Planning to visit Sweden in 2019? Get the most out of your experience! Learn here about the most important holidays in Sweden - fast and easy with SwedishPod101!
| January 6, 2019 | Epiphany |
| March 8, 2019 | International Women’s Day |
| March 25, 2019 | Waffle Day |
| April 19, 2019 | Good Friday |
| April 30, 2019 | Walpurgis Night |
| May 1, 2019 | May 1st |
| May 13, 2019 | Children’s Day |
| June 6, 2019 | National Day |
| June 25, 2019 | Midsummer Day |
| September 21, 2019 | Islamic New Year |
| October 4, 2019 | Cinnamon Buns’ Day |
| November 2, 2019 | All Saints’ Day |
| November 10, 2019 | Father’s Day |
| December 2, 2019 | First Sunday of Advent |
| December 13, 2019 | Lucia |
| December 26, 2019 | Boxing Day |
How well do you know holidays in Sweden?
In this article, you learn all about the top Sweden holidays and the traditions and history behind them. Check the must-know Swedish vocabulary for popular holidays in Sweden too!
That way, you can easily talk about Swedish holidays while improving your vocabulary and overall speaking skills. You will pick up key vocab, phrases, and cultural insights you won’t find in a textbook.
Perfect for any student interested in learning more about Swedish culture. We will teach you the what, why, when and how of Sweden holidays.
Also called trettondedag jul in Swedish, Epiphany is the celebration and commemoration of The Three Kings who followed a star to find the toddler Jesus and offered him their gifts. It’s considered a public holiday.
International Women’s Day is a day all about celebrating women and showing them appreciation for all they do. Though not a public holiday in Sweden, people may still show their appreciation for women by giving them gifts such as flowers.
In the beginning, we celebrated Annunciation Day, also known as Our Lady Day. Since the word “Day of Our Lady” sounds pretty much like the “Waffle Day” in Swedish, the Swedes have invented a new tradition and eat waffles with jam and cream on this day instead.
Good Friday is observed in order to remember the crucifixion of Jesus and his death, and is typically celebrated two days before Easter Sunday. On this public holiday, it’s common for Christians to attend church services in memory of this important Christian historical event.
In the past, when Christianity came to Sweden, it was believed that witches during Walpurgis Night rode on broomsticks or goats to old sacrifice sites, and made mischief in the Devil’s company. To disarm these horrible things, people lit fires and made noises. Walpurgis Night was therefore really about protecting yourself from witches, and warding off the evil spirits. Nowadays, there are very few people that would think of scaring away witches on Walpurgis Night. Nowadays, we usually make a big fire where people gather around, sing songs, grill sausages, and just have a nice cozy time together.
May 1 is usually the day that different left-wing organizations demonstrate and hold meetings around the world, and this definitely occurs in Sweden! The first May Day Demonstration was held in Sweden during the 1890s.
Starting in 1905, Sweden began observing Children’s Day, which is essentially a day on which to celebrate children and recognize their importance as the future generation of the world.
The National Day is celebrated on June 6 partly because it’s the date when Gustav Vasa was elected King of Sweden in 1523, and Sweden became an independent country. Duke Charles also signed the new 1809 Constitution Act on the same date, and the Swedish Parliament took the first decision in 1973 in relation to the Constitution Act of 1974. Since 2005, Sweden’s National Day has also been a public holiday. One of the reasons for making the National Day a public holiday was that many immigrants were surprised that the Swedes didn’t celebrate their national day. Some may raise the Swedish flag, some may eat some sandwich cake, but most people don’t do anything at all.
Midsummer is celebrated near the summer solstice, which is the date when the day is the longest and the night is the shortest. The purpose of celebrating this day is really just to enjoy the longest day of the year. The correct day to celebrate Midsummer should really be June 21, when the summer solstice typically occurs. On Midsummer Eve, it’s tradition to put up a maypole, which is shaped like a cross and covered with leaves and flowers. People then dance around the pole in a large group and sing different songs, often accompanied by an accordion. Women and children usually make their own wreaths of leaves and flowers and wear them in their hair.
The Islamic New Year marks day one of Muharram, the first month of Islam’s calendar. It has no set date in the Gregorian calendar due to the difference between the calendars.
