I guess most citizens in every country are patriots in some way. In Sweden this usually reveals itself when we win something, or when Swedish people succeed world wide.
Take for example ABBA, Björn Borg and Zlatan Ibrahimović, bring these up with a Swede and he/she will definitely light up and be proud of what small Sweden can accomplish.
We suck at celebrating our country though. Our national day actually became a national holiday as late as 2005, and not many people even bother celebrating it. Personally I don’t really care, I like Sweden but I don’t find it necessary celebrating it on a special day every year, so I guess I’m like most Swedes there.
Americans on the other hand must be the world champions of patriotism. As you might expect after reading the text above, a Swede could find the way Americans expose their patriotism a bit odd, but when seeing a video like the one below, I still wish we could be a bit less Swedish, a bit more American sometimes.
While listening to Whitney Houston doing this amazing version of The Star-Spangled Banner at Super Bowl, one can really feel the electric atmosphere at the stadium. Makes me shiver.