Bushcraft in Sweden?

Bushcraft in Sweden?

Since I live in Sweden I find it interesting that we actually don't have a word for bushcraft in Swedish. Sure most of us do enjoy being outdoor either in the woodlands, mountains and such hiking, running, biking, skiing, hunting, fishing or whatever. Most people in Sweden have some connection to nature but far from all. Pretty much all do in some form enjoy the outdoors but we don't have a word describing bushcraft so we simply use the English term. Isn't that a bit strange?

For me personally the term bushcraft describes at its lowest level some basic knowledge like types of plants, edible mushrooms, trees, fish, animals, insects, use of a knife, ax and probably some sort of saw, land navigation using a map and compass and how to get a fire going using matches. It might also be how to fish and how to cook it. The next level might be building shelters, deeper knowledge into use of plants and outdoor cooking. Since hunting is regulated in Sweden we generally can't do any hunting using firearms, or any projectile weapons for that matter, or by building traps. For that you have to take an exam, apply for the right to buy and use hunting rifles and get the right to hunt on someone's property.

The closest word that comes to mind for me to describe bushcraft is the Swedish "friluftsliv" but that is a more general term used for just being or doing something outdoors. It does not however describe a level of knowledge, or experience, being outdoors. It might be so simple that we Swedes, and I think certainly most of countries and people in Scandinavia, are so used to being outdoor and doing bushcrafty things that we haven't thought about a specific term for it. One might even say that it is taken for granted - we simple just do it and enjoy it.

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