Astrid of Sweden

Getting around

Slow Steamboats and Public Distrust

Steamboats like the Egil were surprisingly slow for towing timber, averaging only two knots, meaning a trip could take up to 30 days. People often distrusted wood-fired steamboats, fearing they would catch fire or scare away fish.

At the table

The seven-cookie coffee ritual

Hosting guests often involved a coffee ritual where it was customary to serve seven different types of homemade cookies or cakes. This social practice served as an important community ritual and a marker of status.

What people wore

Walking barefoot to preserve shoes

To save their shoes, people often walked barefoot from spring until late autumn, carrying their shoes and putting them on only when nearing the church.

Music

Widespread popularity of the fiddle

Although new instruments like the accordion and brass ensembles grew in popularity, the fiddle remained a widely played instrument, often found in almost every farmhouse by the turn of the century.

Daily life

Daily household costs and diet

Kerosene for lighting could cost up to 10 öre per day for those doing sewing work, and children often relied on crusts of bread softened in coffee for breakfast.