Posts tagged with "christmas"

Must try Must!

Posted by Katja 3 Comments
Dec 29 2011

Think you have tried all soft drinks? If you haven’t tried the Swedish Julmust then you’ve missed out. In Sweden there are two types of Must, Julmust (Christmas Must) and Påskmust (Easter Must). Sure it is brown, sugary and carbonated but definitely not the same as Coca Cola.

The recipe for Must is a special recipe kept under lock and key. Actually, the only thing different between the two types of Must, Påsk-and Julmust is the label on the bottles. So if you’ve forgotten to buy some Julmust or run out during the Christmas festivities, and happen to have a spare bottle of Påskmust left over from Easter then there’s no shame in drinking that up instead. The same goes for Easter and drinking leftover Julmust.

But the shops can’t charge the same price for a Christmas labelled drink when Christmas is over, so the shops sell all the Julmust at dirt cheap prices. Lucky for the Julmust lovers :) People can buy 4 big bottles of Julmust for 25:- or something like on the after Christmas sales.

If you haven’t tried it, check your nearest IKEA shop or other Ethnic Food store, if you’re lucky they’ll stock it.

Christmas Season Traditions in Sweden

Posted by Marcus Cederström 2 Comments
Dec 27 2011

We’re in those days between New Year’s Eve and Christmas when people kind of laze around, gliding through their work week just trying to get by waiting for one more holiday. So what better time to discuss a few of the different holidays in Sweden around this time?

First, Swedes love vacation days. As they should. Most companies will start you off with at least 25 days of vacation per year. And that doesn’t even count all of the public holidays. December and January are chalk full of them.

In December, there is of course julafton (Christmas Eve), the big Christmas celebration in Sweden. This is the day you’ll be watching Kalle Anka on TV with nearly the entire nation. Unfortunately, it doesn’t count as a red day, those sought after days off from work, but that doesn’t stop most people from taking the day off and many companies giving the entire day off.

Then there’s juldagen (Christmas Day). This is absolutely an official day off from work. This is the day you’ll be recovering from watching Kalle Anka on TV with nearly the entire nation.

Following juldagen comes annandag jul (Boxing Day). Just as the Swedish suggests, this is the day after Christmas. Historically there are religious reasons behind the holiday. Today, it’s just one more day off of work.

Then there is a lull. But have no fear; there are plenty of days off coming up. You just need to wait a week or so for January to roll around.

New Year’s Eve is not an official day off from work. And the traditions vary a bit from American traditions. There is no ball dropping. There is no Dick Clark. There is no countdown. In fact, trying to start a countdown with a bunch of Swedes will get you a lot of strange stares. Just trust me. But instead of a countdown, the Swedes celebrate with fireworks. Try to find yourself a rooftop to look out over whatever city you may be in. It’ll be worth it. Trust me.

New Year’s Day does count as a day off from work. And just like Americans, it’s a day usually used for recovery. Lots and lots of recovery.

Now for a lot of people, that’s it. Holidays are over. Back to work. Nose to the grindstone, no more fun for a while. Not Sweden. There is still one more day off: trettondedag jul. The Epiphany. Again, there are obvious religious reasons for the holiday, but for most Swedes today it is just another day off from work.

Finally comes the 13th of January. This is according to tradition the official end to the Christmas season. That means that you need to get rid of your Christmas decorations. Namely your Christmas tree (which Jennie does a great job of explaining in her post about The Swedish Christmas tree). Back in the day it was common to just toss the tree out of your window, even if you were in a tall apartment building. That’s less popular today and instead collection sites are usually available throughout your city. However, some people still toss Christmas, and the Christmas tree, out the window to mark the end of the season. Like me. From the 14th floor. No one was injured and I enjoyed every second of it. Until I had to clean up the mess that followed. I was picking pine needles up for months.

Safe Driving in Sweden

Posted by Marcus Cederström No Comments
Dec 26 2011

It is no secret that alcohol is a big part of the holiday traditions in Sweden for most people. Not all of course, but most. We’ve documented the crayfish tradition in August, replete with alcohol. We’ve even included a few drinking songs. And while this blog does not speak for all of Sweden, we do try to touch on the cultural mainstays of the Swedish way of life. And that includes drinking. For better or worse.

The insurance company Salus Ansvar seems to understand the prevalence of alcohol at the holidays and has created a mobile app to monitor your state of drunkenness. The app has one main goal. To keep people from driving drunk. The main concern is actually not getting into the car right after a party, but instead getting into a car the next morning with alcohol still in your system. A large percentage of Swedes according to Salus Ansvar are unsure whether or not the alcohol has cleared out their system by the time they are ready to drive in the morning. And that can have serious consequences. Especially in Sweden.

