We are going to tell you a little bit about our Traditions and feast that we celebrate here in Sweden. To make it easy for you, we start with the first one of the year. And we’re pretty sure that you celebrate it too.
New Years Eve
Like most of the world, Sweden celebrates the beginning of a new year. And how do we welcome it? With a party of course! You make sure you look pretty, often with a sparkly dress or a nice shirt if you’re a boy. You gather your closest friends or family for a nice dinner. A starter, a main course and a dessert. You often decorate and set the table very nice, with sparkling stars and a nice napkin. How you spend the rest of the evening depends on your age. If you’re a child, you mostly struggle with staying awake. If you’re our age, you might not want to stay at home with your parents anymore. So after the dinner, most of us go out to party with some friends. But no matter how you choose to spend your night, the most important thing is that you celebrate it with people you like. And let’s not forget the New years kiss under the fireworks at midnight.
Valentines Day
This is a tradition that we were influenced by America. It’s not as big as it is in America, but we buy some roses or some heart-shaped candy. In the last couple of years, it has become more common to buy something for a special someone. This is the holiday of love for sure!
Easter
Easter is a Christian holiday, and since Sweden is a multicultural country, not everybody celebrates it. To be honest, the christians in Sweden don’t really celebrate it too much either. We eat a lot of eggs, herring, potatoes and drink our famous ”snaps”. Snaps is only for the adults, the rest of us drinks easter soda. For the kids, we, or should we say the easter bunny, hide these easter eggs full with candy for them to look after. (You like that stuff even if you’re not a kid). And oh, I almost forgot. The kids dress up as a ”påskkärring”, a easter witch that is. It’s almost like halloween, minus the scary part. They go out and knock doors during the day, and give something cute, like a card that says ”happy easter!”. In return, they often get candy.
National Day
Sweden’s National Day is the 6th of June. But since Sweden never really fought for our independence, the celebration of the day is not really that big. It was actually not until 2005 that our national day became a red day. But we do celebrate it in our own way. We flag, and might post something on facebook like: congrats Sweden!
Midsummer
Sweden’s beloved Midsummer. As you might already figured out, it is celebrated in the middle of the summer. The friday between the 19th and the 25th of june to be more specific. This year, midsummer will be on the 21st of june. If you wonder why we celebrate midsummer, it is because the summer solstice. But we mostly celebrate it because it’s a tradition, and it’s fun!
So, how do we celebrate it? Since it is in the middle of the summer, the flowers are everywhere. So most of us make a pole out of flowers. We call it a midsummer pole. In the middle of the day, we gather and dance funny dances around it. The song that’s our number one song is called ”little frogs”. If you don’t understand the lyrics, the dance look very ridiculous!
Back in the days, swedes used to put on their folk-costume, but we don’t really do that anymore. In fact, it’s not many swedes that have their own folk-costume. But, a midsummer crown is something that almost everyone does. A self made crown out of flowers that you have on your head during the day.
If you dance around a big flowerpole all day, you got to have something to eat! The food is almost the same as it is on easter. We have herring, potatoes, sour cream with chives. If you don’t like fish, meatballs will most definitely be on the menu too. It’s like a smorgasbord. And to drink? Snaps and beer. We actually drink a lot alcohol on this day. Soda for the kids of course. Strawberries or a strawberry cake for dessert is most common.
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Crayfish party
In the first week of august, a lot of swedes have a crayfish party. And what’s that?, you might ask. Well, in Sweden we have crayfish in our rivers. So if you have the opportunity, you can fish them yourself.
Once you have your crayfish, it’s time for the party. We cook them ourself, which basically means that we boil them in water, salt and dil. But the party is very special. We have small party hats. We also put up lamps just for this occasion. The evening goes on, and we sing some songs, drink and have a great time.
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Halloween/ All saint’s day
Another holiday from America. But Sweden has almost always celebrated All saint’s day, or all hallows day as some people says. This is the day where we light candles at our graveyards. We do that to send a thought to our loved one’s who has passed away.
But in later years, we too dress up in a scary costume, and go out and ask for trick or treat.
Lucia
Lucia celebration in sweden is a custom that has its origins in folklore, legends and historical facts. It is celebrated on the 13th of december, because legend has it that, that’s when the night is the longest. Lucia wears lights in her crown, and she brings the light when it’s the darkest. In kindergarden and in school, they usually dress up and have a ”lucia-train”. So some are lucia, with her crown. And then we have ”tärnor” which is like a bridesmaid to Lucia. The boys can be lucia too, but most of them choose to be a ”stjärngosse”, a starboy that is. Or you can have a gingerbread costume, or be an elf. When you’ve decided what to be, you go out as a train and sing songs about lucia.
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Christmas
The majority of swedes celebrate christmas, and we do it on the 24th of december. Christmas Eve that is. Even though the holiday is to celebrate the birth of jesus christ, we don’t really think of jesus that much. Some people do go to the church, but not the majority. But I can almost promise you that everybody eats a lot. We eat porridge with cinnamon and sugar. Christmas ham. Meatballs, small sausages, herring, eggs, a special potato gratin with anchovy and a lot more. It’s almost the same as on Easter. Another smorgasbord to be honest.
At three o’clock, most swedes put on the tv to watch Donald Duck and his friends. It might seem strange to you, but it’s been a tradition for a very long time. It’s a special show that only airs on Christmas Eve. It’s the same every year, but everyone still loves it. After Donald duck, it’s time for the christmas presents. It’s Santa that brings the presents, and put it under the christmas tree. Sometimes, Santa is there to give it directly to you. And the kids is always afraid of Santa.
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Hanna
I really love this post. I only know some of your feasts, and until now, I hadn't heard anything about the other feasts like Lucia, the Crayfish party, Midsummer or your National day. But after reading this explanation I have learnt a lot about your feasts and how you celebrate them and have fun. My conclusion is that Swedish feasts are really cool!
SvaraRaderaHanna I think your parties are fun! Especially the crayfish party. I think it's a fun way to be with family and I think that if you fish the crayfish, it taste better. I think that the Lucia celebration very interesting too, because you can dress up and sing songs about Lucia.
SvaraRaderaToni Espinosa
Here in Spain, we also celebrate Valentine's Day and Christmas, but my favourite is Halloween, it looks really fun!
SvaraRadera