How To Drink Like A Swede

So here in Sweden, they pretty much arent allowed to take a drink without singing a song first. Ok, so thats not neccesarily true, but the tradition to sing a song before you take a drink comes from the colleges. I have heard different variations of the story, but basically it started as a mini-hazing thing for the freshmen, where they couldnt drink before they sang something. So sing they did.

According to wiki, "In Sweden, where they are called Dryckesvisor, traditions are upheld to an unusual degree in modern European context. There are songs associated with Christmas, Midsummer, and other celebrations sometimes unique to Sweden. One commonly sung is "Helan går"."

When Kelly was here, we tried to show her the most authentic Swedish things and traditions, so we busted out the snaps (which isnt particularly great tasting) and taught her the song "Helan går." It goes a little something like this:


(Thanks Kelly for posting this video!)
The lyrics (in case you are curious), are:

Helan går

Sjung hopp fadder allan allan lej
Helan går
Sjung hopp fadder allan lej

Och den som inte helan tar
Han heller inte halvan får

Helan går
Sjung hopp fadder allan lej

SKÅL!

Did ya get all that? SKÅL! (Cheers!)