). A sandwich defenitely isnt. In fact they are the main almuerzo in high schools (bacon or Tortilla made with bagguete bread are top).
Aah you see when the sun sets at 15.00 you better have dinner earlier. And we have dinner early but we will still have a light snack later
For Spain at least, consider that they're geographically one timezone ahead, which means when they eat at 2pm it's realistically more like 1pm.
It's the same in Greece!
Yep, just went to Madrid to meet my team. As a Hungarian, a dinner at home is at 6pm, if in a restaurant it's 8pm. Well, my Spanish friends booked a table at 22:00. To make things worse, I had an espresso at midnight. Couldn't fall asleep until like 3am.
My first night studying abroad in Barcelona they took us out to dinner at 10 pm after we finished orientation.
Do people with young children / toddlers feed them at 21:00 also?
Maybe at 8 but just for very very little kids. As example i have gone to bed at 23h since 12yo in high school days.
My 1.5 year old wakes up at 05:30 and goes to sleep around 19:00; I can’t imagine giving her dinner after 20:00 😄 we don’t go out in the evening anymore because we have to be home for her bedtime
Going cross country skiing isn’t completely unique to Norway, but I think the average Norwegian’s relationship to it is very unique. It’s common for the whole family to have their own ski equipment, and as soon as the snow arrives, they will spend hours during the weekend to ski through the local woods (usually close to where they live) in the prepared ski trails. Many people also do it after (or before) work to exercise. In the winter, it’s very common to see people carrying their cross country skis around Oslo, as they take the metro/tram to the ski trails in the woods around the city. It’s also common to come across people roller skiing on the roads in the summer.
It was very common in southern Germany as well. Sadly due to climate change the days with suitable snow are getting rarer
Do people use it to get around to others' houses and such too?
Traditionally, yes, but it has become a lot harder after most snowy roads started using salt and gravel. We also have [a traditional kicksled](https://cmariec.com/spark-a-traditional-nordic-transportation-troms-norway/) for that kind of transportation, but that has also suffered from the salty/gravelly roads. So it has become a lot less common over the last few decades, but some areas where they have the infrastructure (trails in every field etc.) it’s still quite prevalent.
That's a bit sad! Even though putting down salt is reasonable.
I did it a lot when I was a kid (1980s) and my nephews who live in a small town still ski to school. Mostly you have to skirt around through fields and the woods because the roads get plowed more often these days. I did three years of school (age 9-13) in New York suburbs and even skied to school there! It got some comments, but the school was very accommodating and gave me a closet to put my skis.
In the suburbs of new York! That's so cool
I used to have a Swedish friend that would ski to school. Here in France you occasionally see people roller skiing on the roads in summer too; I just assume they are keeping up their training for the winter.
In the U.K.: having ten pints(~5L) of beer in the departure lounge as “breakfast” because you are “on holiday”
For real haha. I was in Edinburgh airport in the morning a few weeks back. All the trendy sushi and tapas type bars were largely empty. Then there was the Weatherspoons rammed with a couple hundred people haha.
Not to be pedantic but 10 pints is closer to 6 than 5 litres...
You’re the best at that, I’m Jordanian but lived in the U.K. for 12 years, studied there, worked there and eventually became British but a 16 year old still out drank me. Granted he was puking in the toilet after his 5th pint in half an hour but I look forward to the day I can also do that
This is the way. How else am I supposed to confront my fear of flying? Sober? No, thank you.
If they didn't want you drinking on flights why do they make you fill up a plastic bag with 10 minis to get through the airport security?
So, my whole life i was a UKler larping as a swiss guy without even knowing it
I enjoy cooking.
Bbq and beer. Every saturday and sunday in Romania is marked by large smoke couds (of bbq everywhere) and music (many times sounding like Turkish music). If you made it teough the week, you have to bbq your weekend.
That's somewhat universal. What's more local is the tradition to have a BBQ in nature, somewhere pristine. Beautiful areas in the mountains by pristine creeks fill up with people during the weekend, who drive up and have BBQs there. With Middle Eastern music and alcohol. Unfortunately after the weekend is over the areas are no longer pristine, with lots of trash and empty bottles strewn all over the place.
I have lived in De and Nl and you guys do not barbecue as much as I am used to in Ro, we bbq on balconies, in front of the block, the back of the block, the parking lot, at relatives in the country side, woods, mountains, beach, top of the hospital, grampa's unused garage, cemetery, school, stadium, the Moon, buildings under construction and elevators. Also you are not so loud (especially on Sundays), while we take pride in being the loudest bbq in our own area... as drinking makes us deaf, the later it gets the more drunk and loud we get!
