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SWEDISH TRADITIONS

‘Like winning the lottery’: Child raises over two million kronor selling charity pins

Twelve-year-old Murhaf Hamid from Glimåkra, southern Sweden, has raised a whopping 2.4 million Swedish kronor selling 'majblommor' flower pins for charity after a viral social media post.

'Like winning the lottery': Child raises over two million kronor selling charity pins
Murhaf Hamid poses with his sales satchel. Photo: private

“It’s like winning the lottery,” Hamid told local news channel SVT Skåne. “You help children and can earn some money yourself.”

Children selling the flower pins are allowed to keep ten percent of the money they earn as commission, as well as any extra tips.

Sales didn’t start out well, family friend Leila Orahman told Sydsvenskan, who were first to report the story, with adults treating Hamid rudely and trying to get him to move on from public areas.

She saw that this was upsetting him and wrote about his fundraising efforts on social media. The post went viral, was picked up by the media and sales exploded.

Hamid was originally hoping he would earn enough to go out for pizza with his friends, but as of Wednesday morning, the 2.4 million kronor for charity plus over 100,000 kronor in personal tips meant he would be able to keep well over a quarter of a million kronor.

Orahman told AFP she was “still very shocked”.

“I’ve shared a lot of posts before but nothing’s ever gone this viral,” she said, adding that the attention the story was getting was about “so much more than just his sales”.

“It’s also raising awareness for the whole situation with a boy who was born in Sweden almost 12 years ago and his family’s (asylum) application still being processed,” she said.

‘I want to buy a residence permit’

Despite being born in Sweden, 12-year-old Hamid has asylum seeker status, meaning that he does not have a residence permit or citizenship in Sweden.

“I wanted to buy a residence permit, but it’s not possible,” he told SVT. “So I’m going to buy clothes, shoes, and maybe a new phone.”

He is also considering investing some of the money, as well as buying gifts for his family, he told Sydsvenskan.

The general secretary of the Majblomman charity, Åse Henell, described Hamid’s sales as “completely unbelievable” in a comment to TT newswire.

“We’re shocked and overwhelmed,” he said. “We’ve never seen anything like it. Children usually raise around a thousand kronor.”

Racist comments

Hamid’s story has also been the subject of racist comments, including one by a self-described Sweden Democrat from Lund referring to Hamid using racist slurs, and writing that a “white, Swedish child” should be getting the attention instead.

The comments, however, brought Hamid’s fundraising efforts to the attention of even more people, who bought flowers from him to show their support.

According to SVT, the Sweden Democrats have distanced themselves from her comments and reported her to their membership committee.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who has bought a pin from Hamid, called his fundraising “a heroic effort” in a Facebook post, where he also addressed the negative comments the child’s story had received.

“To those who write hateful comments to a child on social media – you should be ashamed,” he wrote.

Social Democrat leader and former prime minister Magdalena Andersson also wrote about Hamid’s story, simultaneously criticising Kristersson for cooperating with the Sweden Democrats.

“Attacking a 12-year-old selling majblommor with despicable racist comments is a view which does not belong in Sweden,” Andersson wrote.

“The boundaries for what can be said are moving rapidly in Sweden now – by the Sweden Democrats with Kristersson’s consent. Where do you draw the line, Ulf Kristersson?”

Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch, whose party also collaborates with the Sweden Democrats, also tweeted in support of Hamid.

“Murhaf and everyone else selling majblommor. Thank you for your efforts for our youngest,” she wrote.

“No one should be met with hate. Children should be met with respect and love. All children.”

Member comments

  1. Oh! I saw a person on the Tunnelbana wearing the pin, and i was like “ok, so here´s a SD guy in the wild, that´s interesting!”. Maybe they should do the pins a bit different from the nazi-inspired party logo?

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DANISH TRADITIONS

Why is Maundy Thursday a holiday in Denmark and Norway but not in Sweden?

People in Denmark and Norway have the day off on Maundy Thursday, but people in Sweden still have to work. Why is this?

Why is Maundy Thursday a holiday in Denmark and Norway but not in Sweden?

Maundy Thursday marks the Last Supper, the day when Jesus was betrayed by his disciple Judas at a Passover meal, and depending on whether you’re speaking Swedish, Danish or Norwegian, It is known as skärtorsdagen, skærtorsdag, or skjærtorsdag.

Historically, it has also been called “Shere” or “Shere Thursday” in English with all four words “sheer”, meaning “clean” or “bright”. 

In the Nordics, whether or not it is a public holiday not depends on where you are: workers in Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands get the day off, but those in Sweden and Finland don’t.

The difference goes back to Sweden’s split from Denmark with the breakup of the Kalmar Union in 1523, and then the different ways the two countries carried out the Reformation and the establishment of their respective Lutheran churches. 

When Denmark’s King Christian III defeated his Roman Catholic rival in 1536, he imposed a far-reaching Reformation of the Church in Denmark, initially going much further in abolishing public holidays than anything that happened in Sweden. 

“Denmark carried out a much more extensive reduction of public holidays in connection with the Reformation,” Göran Malmstedt, a history professor at Gothenburg University, told The Local. “In Denmark, the king decided in 1537 that only 16 of the many medieval public holidays would be preserved, while in Sweden almost twice as many public holidays were retained through the decision in the Church Order of 1571.”

It wasn’t until 200 years later, that Sweden’s Enlightenment monarch, Gustav III decided to follow Denmark’s austere approach, axing 20 public holidays, Maundy Thursday included, in the calendar reform known in Sweden as den stora helgdöden, or “the big public holiday slaughter”.

Other public holidays to get abolished included the third and fourth days of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost, ten days celebrating Jesus’ apostles, and the three days leading up to Ascension Day. 

“It was only when Gustav III decided in 1772 to abolish several of the old public holidays that the church year here came to resemble the Danish one,” Malmstedt said. 

At the time Finland was simply a part of Sweden (albeit one with a lot of Finnish speakers). The other Nordic countries, on the other hand, were all part of the rival Denmark-Norway. 

So if you live in the Nordics and are having to work on Maundy Thursday, now you know who to blame.  

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