Drunk driving laws in Sweden differ quite a bit from those in the US. The legal limit differs from state to state, but I am from Colorado where the legal limit is .08%. That ends up being a couple of drinks. In Sweden though, the laws are much stricter. In fact, four times as strict. The legal limit is .02%. That essentially means one drink and you are done. No more driving. And if you decide to ignore that and pour a few more drinks into your gullet, you can reach what is considered a higher level of drunkenness. With higher penalties.  That level is .10%.

Salus Ansvars app, titled Körklar? (essentially asking you whether you are safe to drive or not and available at the Apple store if you’re interested in checking it out), takes into consideration factors such as your sex, your weight, the amount of drinks, and the time of consumption. All of these factors are computed to give an idea as to how long it takes your body to clear the effects of alcohol from your system.

Of course, this is not perfect. Each person burns alcohol at a different rate, but it is an interesting solution to a problem many Swedes deal with around the holidays. With apps like these though, the fear is always that you get the occasional idiot who instead of using it to safely monitor themselves, tries to reach a new level of drunkenness. Best advice? Be careful. Don’t drive if you’re drinking, no matter what country you’re in, and if you are going to drink, do so in moderation.

With all that said, god jul och gott nytt år!

The countdown to Christmas!

Posted by jennie 5 Comments
Dec 1 2011

Finally! December is here and today we are properly kicking off the countdown to Christmas. Well, this is  not entirely true, since first of Advent was last Sunday (November 27) and that’s the day when most Swedes goes candles-and-stars-mental and decorate every window possible. You know the story, Sweden is pretty dark and miserably around this time of the year and we need light, light and more light to stay sane. This is what my windows look like – very Swedish but the only difference is that here in England, I’m one of few with decorated windows. It’s in other words easy to spot the Swede on the street! Please feel free to comment on our lovely December weather, wet and 10 degrees warm…

It was a man named Oskar Andersson who invented the world’s first electrical candlestick (adventsljusstake) in 1934. These have been custom in most Swedish homes and possibly thanks to IKEA, they are now spreading across the globe. They consist of seven electrical candles, normally put together in a pyramid shape, and can be made of wood, plastic, stee and you can pend an absolute fortune on one if you feel the need. The red flowers are called julstjärna in Sweden (Christmas star) but I believe the correct name is Poinsettia or Christmas rose. A must in the Christmas window!

Another big milestone in the countdown to Christmas is Julkalendern, the Christmas calendar. It is a Advent calendar in the form of a television show starting on the first of December, and ending on Christmas Eve. The show comes with an Advent calendar and after every show, you open a new window. Every episode is 15 minutes long and is shown either early in the morning, at 7.15 am – it’s a great and very cosy way to start the day!  – or in the evening, at 6 .15 pm. It’s a much loved and old tradition; the first Julkalender was first on Swedish TV in 1960 and has been going every year since. The tradition has spread to the other Scandinavian countries and the national radio has its own julkalender as well.  There’s a new story every year, but the show is normally set somewhere in a wintery Sweden and contains either a mystery or even a few ghosts – and tonnes of Christmas spirit! This year’s julkalender is called Tjuvarnas jul (The Christmas of the thieves) and is a classic fairytail in the spirit of Charles Dickens.Read more about it here and make sure to watch it here! Christmas spirit guaranteed

Oh well, I know it’s early but still: God jul for know, dear blog readers!

Pepparkaksbak

Posted by Katja 5 Comments
Nov 23 2011

To get you all in a lovely spirit of Christmas I’m going to share a recipe for Swedish Pepparkakor. It is relatively easy to make so you should all have a go :)

Time needed: Has to cool over night in fridge

Makes about: 125 cookies

Ingredients:

2,5 dl (1 cup) brown sugar

0,8 dl (1/3 cup) light sirup

0,8 dl (1/3 cup) water

150g (1,3 stick or 2/3 cups) butter or margarine

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cloves

8 dl (3 1/3 cups) flour

1,5 teaspoon baking soda

 

Instructions:

Part 1.

1. Mix the brown sugar, syrup, and water in a saucepan. Let boil.

2. Add the butter or margarine and let it melt. Continue by adding the spices.

3. Let the contents cool without stirring.

4. Mix the baking soda with 3/4 of the flour in a separate bowl (the rest of the flour will be used for working the dough on the counter.

5. Add the flour mixture to the saucepan and work to dough to a ball.

6. Wrap the dough in plastic-wrap and let chill in fridge until next day.

 

Part 2.

7. Turn the oven on to 175°C (or 350°F)

8. Work the dough on a floured surface, kneed the flour into the dough if needed.

9. Roll out the dough and cut out cookies with cutters, or by hand. Place them on a greased tray or tray with oven paper. Let the cookies bake in the middle of the oven between 6-8 minutes.

Let cookies cool before serving. Can be kept in a tin in room temperature or in the freezer. Enjoy your Swedish Pepparkakor!


When talking about Pepparkakor in Sweden we always say to young children that you become good if you eat gingerbread cookies. In Swedish “Man blir snäll av att äta pepparkakor!” Try saying that to your children next time they’re naughty, I bet they’ll like the idea :)

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