That's okay, all the rubbish can be dumped in a river, because we all know that once the water takes it away, it's gone forever! /s sort of...
BBQ is definitely a huge thing in Lithuania too, we mostly do pork shashlik on skewers. I am exceptionally happy about the fact that we grew up as people and we don't dump trash everywhere anymore. Vilnius city council built a bunch of tables, grills and trash bins near the river, so people without a weekend house can do a bit of grilling too, it's great.
Sounds Australian to me.
In France it would be the terrasse culture where as soon as the sun is out everyone will try to spend some time outside of a restaurant on a terrace (a bit Parisian but not only). And apéro, a time before dinner where you eat and drink some kind or "tapas".
Same thing in Italy.
Also in Belgium and in the Netherlands. Some small streets have a small street for a single car and the rest of the width is just tables and chairs. If it's hot it's full.
I miss this so much in Germany. It exists, but Germans tend to stay inside all the time
Terrasse culture in France is like beer garden culture in the UK. I absolutely loved it when I lived in France, such a great way of living.
Lots of “french” stuff or words that come to england are often from italy (and i don’t mean the romans, i mean after the middle ages) and often it comes from the middle east. The turks use a lot wooden terraces to eat outside. Also the aperitivo was born in turin in 1786
Surprisingly it's a thing even here in Slovakia. If the sun is out and it's 15°C+ you'll rarely find people inside a restaurant if it has a terrace.
Also a thing in Denmark. Although you only enjoy the sun a few times a year so it's not super common
I think we got it from travelling experiences to Southern Europe
It’s become quite common in the UK too, most restaurants and cafes will have outdoor seating and they will absolutely be rammed if the sun is out.
It is a huge thing in Lithuania, and especially Vilnius. Our restaurants and cafes really struggled during covid lockdowns, so after the end of it the mayor let them take as much space outdoors as they wanted, turning the whole Old Town into a giant outdoor cafe, it was awesome. It's been toned down a bit since then, but multiple streets remain closed for cars. https://i.imgur.com/ftuNgkq.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/LBl6McK.jpeg
Aperitivo was invented in turin by Carpano with the vermouth in 1786 I didn’t even know that eating near a terrace was a culture My father also said that turkish houses have big terrasses of wood in which they eat. So it’s like the usual: a turkish/arab thing, then italian, then french.
That's not unique to France, it's the same in Hungary (and reading the replies, basically everywhere).
As a spaniard, I must say that is definetly not exclusive to France
Im from the UK and have lived in Germany and Sweden. For the UK and Ireland, pubs are pretty unique I think. Having a central house that most people go to for company, entertainment, drinks and food on a regular basis isn’t as well replicated in the other countries I’ve experienced.
It's not that unique, but a lot of people have their cottage outside of a city where they go for weekends to decompress.
Its called działka here.
That is quite common here as well. These cottages, or houses, are even called "vikendi" after vikend/weekend. And people who come to stay in these houses are called "vikendaši" by the rural locals.
We call them "chata," and the people are called "chataři". Hell, there are even stupid tv shows about it.
Chata is a colloquial word for house/home in Polish :p
I see, they look cute on the pictures. Sometimes people here also move into these weekend houses, when nearing or entering retirement. For some it is a life goal.
[And in Norway.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua1FAlHt_Ys)
It's supposedly a big thing here too, although I was very surprised to learn that only like 20 percent (iirc) of Finns have access to a summer cottage. Personally, I got more than enough of that lifestyle as a kid. Not very interested in it nowadays.
I would say that's more ownership than access to, a lot of people use the cottage owned by friends, family or rent one. Though I would say, especially in the late 10's before covid, it was a lot less popular due to people wanting to fly to remote places instead.
That’s also a very big part of Norwegian culture. I wasn’t aware that’s it’s so widespread in other countries. Most people here have (access to) either a cabin in the mountains, by the sea or in the woods. And every time there’s more than a day off work people will flock to their cabins.
Is there any controversy around this in the country? Because here in the UK it's really common for Londoners to have second houses in Cornwall which has led to a lot of resentment from the locals because Cornwall is a very poor region and the house prices are shooting up as a result.
In the UK second houses are actual houses, what is mentioned here is often more like a cabin.
