[danamco]

My kind of Swede....Skal!

Skal....The Scandinavian/Swedish drinking toast (skal) has a rather macabre background; it originally meant skull. The word has come down from a custom practiced by the warlike and terrorist Vikings who used the dried-out skulls of their enemies as drinking mugs, with the evident advantage that the mug held a large quantity of mead and could be easily replaced.


The Swedes have adopted that from the Danes, which are also Vikings and has ruled over the southern part of Sweden longer than they are now integrating with Sweden. In Danish "Skaal" means bowl. The Swedes use more the word "Pytz" when toasting, meaning a bucket full! The Swedish Snaps glasses are much larger than the Danish Snaps glasses and when they get really drunk their behavior are even worse than that of the Danes!

[tophat9000]

The Swedes have adopted that from the Danes

Yes I know I firs heard of the origin's of the "Skal" toast from my Danish girlfriend and her family many years ago

(a six foot tall blond super brickhouse Danish girlfriend... damm she was gorgeous;>