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Public holidays in Sweden are called röda dagar, literally ‘red days’, after the colour that’s traditionally used to mark them out on Swedish calendars.

And, in fact, often the evening before eclipses the celebration itself, with Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and Midsummer Eve being some of Sweden’s most important holidays.

In addition, there are several food-focused Swedish traditions that take place throughout the year, such as Waffle Day in March (yep, people just eat waffles) and the many surströmmingsskivor (pickled herring parties) that take place in August. These fun events may not be official public holidays, but are celebrated with gusto nonetheless.

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While Sweden, like other Scandinavian countries, is known for its fish dishes, there are many different flavours, recipes and foods to try. Swedish gastronomy is something special – to be savoured one flavourful meal at a time. From cinnamon buns to pitepalt (meat-filled potato dumplings), here are the most delicious sweet and savoury delights you’ll want to eat again and again in Sweden. Bring an appetite!

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Sweden’s National Day celebrates the day that Gustav Vasa was crowned king in 1523 and the Swedish constitution was adopted in 1809.

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This Scandinavian country is located in Northern Europe and sports are considered as one of the country's biggest obsessions.

Around half of the country's population actively take part in one form of a sport or two. As with most European countries, football is almost like a religion to the Swedish public. Some of the best football players in the world are from Sweden such as Johan Elmander, Rasmus Elm, and Zlatan Ibrahimović.

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The hambo is a dance with a fixed pattern and tunes almost always have a corresponding eight measure structure. In Sweden, the hambo is in the gammaldans (old-time dance) tradition that, despite the name, arose fairly recently around the beginning of the 20th century.

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Swedish language, Swedish Svenska, the official language of Sweden and, with Finnish, one of the two national languages of Finland. Swedish belongs to the East Scandinavian group of North Germanic languages. Until World War II, it was also spoken in parts of Estonia and Latvia.

Fun Fact: After Sweden ceded Finland to Russia in 1809, the role of Swedish was gradually reduced in that country. Since independence (1917), however, Finland has accepted Swedish as a national language and has taught Swedish in its schools, but less than 6 percent of the Finnish population uses it. Swedish is spoken by about 90 percent of the population of Sweden, and Swedish-language literature is rich and distinguished.

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Christianity has a longstanding presence in Sweden. From the 11th to the 16th century, Catholicism was the main religion of the country. The Church of Sweden (a part of the Lutheran tradition in Protestantism) emerged as a national church during the Protestant Reformation and has remained dominant ever since.

Fun Fact: Although over half of the population (60.2%) identify with the Church of Sweden, church attendance is considerably low. Most Swedes who active Christians usually attend church for significant rituals and ceremonies, including baptisms, marriages and funerals. For some, the Church of Sweden provides a cultural identity and thus may be nominally Christian. According to surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center, three-quarters of Swedes show low levels of religious commitment and 65% seldom attend religious services.²

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The traditional meatball has a very important role in Swedish cuisine. It’s served both as an everyday meal and as special meals during the holidays. Christmas, Easter, Midsummer – the meatball will be there along with some other things on this list.

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Räkmacka is an open-faced sandwich, generally served on rye bread. It’s topped with lettuce, mayonnaise, egg, dill, caviar, and a generous amount of shrimp.

The sandwich serves both as an appetizer or as a main dish. Generally, the amount of shrimp on the sandwich tells quite a bit about the standard of the restaurant.

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Smulpaj is a summer favorite, and it’s made with whatever berries or fruits are in season.

Later during the fall season, it’s also popular to make apple pie this way. The pie is preferably served warm with whipped cream or custard.

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The whipped cream has been a given part of the recipe since at least the 16th century, and the almond paste was added to the recipe approximately 300 years later in the 1850s.

It’s supposed to only be eaten on “fettisdagen”, but nowadays it’s so popular it’s available in bakeries from the end of Christmas throughout March.

Bakeries have in the past years also begun to make new interpretations of this classic, adding chocolate or nuts or serving them as wraps.

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The most popular sports that Swedes play are handball, football, golf, athletics and gymnastics. Other common games played or competed in are tennis, ice hockey, basketball, table tennis and bandy.

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One of the country’s largest festivals, midsommar is a big deal in Sweden. Midsommarafton (Midsummer’s Eve) is the main event, with dancing around maypoles, singing, eating and drinking copious amounts being the order of the day.

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Fettisdagen is Shrove Tuesday, the day before Christians traditionally begin their Easter fast. And like many other countries, Swedes celebrate with something sweet.

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Waffles are popular in Sweden all year-round, but on våffeldagen, or Waffle Day, these heart-shaped tasty treats are eaten everywhere topped with cloudberry jam and cream, and usually accompanied by a nice strong coffee.

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Commemorating the martyr St Lucia’s death in 603, this celebration involves a candlelit procession of singers dressed in white gowns, the girls wearing a wreath of candles in their hair.

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Christmas Eve is the main event in Sweden, with candlelit processions in church and the whole family tucking into a festive smörgåsbord of ham, pork and fish.

Presents are opened on Christmas Eve and risgrynsgröt is often served too, rice porridge with an almond in it – tradition says that the person who finds the almond will get married within the year.

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The present-day Swedish national folk dress, the Sverigedräkten, was designed and promoted by Marta Palme in 1903 to help promote a feeling of national pride. The colours, blue and yellow, are taken from the Swedish flag

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In Sweden the polska is a turning dance in 3/4 time, usually for couples, who grasp each other firmly and pivot around and around with a smooth, carefully coordinated step. Among its varieties, the gammal polska, or old polska, is the simplest and probably the oldest.

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Scotland has its bagpipes, India its sitar, and Russia the balalaika. The banjo, some say, defines the USA's soul. Musical instruments often become symbols of national, cultural, and ethnic identity. Even each of the seemingly similar Nordic countries of Sweden, Norway, and Finland has a particular stringed instrument that is unequivocally tied to its national identity. The Swedish nyckelharpa, the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle, and the Finnish kantele are focal points of the pride the inhabitants of these countries have in their national musical heritage.

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The Music of Sweden shares roots with its neighboring countries in Scandinavia, as well as Eastern Europe, including polka, schottische, waltz, polska and mazurka. The Swedish fiddle and nyckelharpa are among the most common Swedish folk instruments. The instrumental genre is the biggest one in Sweden.