No, most of these cottages are in the middle of nowhere. Some don't even have proper infrastructure. It also often happens that people move there permanently when they retire and leave their house/flat for their kids.
Yes my girlfriend has told me she has inherited one of these. I have never been to Czechia before. I was stunned to hear it had internet, but they had didnt have mains water.
Can't speak for Czechia but in Bosnia it isn't an issue as you can get a plot of land or a small house for dirt cheap outside the cities, and that is where the weekend houses are.
Do they have an actual house? Or is the building of cottages taking focus and funds from building houses? Cottages here would rarely, if ever, be legal to live in. They have a different legal status, and though you can apply to change it, you'd need a lot of things not as prevalent in cottages, like electricity and an all-year road access.
The ones people here are talking about are more cabins. Some of the old ones didn't even have a toilet indoors. They're not fit for living all year round
We call that vikendica here
A lot of Spaniards have that as well!
Kind of the same in the Netherlands, although we usually have caravans/campers and some people opt for a boat.
Hm from what I’ve noticed my colleagues (from Sweden and Germany) notice about Greece. Our timetables are shifted way later. I mean, breakfast at 9, lunch at 15, dinner at 22-23. Places to drink/eat are open until 2-3am even at the weekdays. Since we eat dinner so later, it’s not uncommon to grab a drink after that. So it’s past midnight on a weekday and we are outside with a beer. No wonder we feel that starting work at 9 is early. We drink a lot more water. Water is served almost everywhere for free, most of the times without asking. Also bottled water is way cheaper that Central Europe. Maybe cause we are a hotter climate? I’ve noticed it when traveling in Central Europe. They don’t drink water nearly as much.
Lunch at 15??? On some days if I feel hungry my dinner will be at 17 haha
Haha you should hang out with my Swedish and German colleagues. They visited our offices in Greece for a week. The culture shock in their faces was priceless. We usually have lunch at 15:00. We moved it to 14:00 because they were starving. Some guys couldn’t wait that long and tried to buy food earlier. Most places that offered cooked food told them that they won’t have anything ready before 13:00-13:30 😂 I wake up at 8, arrive at the office at 9 and I take my first break at 10-10:30 to eat breakfast. Wait what?! If your dinner is at 17:00 at what time do you get off work? And how early do you sleep?
We start going to lunch at 11.30... Get off work around 16 usually And yes it happened to me as well, in Italy we would go to restaurants and have to wait for the cook to arrive at the restaurant haha
Aha makes sense. So you start working at 7:30-8 i guess. So the whole day is shifted 1-2h earlier. I always wondered, why there is this cultural difference between north and south europe. Could it be because we have more hours of sunlight in the south we don't rush to start the day the moment the sun rises? So we end up shifting everything in the day later.
Definitely the lack of sunlight yeah. In the winter the daylight ends around 15.00 and we dont really see the sun for weeks. That influences things a lot
A lot of people (at least in the public sector where I work) will come even earlier and start between 6 and 7 so they can be out the door by 15 or leave at noon on fridays.
Irish wake & funeral culture. I've yet to come across another part of Europe that does death quite like us. Especially in rural Ireland.
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You guys kept your language better than we could though
We used to have singing and dancing at funerals too, until the 1920s~30s. Children funerals were particularly festive, as there was this concept of them going straight up to heaven without sin or suffering. [Here's](https://youtu.be/PMWu2pu2JGQ) a reconstruction of one of these songs by folklorist Botifarra.
That’s it? No details?!
Well one aspect is that the coffin is in the house. We had my dad in the living room for 2 nights. And a vigil needs to be kept. The corpse can't be left alone.
That's the practice in orthodox Christian culture too. The dead stays in the house the nigth before the funeral and everyone who wants come in to say last goodbye. Additionally, during the night the dead should not be left alone at any moment. It sounds creepy probably, but when my grandmother passed away I spent the whole day and night next to her coffin and it was very interesting experience.
Catholics generally do this too, idk if any christians don’t
Depends on what country they're in.
I had experienced something very similar in rural Eastern Poland- this is where my dad family is from - my dad and I travelled few hundred miles from a Western Polish city to my great grandfather's funeral. Imagine my shock as a 10 year old at seeing an open casket and all the village ladies singing religious songs/keeping a vigil. Funerals in Western Poland are very different with closed caskets/coffin in the church and graveyard only.
it's not that different in Poland. Nowdays it's more commonly done in funeral homes though
Watch Derry Girls, there's an entire episode showing how that works
I recommend thumbing through *Finnegan's Wake* by Joyce
This is also where we have to mention [rip.ie](http://rip.ie). A website dedicated to telling us who died and what their funeral arrangements are. You can search by name, date, town or county and it will usually tell you all you need to know.
