The winner takes it all.

When I was a kid I found Swedish history really fascinating. I knew all the Swedish kings and queens, knew all the important dates and I understood the glory of Sweden. I understood what a great kingdom it is and always has been and even though many have tried to invade - few have succeeded. I knew all this when I was a kid.
What I didn't know was that the Danish king that is called "Christan the Tyrant" in Sweden wasn't really worse than any other king. I grew up reading about the horrors the Danes committed on the Swedes and for reasons I didn't really know, I grew up disliking the Danes.
It's first in my later years when I've digged into the history that I've realised I'm living on occupied soil. That the people called "snapphanar" weren't out to terrorise Swedish villages, but farmers made into soldiers who defended their homes from being wrecked by the Swedish army. I didn't know that the University of Lund was built to make Scania Swedish. I didn't know that the army that burned homes, killed men and raped women did it to "breede out the Danes". I know that this is how things goes in every war everywhere, but it's a different thing when you realise that it's happened where you live. You look at war in another way when you're a child and don't see it first hand - the mental image is more of the rivalry you're having with your siblings over the last piece of dessert than of people bleeding to death.

Scania was "won" from the Danes and a peace treaty was signed in Denmark February 26th 1658. That's 351 years ago this year. You know, I've been reading Swedish articles about Scania and the history of Scania and nothing is mentioned about the horrors or oppression the Scanian people had to deal with. Then I read onto a Danish article and found that everything Danish (language, traditions etc.) were forbidden until 1857 and that Swedish schoolchildren didn't learn anything about this until the 1990's. Scanian people was mocked for the way they speak and are still very much disliked - Scanian is usually always voted to be the most ugly Swedish dialect.

I've always loved our flag though. The Scanian flag is red with a yellow cross - the Swedish is blue with a yellow cross. Many theories exist over why our flag looks that way it does - the most common being that it's the red in the Danish flag (red with a white cross) and the yellow from the Swedish flag. I've heard another reason though, that I find much more fascinating. Scania is known for its many rapeseed-fields. Everywhere you go you can see these yellow squares. The theory is that the yellow symbolizes a big rapeseed-field and the red is all the blood that's floated on the fields.
A former friend of mine from Belgium once told me that he couldn't understand my love for the colours of the Scanian flag and that the Swedish one was much more beautiful. Looking at both flags and only watching the colours and nothing else, I can understand his opinion. Strong red and strong yellow isn't the best match and blue and yellow does go much better together. Of course, for me, I can't see the flags this way and it's very very hard to even try. The Scanian flag is much closer to my heart than the Swedish ever will be and even though I cheer for Sweden in every major championship I dislike the flag they wave. That's not my flag.

The winner really does write history...