By Max-Martin Skalenius, European Conservative. (Photo: Casper van Battum/Unsplash)
Every spring, usually around 40 days before Easter, a highly predictable spectacle unfolds across the Swedish media landscape. As the days grow longer, our state broadcasters and major newspapers suddenly discover the profound virtues of religious asceticism, devoting themselves to what seems to be an ancient European tradition. Journalists who normally scoff at anything resembling traditional piety will dedicate pages to the physical and spiritual benefits of abstaining from food and pleasures. They offer helpful guides, respectful interviews, and glowing editorials praising the dedication required to fast. They are, of course, talking about Ramadan.
It is a fascinating paradox to observe in a country that prides itself on having liberated itself from the divine. For generations, the political and cultural elites have systematically dismantled our Christian heritage. They have relegated faith to the absolute margins of society, treating it as an embarrassing relic of an ignorant past. Openly being a devout Christian in the public sphere is to ask for ridicule, and the establishment has worked tirelessly to build a society completely devoid of religious influence. Yet, when a foreign religious practice takes center stage, this same secular elite displays a remarkable level of reverence and accommodation.
What makes this sudden infatuation so revealing is the absolute amnesia regarding our own traditions. Europe already possesses an ancient, rigorous, and profoundly beautiful season of fasting. It is a period that shaped the rhythm of our ancestors’ lives, built our cultural calendar, and formed the spiritual backbone of Western civilization. Long before we became an international experiment in radical secularism, the North was thoroughly Catholic. The Lenten fast was a natural part of every Northerner’s life; it was a physical and spiritual preparation for the Resurrection. It was a time of penance, almsgiving, and intense prayer.
Today, the very concept of this Christian fast is entirely alien to the average citizen. We have traded a demanding but life-giving faith for spiritually barren consumerism and the cult around a warlord from Mecca. The average Swede knows more about the dietary restrictions of the Islamic holy month than they do about the meaning of Ash Wednesday and the ancient practices of their forefathers.