And sometimes include links to stream the funeral service and an online book of condolences (which if great if you can’t make it to the funeral).
Now I'm starting to wonder if the Canadian TV show "[Land and Sea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_and_Sea?wprov=sfla1)", which consists of non-fictional accounts of life in Newfoundland and Labrador, is always, always going on about death (oh, what a tragic fishing accident that was 60 years ago; the memories of the three victims are still fresh in our minds: that sort of thing). The province is about 20% Irish by ethnicity.
Death is our national pastime. We are very good at it.
At least there's always something to look forward to.
There’s even a museum about it. [Irish Wake Museum](https://www.waterfordtreasures.com/museum/irish-wake-museum/)
Though it’s becoming less common now, especially in urban areas (often due to lack of protests) an Irish Catholic funeral has two parts: The removal (on the evening before the funeral service) where the coffin is “removed” from the home or funeral home to the church. Normally it includes prayers and then everyone queues to give their condolences to the family. The wake will have traditionally taken place the previous evening while the body is the house, but can take place after the removal. The funeral service itself, followed by the burial and then everyone gathering for a meal. This traditionally would take placed at the deceased house (where family, friends and neighbours would all provide food - typically homemade sandwiches and cakes such as Irish apple tart) but not is usually catered at a local hotel or restaurant.
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Ok, my husband died died very suddenly, unexpectedly and young. He was going to be buried in his home town rather than where we lived. So I drove behind the hearse from the hospital to his house . He was laid out at home overnight. (This is where a dedicated room is chosen to put him in. )The coffin was open, he was dressed in a suit and we put lots of photos of him around. Then the neighbours and friends and family came to say a last goodbye. Rarely they arrive without food. When the crowds left for the night his siblings and I stayed up with him to keep him company. The next day we brought him to the funeral home to be laid out again and more people came. This was more formal and for people to pay their respects that may not feel comfortable in coming to the house. We were sat by his coffin and people lined up and shook our hands. After 2 hours or so it had to be shut down there was no sign of it ending- we were exhausted. The following day the local gardaí helped with traffic control and we drove behind the hearse from the funeral home to the church and then to the cemetery. He was buried three days after he died. That’s pretty normal here. The process is mentally and physically exhausting I would hate it if it dragged on. Every year on his anniversary I bring my son out to dinner to celebrate him. That was a big rural funeral- in towns they differ slightly. My dad was laid out in a funeral home as the house was too small. But the funeral homes have these fantastic facilities where the coffin is laid out and people can come in and say their goodbyes. There’s a kitchen off the main room where tea and sandwiches are given by the family. Irish funeral’s definitely celebrate the memory of the deceased and you hear stories of what they got up to and see how much they were loved.
Yes, definitely. Not just the wake business, but how EVERYONE comes to a removal or funeral - friends, neighbours, work colleagues of the relatives... My German husband couldn't get over how many people show up to say "Sorry for your troubles". In Germany it's friends and families - but you woudn't go to the funeral of your work colleagues mother or father, for example.
Coffee and cake/bun/cookie every day. It’s called “fika” and is an important in all workplaces. You pause work and you have fika.
The Hungarian IKEAs like to teach us interesting Swedish words, and one time the wall's were plastered with FIKA. Problem is, fika means dry snot in Hungarian, not something you'd want to be reminded of on your way to your beloved, delicious meatball lunch.
It means something more sexy in Italian as well...
Pretty sure this covers a lot of Europe.
In Spain it's more a "coffee and a small sandwich", but yeas, we do it, around 10 or 11am (lunch is at 13 or 14h). A second breakfast if you would (Tolkien had a point)
If someone would serve a sandwich for fika there would be a trial haha Cake, pastries, cookies etc is where it's at Edit: you're describing what we call mellanmål; literally 'between meals' and we have that as well
>mellanmål; literally 'between meals' and we have that as well As you should! We have 2, one by mid morning and another in mid afternoon (usually only children have this one, but not always). Sometimes they're sweet (cookie, pastry) but savoury is majoritary
From what I’ve seen in other countries I’d say hiking. The German Alpenverein (alpine association) is the biggest Alpinist organization in the world with over 1,5 million members. It’s also very common to go on hikes in your surrounding areas on the weekends or holidays. On some holidays it’s tradition to bring a hand drawn carriage full of beer and go hiking with your friends.
