Posts tagged with "easter traditions"

Traditional Easter Smorgasbord

Posted by jennie 5 Comments
Apr 5 2010

Swedes are not the most adventurous people.  That might explain why we eat the same thing on Christmas, Easter and Midsummer – with some minor adjustments depending on the season. Or, do we simply just love our herring (sill), salmon and meatballs?  It is probably just as simple as that, and to be perfectly honest, who wouldn’t?

So, to tickle your taste buds (smaklökar), here’s what you should serve if you want to make a Swede very happy:

Important food no 1: Smoked salmon (rökt lax) and Swedish style rye bread (rågbröd)

Important food no 2: Gravadlax (gravad lax), a cured salmon that has been cured in a mixture of salt, sugar and dill for several days. This stems from back in the days when we used to preserve the fish by burying it in the sand (‘grav’ means ‘grave’ in Swedish, so gravadlax is basically ‘buried salmon’). It ‘s dead easy (ha!) and you can find the recipe we used here.

Important food no 3:  Silltårta (a savoury herring cake made of  rye bread, eggs, herring, creme fraiche and dill) and egg halves with caviar and/or mayo:

Important food no 4: Meatballs, prinskorv (tiny sausages, literaly means prince sausages) and potatoes

Important food no 5:  Herring in all shapes and varieties, such as onion, mustard and garlic. And decorated eggs of course!

(please note the nice big påskris in the background, that’s more like the way it should be…)

Important food no 6: Janssons Frestelse (Jansson’s Temptation) – a potato gratin with anchovies and don’t ask me who Jansson is and why we eat his or her temptation, I have no clue! Does anyone know?

Important drink no 1:  Snaps (shots of Aquavit or other herbal spirits)

(Apart from snaps, Påskmust is a must! You know, the root beer-drink that we also drink at Christmas? But it was sadly nowhere to be found on IKEA this Easter)

There we go! The key ingredients to a perfect Swedish Easter (or Christmas or Midsummer…) Smorgasbord. Of course, this varies depending on family traditions and where in the country you are, but I think it’s safe to say that at least five of the seven above where consumed by almost everyone who celebrated a Swedish Easter the last couple of days.

Did you? What was on your smorgasbord?

Swedish Easter traditions

Posted by jennie No Comments
Apr 1 2010

Easter is upon us (wasn’t it Christmas yesterday?) and today I’ll give you a crash course to the Swedish Easter traditions. There are not many, but there are a few things that you need to embrace if you are going to celebrate a prober Swedish Easter. And I promise you, this post is completely April Fool’s free.

First of all, let’s get some the vocabulary out of the way:
Easter = Påsk (Comes from the Hebrew word “pesach”, which means “Passover”.)
Glad Påsk = Happy Easter
Maundy Thursday = Skärtorsdagen
Good Friday = Långfredagen
Easter Eve/Easter Saturday = Påskafton
Easter Sunday = Påskdagen
Easter Monday = Annandag Påsk

Påskkärringar (Easter witches)
This weekend, Swedish kids will dress up as witches and old men (the boys)  and go door-to-door and sort of trick-or-treating and get candy in exchange for Easter greetings. But why witches? An old legend from the 17th century tells the story about how the witches flew on their brooms to a place called Blåkulla on Maundy Thursday. There, they had a big feast  and did not return until Easter Sunday. To scare the witches away, people lightened fires and fired rifles. This tradition lives on today, but today the rifles are exchanged into firecrackers (påsksmällare) and the fires have turned into big Easter bonfires (påskeldar).

Påskägg (Easter eggs)
The eggs we eat are decorated, as in many other countries. But we also have a cardboard version (non edible…), painted with Easter motives and filled with candy (if you are lucky).

Påskris
Påskris are simply branches (mostly birch) decorated with colourful feathers and other Easter-like stuff. It is the Easter equivalent of Christmas tree but since I couldn’t find any birch in our 10 square meter small garden, I Easter-pimped an old dried chili plant. Not especially impressive, but imagine it being twice as big and a lot livelier, and you’ve got the picture.

Then there’s of course the food! Since we tend to enjoy our big feast on Saturday, I’ll spare you the yummy details until then.

Glad påsk everybody!

Swedish Easter Traditions

Posted by Transparent Language 8 Comments
Apr 7 2009

So, as most of you probably know, this is the week of Easter, known in the Christian tradition as Holy Week. In Swedish, it’s Stilla veckan or Passionsveckan.

And this is how the days of the Holy Week are known in Swedish:

  • Monday – blåmåndag or svarta måndag
  • Tuesday – vita tisdag
  • Wednesday – dymmelonsdag
  • Thursday – skärtorsdag
  • Friday – långfredag
  • Saturday – påskafton

And of course Sunday is known as Påskdagen.
The Swedish word for Easter is Påsk, which comes from the Hebrew word “pesach”, which of course doesn’t mean “Easter” in the Jewish tradition, but Passover.

I have to admit, this is my favorite time of the year. Partly this is due to my wonderful neighbor who bakes up a storm during this week and brings over all sorts of yummy sweets and cakes that are traditionally served during Easter in her native country.

But, how does the Swedish Påsk traditions differ from what is common in other European lands? One difference is the kids who dress up as Easter witches and go door-to-door (at least they do in some neighborhoods) in a manner similar to trick-or-treating and get candy in exchange for Easter greetings. This custom is known as “påskkärring” and I think it’s particularly sweet. In some areas in my part of Sweden, in Västerbotten, the tradition got reversed and it’s the kids who bring candy to the homes they visit.

What else? There are of course Easter eggs – påskägg, which are decorated, as in other countries. But sometimes people refer to those big cardboard eggs filled with candy as “påskägg” as well. Personally, my favorite påskägg are those made of chocolate. Yum!

One tradition that I am not so fond of is “påskris”, simply because I am horribly allergic to most things with branches that sprout leaves or buds. Påskris are simply branches (mostly birch) decorated in a festive manner. It’s an Easter equivalent of Christmas tree.

This year, I’m missing all this wonderful stuff, because I’m abroad.

If you want to know more about Swedish Easter traditions, take a look at this article on the Nordiska museet website. It’s in Swedish, but well worth the effort to read it.

Glad Påsk everybody!!!

PS. The blog is still having some technical issues and I can’t post any photos. Bummer!!!

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