Sometimes the best and most enjoyable stories are also the most strange. I recently came across an article about Sweden and their obsession with Donald Duck. The Disney rendition of a sputtering aquatic bird and comic counterpart–wearing no trousers, either–is more popular than Mickey Mouse in that country.
Maybe it’s because Swedes prefer ducks in pleasant little ponds in any of their thirty national parks, than a mouse in any location. Eek!
Donald is referred to as Kalle Anka (kallay ahn-kah) in Swedish, Kalle means “free man” or simply “man,” and Anka is the word for duck. So Donald Duck is a man/duck by virtue of his anthropomorphic persona and qualities. Not to be confused with Paul Anka, who sang hits like “Put Your Head on My Shoulder” and “Diana.”
I wonder if anybody ever called Paul Anka, Paul Duck? If they did, they should’ve ducked to avoid having an object launched at their head. If said object hits the mark, put your head on my shoulder.
But I’m getting silly. Not sillier, though, than what those wonderful folks over in Scandinavia do every Christmas Eve. At approximately three o’clock, a good half (or more) of Sweden sits in front of their big screen televisions and watches a 1958 Disney special, “From All of Us to All of You,” which we know as a Christmas compilation show hosted by Jiminy Cricket. It contains a popular Donald Duck segment entitled “Clown of the Jungle,” in which our hapless hero is driven bonkers by the antics of an Aracuan (air-a-kwan) bird while on expedition.
Swedes apparently take this annual tradition seriously for, as one person aptly put it, “you can’t do anything else, because Sweden is closed.” Families will sit quietly and watch the program, occasionally lip-synching favorite lines and laughing, but it’s an event calling for one hundred percent attention to the screen by the entire family. No meals are prepared. Don’t bother calling friends or relatives. Everybody is watching Kalle Anka.
This sacrosanct special is so entrenched in tradition that the viewers will not tolerate alterations or shortcuts. The show’s longest host, Arne Weise, was required by his viewing public to appear live for the program. He was forbidden to try taping the show to spend Christmas Eve with his family. He tried it. No way, Ar-nay, the viewers said. He had three divorces to show for his troubles. Also, when one time the segment on “Ferdinand” the matador-phobic bull was pulled and replaced with “The Ugly Duckling,” the outcry prevailed and the bull returned to the program at once.
The new generation of Swedes may allow this tradition to die out, as they do not seem as attached to what could be interpreted as hokey old-school animation. The fact that Swedes first began obtaining televisions in 1959 when the program first aired on their only television network (they gained a second channel in 1969), is part of the charm of this tradition. Now that the country has a page full of networks and choices, there are plenty of other shows to watch. The programming staff are continuing to see a good turnout every December 24 and will continue to air what is affectionately called Kalle Anka for short, until they are told otherwise.
Now, if I could write in Swedish, I would tell those folks about our annual tradition of watching a movie called A Christmas Story at least once during the holiday (if not continuously) on our Turner broadcast networks. No ducks, mice or bulls, but there are the Bumpuses’ hound dogs. We sit and lip-synch favorite lines and laugh, just like the people in Sweden. It is a small world, indeed.
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