More on Jämtland
Jämtland harbors some nationalist, almost
separatist sentiment. Some of the people there do not regard themselves as
Swedish. These pages illustrate this issue:
Jamska - The
Dictionary Project
Jamtland
has today around 120.000 inhabitants. The official language is Swedish, however
at least 50.000 of the inhabitants still know the language Jamska, fewer still
use it daily. The language Jamska has survived 350 years of Swedish attempts to
extinguish it. It has survived mostly because the inhabitants have been
bilingual. The language Jamska differs from Swedish in words, grammar and
syntax. (The difference can be compared to the difference between Swedish and
Norwegian)
The
Swedish king Erik the XIV had told his Swedish forces to "burn, plunder
and kill as much as possible, as it is better that Jamtland is a desert land
than a hostile country." In line with this order, the Danish/Norwegian
royal palace, Kungsgården, at Frösön was burned down by the Swedes.
-
from The History
of Jamtland (some archived locally)
The Republic of Jamtland
(some archived locally) - A humorous account
of "the liberation movement". Some highlights:
"President
Gamlin made a number of great achievements during his time as President. Among
other things, he had summit talks at Harpsund with the former Swedish Prime
Minister, Mr. Tage Erlander. During one of these meetings, he presented Mr.
Erlander with the result of that year's elk-hunting, namely a smoked shoulder
of venison! With the purpose of putting the chauvinistic Swedes out of the
running, he was also successful in the hazardous task of stealing the sea-valve
from the famous rowing-boat at Harpsund. ...
"The
actions performed by the JRA usually result in chaos and bewilderment, which
effectively prevents the "victims" from leaving any reliable
descriptions. Normally, all they can remember is that the members were wearing
grey, army-like coats, sunglasses, slouch-hats and that they were armed with
all kinds of farming implements. ...
"Of
course, the Liberation Movement cannot openly express its support to the JRA,
but the two groups are well aware of each other, and they probably communicate
through secret channels. An example of this is a hollow tree-trunk just outside
Brunflo, which some people believe to be a secret 'mailbox'."
Jamtlandica.com - A good source of
cultural information on Jämtland.