The ham is first boiled, then painted and glazed with a mixture of egg, breadcrumbs and mustard. Lutfisk is dried ling or sathe soaked in water and lye to swell before it is cooked.

Once all have eaten their fill, Father Christmas himself arrives to wish the gathering a Merry Christmas and distribute the presents.

Swedes are fairly well attuned to the rhythms of nature. At Midsummer, many begin their five-week or so annual holidays. Everyone is in a hurry to get things done during the relatively short summer season. Midsummer Eve is usually celebrated in the countryside, which means that on the day before, everyone leaves town, everything closes and the city streets are suddenly spookily deserted.

The country’s main thoroughfares, on the other hand, are normally packed. Queues of cars stretch away into the distance, and at the end of the road, family and friends wait among silver birches in full, shimmering bloom.

Maypoles and dancing

Midsummer is normally an occasion of large gatherings − and to be honest, many Swedes take advantage of it to fulfil their social obligations so that they can enjoy the rest of their holiday in peace. In many cases, whole families gather to celebrate this traditional high-point of the summer.

The maypole is raised in an open spot and traditional ring-dances ensue, to the delight of the children and some of the adults. Teenagers tend to stay out of it and wait for the evening’s more riotous entertainment.

When is it?

Swedes like the world to be well-ordered, so Midsummer Eve is always a Friday between 19 and 25 June. People often begin the day by picking flowers and making wreaths to place on the maypole, which is a key component in the celebrations.

Normally, the King and Queen of Sweden take part in a ceremony at Skansen, Stockholm’s open-air museum, on the National Day. The yellow and blue Swedish flag is run up the mast, and children in traditional peasant costume present the royal couple with bouquets of summer flowers.

Special ceremonies welcoming new Swedish citizens are also usually held around the country on National Day.

The beginnings

The last time people in general took an active interest in Sweden as a nation-state was at the turn of the century (around 1900, that is) when national-romantic winds were blowing through the country and folklore societies and local history museums were established.

It was then that 6 June first became a day of celebration.

Back in the early 1900s, Sweden introduced restrictions on river crayfishing. This was due to the risk of over-fishing, and the season was then limited to a couple of months from August. Crayfish thus became an exclusive and much sought-after delicacy. The crayfish population in rivers and lakes has also been decimated on a number of occasions by a dreaded parasitic mould.

Today, imported crayfish are on sale all year round, but few Swedes are prepared to abandon the seasonal tradition. In early August, the media set the scene for the feast with detailed tests of the current year’s offerings, tips from celebrities and lists ranking the various crayfish brands for sale in supermarkets.

In some years, Chinese crayfish are deemed best, in others those imported from the US. But Swedish crayfish − needless to say − always win. The trouble is, they are very expensive. Whatever their origin, crayfish in Sweden are cooked as the Swedes like them – in a brine, with plenty of crown dill.

The very few who have private access catch their own crayfish, of course. As the little creatures like the dark, they can be found crawling along the bottom. They are caught in wire traps and the bait is often rotten or raw fish. Crayfish must be alive when placed in the saucepan of boiling water for food hygiene reasons.

Halloween is a relatively new custom in Sweden. It has only been celebrated in Sweden since the 1990s, and has rapidly become established in the country. By the beginning of November, Sweden is enveloped in darkness and the long working weeks stretch away endlessly.

There are no public holidays or extended weekends in the calendar between the summer holiday and All Saints’ Day. Halloween heralds the schools’ autumn break and represents a welcome diversion in the gathering dark.

Dress parties and pumpkins

The occasion is mainly celebrated by children and teenagers. They go to fancy-dress parties and ghost parties, light lanterns and venture forth into the streets to scare the life out of the neighbourhood. Many pubs and restaurants stage Halloween parties and decorate their premises with fearsome attributes. Halloween has come to stay.

On the island of Öland in the southern Baltic Sea, the arrival of Halloween has led to an upswing in pumpkin growing, and the giant fruits are now quite readily available.

The countless points of light from the candles and lanterns placed on graves form beautiful patterns in the snow and lend a special feel to the landscape. People also lay flowers and wreaths on graves on All Saints’ Day. A jar of flowering heather stands up well to the cold.

First day of winter

In southern Sweden, outdoor work is nearing completion, while in the north, All Saints’ Day marks the first day of winter and the traditional start of the alpine ski season.

Until recently, shops and stores were closed to mark the occasion. Although this is no longer the case everywhere, most Swedes take the day off, and those who don’t visit cemeteries usually stay at home with the family and cook an ambitious meal of some kind. Many churches organise concerts to celebrate All Saints’ Day.

The annual candlelit Lucia procession on 13 December is perhaps one of the more exotic-looking Swedish customs, with girls and boys clad in white full-length gowns singing songs together.

The real candles are now sometimes replaced with battery-powered ones, but there is still a special atmosphere when the lights are dimmed and the sound of the children singing grows as they enter from an adjacent room.