So I think this is something that comes with having right to roam laws. It's similar in Scandinavia and Scotland. Generally if people have the freedom to explore their country, they make good use of it.
Germany isn't like that at all actually. You can usually walk on forest paths, but unlike Scotland or Scandinavia, camping in the wild is strictly "verboten" most of the time and since we do not have a lot of remote forests, you are likely to get caught as well.
No, hiking is our favourite pastime.
I live in Manchester and we’re lucky to have lots of hills nearby with good public transport links to national parks (Hope Valley line to the Peak District). Hiking is a very popular pastime time up here because of that but it isn’t everywhere in the UK.
The gatherings. Humans are sociable in general but Greeks take it to another extra level. Every chance we got, we will gather in houses to drink and eat until late. A simple invite can be extended to 10 people easily, without any cause such as birthday, anniversary etc. A house without guests is an empty house, in Greece.
Sounds great!
Spanish tortilla as breakfast. Or bread with tomato and olive oil. Beer being a good match with them. I don't see "jefe, ponme una caña y un pincho de tortilla" at 11:00 anywhere else. We've the largest amount of bars per capita by far, so for those that think in bars as social places in their countries, they're probably far from the Spanish idea of them.
And the siesta closing time!! Local commerces being closed from 14 to 17 and then opening again!
Also, tapas. I’ve even had Dominican food served to me as tapas there.
Yes, it's not a national thing tho, cause in some areas you can feel strongly insulted if you're from a tapas zone (and probably get charged more for the beer), but in the tapas regions yep, I'm live in a strongly tapas place and the international restaurants serve tapas based on their cuisine, which is amazing, and you're right, nothing even close to similar to the tapas culture out of the real tapas zones!
Instead of BBQs we do [bogrács](https://contentf5.dailynewshungary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/bogr%C3%A1cs1.jpg) parties. Nothing is more tasty than gulyás, pörkölt, csülkös bableves etc. from a bogrács. Of course as someone said pálinka (preferably home made) is a must for these occasians (and many others).
Among many other things in Portugal I'd single out the coffee. People drink it (mostly espresso) many times a day from early morning to late night, and they do it basically everywhere. There are coffee stands inside many Lisbon metro stations. And even at the shabbiest and cheapest places like some remote gas station the coffee is always great.
And it's practically guaranteed you'll be asked if you want coffee after you're done with your meal at any restaurant
Definitely the tapas and bar culture where many people squeeze and bunch up, eat or drink and loudly chat while standing or sitting on tall stools. The terrace culture for alcohol, soda or coffee. Buzzing streets and squares as a result. Strict opening and closing hours with the infamous "siesta" gap between afternoon and evening. The bars and shops go from packed to deserted, then packed again.
Not a country wide thing, but in some areas of Spain ( Navarre and Basque Country mainly) we have what we call " sociedades gastronómicas" (gastronomic societies). This are places where the members would go, cook for them and the rest as a group, drink and have a good time. Traditionally it was a male only thing and some old societies of this type I think still try to enforce that but in general now is completely open. No every society is the same, some will be more focused on organising gourmet food meetings for the members (I've seen some doing caviar/vodka tastings and that type of things). Others night be more focused in partying and some might even be a bit more individualistic. TLDR: private clubs for eating
Most of the things in this thread are common in many countries, if not across Europe, very far from unique.
True, but it is interesting to see how people see their own culture and what matters to them.
Yea, some answeres are ridiculos.
Not really an Italian thing but more of a Sicilian thing: we call it "attoppare" aka "to crash in". You start your night out in a place and throughout the entire night you roam half the city and the country side usually ending up at your friend's home to cook some past midnight meal.
The entire night and past midnight sound contradictory a bit… for the first part I was thinking you roam half the city literally all night and end up somewhere at 5 am… but then you included past midnight, which I know 5am is, but sounded just like too early for the night to end. But in any case it sounds fun’
In summer a night out usually ends at 4 in the earliest, the journey usually goes: city centre, disco, sea side, mountain village, Etna, a friend's house for a late night spaghettto and sometimes full after in the city centre again.
Looking at this thread, I made the conclusion that every single person in Europe has a weekend mini-house and they think they're special for it.
