Holidays

Holidays in Sweden

With the exception of 1 May and the Midsummer Festival, all public holidays in Sweden belong to the church year and thus largely coincide with those in Germany. Many other feast and commemorative days are shifted to the following Saturday and are thus no longer holidays in the original sense.

In addition, Sweden has a large number of celebrations on certain days, but these are not recognized by law and are thus classified as full working days. In some cases, these celebrations also fall on a Sunday by design.

Overview

New Year’s Day – on January 1

Holy Three Kings (“Trettondedag Jul”) – on January 6

Kariffritag – two days before Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday – after the first full moon in spring

Easter Monday – one day after Easter Sunday

Labor Day – on May 1

Ascension Day – 39 days after Easter Sunday

Swedish National Day – on June 6

Midsummer Festival (“Midsommardagen”) -between June 20 and June 26

1st Christmas Day – on December 25

2nd Christmas Day – on December 26

Worth knowing about selected holidays

Trettondedag Jul

The Christmas season doesn’t end in Sweden with the 13th day after Christmas – here the celebrations continue until “Tjugondedag Knut”, which is the 20th day after Christmas. Some say this extension of the Christmas season had its origins in the church’s attempt to compete with the Vikings’ extended celebrations.

Others think it is related to Knut IV, canonized king of Denmark, whose name day was moved from January 7 to January 13 in the 17th century. Children eagerly await this time of year, as it marks the beginning of the “Julgransplundring”, meaning they are allowed to raid the sweets from the Christmas tree.

Easter

Easter in Sweden starts as early as Maundy Thursday with children dressed as Easter witches parading around the houses asking for sweets. In addition to the custom of placing fresh birch branches in the home, Easter Sunday involves giving children a cardboard egg filled with candy.

Christmas

At Ascension Day, people in Sweden think of Gökottan and Nykterhetens Day.

Gökottan, is made up of the words “Gök” (cuckoo) and “Ottan” (dawn). It refers to the tradition of going out into nature early in the morning to listen for the first call of the cuckoo.

While this Thursday is also known in Germany as the “feuchtfröhlicher Herrentag”, in Sweden it is known as the “Nykterhetens Dag” (“Day of Alcoholics”), which results not only in various events on the subject, but also in increased alcohol controls. Not only that, Ascension Day in Sweden is also Angler’s Day.

Swedish National Day

Swedish National Day, also known as “Flag Day” since 1916, has only been celebrated as such since 2005. It commemorates the coronation of Gustav Wasa on 6 June 1523, which marked the dissolution of the Union with Denmark, thus Swedish independence.

Midsommardagen

Celebrations for the second largest festival of the year begin as early as Midsummer’s Eve and the following Midsummer’s Night before culminating in Midsummer’s Day on Saturday. Midsummer poles are erected, reminiscent of our German maypoles, and there is dancing to traditional folk music.

To mark the summer solstice, people eat the first young potatoes with sour cream and herring, followed by strawberries with whipped cream. And to go with it – after all, teetotalers’ day was a few weeks ago – Swedish herbal schnapps.