Swedish Traditions

Swedes have always loved traditions, parties, celebrations etc. (which in many cases is actually just an excuse to drink). Indeed, in almost all the Swedish traditions, there are songs, and at some point in this song you are supposed to drink may it be at the end of the song or sometimes in the middle. Most of the Nordic countries have the reputation of being heavy drinkers, I personally believe that it is due to the cold winters and before having air condition, drinking liquor was a very good way of keeping you warm. Eventually, the drinking habit inherited generation after generation. Here is a description of some of the most important Swedish traditions even though there are many more:

The first tradition I want to explain is called is Swedish “Midsommar”. In modern Sweden, Midsummer's Eve and Midsummer's Day (Midsommarafton and Midsommardagen) are celebrated the Friday and Saturday between 19 June and 26 June. It is one of the most important holidays of the year in Sweden, and reflects in my point of view the most typical image of Sweden you can get. Every time I think about Sweden I think about midsummer, the green grass, blue sky and the red houses with white stripes on the boarder of the roof. The main celebrations take place on the Friday, and the traditional events include raising and dancing around a huge maypole. Before the maypole is raised, greens and flowers are collected and used to cover the entire pole.

At the end of the summer in, you may be lucky enough to experience warm, clear August nights that are almost Mediterranean in character. That’s when Swedes have their crayfish parties. Due to the risk of over-fishing, restrictions on river crayfishing were introduced back in the early 20th century. The season was limited to the end of summer. Today, imported crayfish are on sale all year round, but few Swedes are prepared to abandon the seasonal tradition. The traditional accessories are in my point of view a little bit ridiculous, however, they are always fun to wear and it is also fun to just play the game. The difficulty of actually eating the crayfish causes noisy eating and of course because it is a Swedish tradition, there are many traditional drinking songs, the so-called snapsvisor. The alcohol consumption is often high, especially when compared to the amount of food actually eaten (crayfish shelling is tedious work). It is surprisingly culturally correct to suck the juice out of the crayfish before shelling it.

            The last tradition I want to talk about to avoid making this too long is Santa Lucia or Saint Lucy’s Day. This tradition occurs on the 13^th of December and is originally religious tradition where however, because Sweden is an egalitarian place these days, so any child can be chosen as Lucia for the annual procession at the local daycare center, not just girls with long blonde hair. Saint Lucy's Day is the Church feast day dedicated to St. Lucy. Its modern day celebration is generally associated with Sweden and Norway however; it is also celebrated in other countries. In traditional celebrations, Saint Lucy comes as a young woman with lights and sweets. The boys usually prefer to be Santas (tomtar) or "star boys" (stjärngossar) in the procession, while quite a few girls agree to be Lucia's handmaidens (tärnor). There are many traditional pastries and drinks associated with this tradition, which in my point of view are some of the best in the world.