Cinnamon Bun Day isn’t a bank holiday in Sweden—it’s simply a yearly themed day. During 1999, Kaeth Gardestedt had a mission to come up with a great, fun way to celebrate the Home Baking Board’s 50th birthday, and therefore she invented Cinnamon Bun Day. During 1999, October 4 was International Children’s Day, and Kaeth thought it would be an appropriate day to pick, taking into consideration that Cinnamon Bun Day was supposed to be a day about caring.
All Saints’ Day is now always celebrated on a Saturday between October 31 and November 6. This has confused some people who used to celebrate All Saints’ Day on November 1, so there’s actually another day with nearly the same name (allahelgonadagen) which falls on November 1. In Sweden today, it’s thought that All Saints’ Day should be a day filled with peace and quiet, and you should ideally spend this day with your closest family, mourn, and think of those who have passed away.
Father’s Day is celebrated in Sweden on the second Sunday in November, to make sure it isn’t celebrated too close to Mother’s Day. When the holiday first came to Sweden, there were many seniors who were initially negative towards the day, and people thought it was fawning over the dad too much. A common way to celebrate Father’s Day is by bringing them breakfast in bed with coffee, cake, flowers, and a gift.
An Advent candle holder has four candles, and you light a candle for each Advent Sunday as a form of a countdown to Christmas. Advent Stars were introduced in Sweden in the 1930s; these are a big shining star that people hang up in their window. The Advent Calendar came to Sweden from Germany, and it’s a sheet of paper with 24 paper doors on it that countdown the days before Christmas. You open a door every day, and behind the door you can find a funny picture or something else.
Nowadays Lucia is celebrated in Swedish schools, where the children often select a girl to be Lucia, while the other girls are maids. Lucia is dressed up in a white gown, with candles in her hair and a red silk sash. Lucia, the maids, and the star boys then sing Lucia songs for the rest of the school. There’s also one Lucia selected in each municipality and one girl becomes Sweden’s Lucia.
Boxing Day is celebrated the day after Christmas and serves as an extension of the holiday. Its roots are debated, but many people choose to spend this day with family or close friends, eating leftovers from Christmas.
You may ask why it is advantageous to know Swedish holidays. There are a number of good reasons!
If you’re keen to learn Swedish on your own, there are a number of ways to do this. Why not choose holidays as a theme? You can start by learning about the Swedish culture, so find a video or TV program about holidays in Sweden. Better still - find a video or program about holidays in Swedish, and watch it a few times! That way your ear will get used to the spoken language. You could also watch Swedish movies without subtitles, as this too will train your ear to what correct Swedish sounds like.
If you’re more advanced in Swedish, you can practice your writing skills by writing a letter to your Swedish friend about the holidays video. Or write a short review of the video, and post it on social media! Imagine how impressed your friends will be!
Practice your Swedish pronunciation, and record yourself talking about your holiday in Sweden. Pronouncing words correctly in any language is very important, or you may find yourself saying things you don’t mean!
If you’re an absolute beginner, it would be best to start with a book, a CD series, free PDF cheat sheets and preferably your Swedish friend who can help you. Or, you can start with SwedishPod101, for free!
Holidays in Sweden can also be the perfect opportunity to practice your Swedish! For the best experience, make sure to master at least Level 1 of your Swedish lessons here on SwedishPod101 before you go on holiday to Sweden. Then don’t be shy! Use it with every native speaker you encounter in every situation. Practicing continuously to speak a language is one of the most important habits if you want to become fluent. Or, if you’re a new subscriber to SwedishPod101 in a hurry to get to Sweden, study Absolute Beginner Swedish for Every Day to help you get by as a traveller - you will be surprised how far a little Swedish can go!
SwedishPod101 is uniquely geared to help you master relevant, everyday vocabulary and phrases, pronounced correctly and in the right context - this will set you on the right track. Our courses are perfectly designed to help you in fun ways!
But do have a holiday first. Ideally you will enjoy a different culture with a visit, and enrich your life in ways you cannot imagine. Don’t wait till 2020 to learn Swedish through SwedishPod101 though - it will open a whole new world for you!
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