Tradition has it that Lucia is to wear ‘light in her hair’, which in practice means a crown of electric candles in a wreath on her head. Each of her handmaidens carries a candle, too. Parents gather in the dark with their mobile cameras at the ready.

The star boys, who like the handmaidens are dressed in white gowns, carry stars on sticks and have tall paper cones on their heads. The Christmas elves bring up the rear, carrying small lanterns.
Who gets to be Lucia?

There used to be a competition for the role of Lucia – on national TV as well as on a local level in towns and schools all over the country. Local newspapers invited subscribers to vote for one or other of the candidates. Today, no national ‘Lucia of Sweden’ is elected and schools often let chance decide who’s to be Lucia, for example by organising a draw.
Lucia − the bearer of light

Alongside Midsummer, the Lucia celebrations represent one of the foremost cultural traditions in Sweden, with their clear reference to life in the peasant communities of old: darkness and light, cold and warmth.

Lucia is an ancient figure with an abiding role as a bearer of light in the dark Swedish winters.

The many Lucia songs all have the same theme:

Most Swedes know the standard Lucia song by heart and can sing it, in or out of tune. On the morning of Lucia Day, the radio plays some rather more expert renderings, by school choirs or the like.

The Lucia celebrations also include ginger snaps and sweet, saffron-flavoured buns (lussekatter) shaped like curled-up cats and with raisin eyes. You eat them with Swedish mulled wine (glögg) or coffee.

To some Swedes, the religious origin of Easter is important, with churches across the country welcoming people to observe Easter over several days.

To others, Easter is first and foremost a chance to get together with family, relatives and loved ones over traditional food, such as cured salmon, herring, eggs and roast lamb.

Swedish Easter - The origins

In Sweden, the Easter celebrations used to begin with the three days of Shrovetide, full of carnivals, games and revelry. Activities included playfully thrashing each other with birch twigs and tobogganing down steep slopes. People were also supposed to mark Shrove Tuesday by eating seven hearty meals before observing a 40-day fast.

On Easter Saturday, the celebrations turned joyful, and people began eating eggs again. Eggs were sometimes painted in different colours, probably because they were often given away as presents. In the 1800s, Swedes began filling paper eggs with sweets. In western Sweden, the practice was to light bonfires, fire shotguns and shout to scare away witches. The custom of bringing birch twigs into the house and decorating them with coloured feathers dates back to the 1880s.

Important holiday in Christianity

Easter is one of the principal holidays, or feasts, of Christianity and marks the resurrection of Christ. It begins on Palm Sunday in celebration of Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem. In the old days, you were not allowed to spin or chop wood on Maundy Thursday, as this might intensify Christ’s suffering. Good Friday commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus. It has been a quiet day in Swedish tradition, spent in silent contemplation. People dressed in black and ate salty food without anything to drink. Easter Sunday celebrates the resurrection of Jesus.

Walpurgis Night – Valborg in Swedish – is a spring kick-off. On the last day of April, bonfires will be lit across the country, and songs of spring will be sung. The Walpurgis celebrations are not a family occasion but rather a public event, and local groups often take responsibility for organising them to encourage community spirit in the village or neighbourhood.

Chorals and nettle soup

Choral singing is a popular pastime in Sweden, and on Walpurgis Night virtually every choir in the country is busy. In many villages and neighbourhoods, bonfires are lit at dusk, and people gather to experience that rosy red glow in the face from the heat of the fire and the freezing cold at the back. The spring sun may keep people warm, but when it sets the nights are still chilly. Once the fire dies, many people move on to pubs and restaurants or to friends’ parties.

A dish to warm you up at a time like this is nettle soup. Nettles are, of course, a weed. They quickly appear when the snow melts, contain large amounts of iron and are best when young and fresh.

Swedish Walpurgis Night – the origins

Walpurgis was a saint who lived in Germany in the 8th century, and it was Germans who initially brought the Walpurgis Night tradition to Sweden in the Middle Ages.

Back then, the administrative year ended on 30 April. So it was very apt that this was a day of festivity among the merchants and craftsmen of the town, with trick or treat, dancing and singing in preparation for the forthcoming celebration of spring.

Among farmers and peasants, it was an important day in the calendar as the annual village meeting was held, when a new alderman was chosen and eggs and schnapps were served as refreshments. It was also at Walpurgis that farm animals were let out to graze.

Ever since the early 1700s bonfires (majbrasor, kasar) have been lit to scare away predators. People also fired guns, shook cowbells or yelled and screamed to keep the predators at bay.

In some parts of the country, young people went round singing May songs in return for gifts of food on Walpurgis Night. Those who gave them nothing were treated to a ‘nasty’ ditty. Elsewhere, people visited spas to drink the health-giving water and to amuse themselves.

Bring the student cap

A common sight on Walpurgis Night in Sweden are students wearing their characteristic student cap, normally white with a black peak, and sing songs of welcome to spring, to the budding greenery and to a brighter future. For upper secondary school students in their final year, Walpurgis is also an occasion to celebrate that they are about to graduate.