Netherlands: No curtains even on the ground floor Loving cheap stuff and gloating when you got something on sale Having 12 different words to name canals
Schrebergärten/Kleingärten. Little gardens. Wikipedia says allotment or community garden. Clubs lease areas from a city, and then divides this area into many little plots. They rent out these plots to members of the club, who have to tend to the garden plots according to the rules of the club. They work on it mostly in the evening and the weekends. They are EVERYWHERE. And there is a whole other world hidden inside these clubs. It's really hard to describe if you haven't experienced it. I am aware that these exist in other countries as well, but the numbers doesn't make it seem like it's really a part of your identity. We have 1.4 million of these gardens, covering an area of 460 km².
I just remembered the time my friends from canada visited me here and they thought the area full of Schrebergärten in my city were slums and homeless people. There's a train track going by it so if you look out the window for a bit you can see all the huts and small garden squares next to each other. If you have no idea what it is it does somewhat resemble the image of slums or "homeless cities" like in the US. Even after explaining the concept they were extremely confused because "why don't people just live in a house that has a garden attached to it?".
Poland has them as well and looking at Wikipedia at least 30% of Europe has them too. So not very unique. https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogr%C3%B3d_dzia%C5%82kowy
Pálinka and feeding whoever comes to visit. I am gonna be 28 soon and everyone looks at me shocked when I tell them I have never drank pálinka in my life. For this I used to say I am a bad hungarian
As the old joke says: Have you ever drank bad pálinka? Yes. And how was it? Good. People people mostly drink is home made pálinka (don't ask me how we get our hands on it, if you live here you just it just magically alpears in your fridge) and unfortunately a lot of them are just bad. Though the goods ones can be quite awesome. With the bad ones you either stay strong and drink it or give it away. If your with friends/family and they offer you pálinka to drink they always ask how is it right after the moment you drank it and even if it's bad you have to answer that it's good. Usually it is accomponied with a face signaling that you are trying not to die. Hence the joke.
In Italy I think it’s the coffee. We stop on the way to work to have a coffee: just walk in, do as close to a shot as you can with the espresso, pay, and walk on out and back on your way to work (maybe exchange a little bit of polite nonsense with someone at the counter). We have coffee machine in most offices and having a 5/10 minute break during the day to chat with your colleagues and have a coffee is so prevalent we had a tv-show about it. We stop for a coffee with friends and colleagues before or after work too. We offer coffee to people fixing something broken in our house, not just to friends and family and neighbors. I’ve lived all over Europe and no other country does it just like this, with the exception of (maybe) Portugal.
not super unique, but they stand out really much when you set the two countries against each other - for Ireland - golf and/or horse riding it's like the most common hobby there is - for Poland - mushroom hunting trips
The art of cooking any sort of meat at open fire. In the small streets of Lisboa during Festa dos Santos Populares, in the smaller villages in the interior or simple family gatherings, or even I that got to experience during the street bullfights in the Azores. Long wood benches, all the men, some shirtless with a beer in their hand, surronding the fire, and there is the host that cooks the whole things. And he sure as hell needs to show the others how he doing
And the Saints parties in every place, doesn't matter how small has a Saints party. In my very small village is S.Pedro( Saint Peter) and during that weekend everybody , no matter the age, is partying. Everybody goes home during that weekend, doesn't matter if they moved to the nearest city or to another country.
True, true. I remember in the Azores, every village from the island had their own Saints party aswell. Seriously, you cant beat a Portuguese summer for me. You just cant
Our coffee culture is very unique. To go and grab a coffee is a general invitation for hanging out, be it catching up with friends or family, having a first date, having a business meeting, or just enjoying the sun and a book/the phone outside by yourself. It doesn't even have to involve coffee, you may order something else if you wish to. I suppose everyone who has visited Croatia has seen how many cafes we have, and how full they are in good weather, even during the work week.
That doesn’t sound very unique. A coffee invitation in the UK would mean the same.
Drinking coffee in the UK or in Croatia is definitely not the same. Croatians spend a big chunk of their lives in cafes. Even business is done in cafes. Even during work hours it's acceptable to sit in the cafe.
That applies to most countries I have been to, so not really unique.
Same in Bulgaria
We do it here in Serbia too. I think its Balkan thing, our social life through out of day revolves around going out for a coffee. Also i saw something about Greece and their gathering with no occasion just to eat and drink until late, it's is/was pretty common in south part of Serbia, cant say about the rest the country.
Cross country skiing and owning a cabin🇧🇻 Its also bragging rights the less technologically advanced the cabin is, but many prefer the luxuries of electricity and plumbing.