Christmas is soon approaching so we decided to list some of our favorite Christmas Traditions of Sweden!

Advent

The Christmas season in Sweden begins with Advent, which involves the use of Advent candles and calendars. Advent happens every Sunday leading up to Christmas, and many families will gather and have a fika, and light a candle each Sunday leading up to Christmas and use Advent calendars to count down the days.

St. Lucia’s Day (Luciadagen)

Celebrated on December 13th, St. Lucia’s Day is one of the most significant Swedish traditions. It honors St. Lucia, a saint who is said to bring light in the darkest part of the year. The celebration involves processions with girls dressed in white robes, wearing crowns of candles, and singing traditional songs.

Swedish Christmas Food

Swedish Christmas food, or “julmat,” includes a variety of traditional dishes. Key items are:

julskinka, a glazed Christmas ham; köttbullar, Swedish meatballs served with lingonberry sauce; and prinskorv, small sausages often pan-fried. Gravlax, or cured salmon, is typically served with mustard sauce and crispbread. Janssons frestelse is a creamy casserole with potatoes and anchovies, while rödkål is a sweet and tangy red cabbage dish. Lutfisk is dried fish reconstituted in lye, served with white sauce and peas. Pickled herring, or sill, comes in various flavors. Knäckebröd is a crunchy crispbread, and julgröt is a Christmas porridge traditionally enjoyed with cinnamon and sugar.

Credits: Carolina Romare/imagebank.sweden.se
As for sweets, lussebullar and gingerbread cookies are a must have. These golden, S-shaped lussebullar are flavored with saffron and often decorated with raisins. The saffron gives the buns their distinctive yellow color and unique flavor.
Find a recipe here: Lussebuns Recipe
Glögg is a traditional Scandinavian mulled wine, typically enjoyed during the Christmas season. It’s made by warming red wine with a blend of spices, such as cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and ginger. Glögg is often served with raisins and blanched almonds, providing a warm and festive drink during the cold winter months.
Credits: Emelie Asplund/imagebank.sweden.se

Christmas Eve Traditions (Julafton)

In Sweden, December 24 is the main day for celebrating Christmas, the main family event of the year. Swedes mix customs from home and abroad and most keep the season fairly secular. Families gather for a festive meal, and exchange gifts. Usually, Santa will come visit sometime during the day to give out presents.

At 3 pm, families gather to watch the traditional TV broadcast of Donald Duck and other Disney cartoons, which has been a Swedish Christmas tradition since the 1960s.

For the christmas traditions of Sweden, it is also common to sing and sometimes dance around the Christmas tree during the festive period.

 

We hope you have gained some insight into our wonderful Christmas traditions, maybe you can incorporate some of our traditions into your celebrations?

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