Posts tagged with "jul"

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.

The Swedish Christmas tree

Posted by jennie 2 Comments
Dec 23 2011

It’s the day before the dipping day, only one episode is left of the thrilling tv-advent calender “Tjuvarnas jul” and the countdown is down to hours, not days. Julafton awaits around the corner and today is the day when many families will bring in the mother of all Christmas decorations, the all important and wonderful Christmas tree.

The tradition with bringing in and decorating a Christmas tree can be traced back to the 18th century. Back then, the were mostly decorated with edible things, like sweets and fruits. And real candles, of course! The most imidiate fire hazard was prevented by hanging apples on the tip of the branches, this to make the branches heavier and the candles further apart. When the Christmas tree tradition spread beyond the upper class, home made decorations  from straw and paper became popular. Lots of tiny Swedish flags was also fashionable back in the days.

As we all know you can put pretty much anything you like in your Christmas tree. But in general, you will probably find the following in a Swedish Christmas tree:

Christmas tree (Julgran)
* A star to put in the top to symbolise the star of Bethlehem (Stjärna)
* Electric candles (Ljusslinga)
* Tinsel (Glitter)
* Glass baubles in any colour (Julgranskulor)

Quite often you can also find the following:
* Decorations made of straw, for exanple goats, hearts and stars
* Lollipops (Polkagrisar)
* Christmas crackers (Smällkarameller)

So what do you do then once your tree is there in its pride and glory? Well in Sweden, we dance around it. Hand in hand, like a big circle with the tree in the middle. There are certain dedicated dance-around-the-Christmas-tree-songs that you are supposed to sing while you are swinging away. To be fair, I’m not sure how many families who acctually do this on Christmas eve, but it’s certainly a tradition in nurseries and schools.

And finally, what do you do once you have gotten tired of your Christmas tree? Well, you throw it out with a big party of course. It’s tradition to throw it out on Twentieth Day Knut, that falls on January 13 and on this day you should have a party and dance around the Christmas tree for the last time before “plundering” it.

What have you got in your Christmas tree?

Julafton!!!

Posted by Transparent Language 5 Comments
Dec 24 2008

It’s julafton (Christmas eve) and in Sweden it means many things, but the most important of them all will start at 3PM on SVT1. Kalle Anka!!! The sacred Swedish Christmas tradition!

How did Donald Duck become a staple of Swedish Christmas cheer, I am not really sure. Nobody is. But the fact is, it’s not really a proper Swedish Christmas without Kalle Anka.

It’s not really Christmas without a fully loaded julbord, either. Because we are picky eaters, we have a modified julbord – we’re not fans of lutefisk in this house.

But a traditional julbord should include:

  • -    julskinka (Christmas ham)
  • -    julkorv (Christmas sausage)
  • -    sylta (a very odd thing, which I actually quite like, known in English either as “head cheese” or “brawn” but it’s not cheese, and the head in question belonged either to a calf or pig, OK?)
  • -    köttbullar (meatballs)
  • -    prinskorv (more sausage, this one is normally fried)
  • -    inlagd sill (pickled herring)
  • -    strömming (more herring)
  • -    lax (salmon)
  • -    lutefisk (eh, that thing, which is fish cured in lye)
  • -    rödbetssallad (red beet salad) and other mostly pickled veggies
  • -    potatis, boiled, dilled, or a as a salad.
  • -    and of course risgrynsgröt (rice pudding). My friend’s grandma makes the best risgrynsgröt ever, and since I normally don’t eat dairy products, coming from me, this is a huge compliment, indeed.

Even though Sweden is a relatively small country (when compares to the US, for example), different regions have their own regional varieties of julbord food, too. In Norrland, it’s not uncommon to find moose or reindeer meat dishes amongst all the fish and pork and beef.

And now, if you excuse me, det är dags för Kalle Anka och hans vänner. And presents, because in Sweden we give Christmas presents on the 24th.

God Jul till alla mina läsare!!!

I’ll see you here again on December 27th!

image: Wikipedia, because I’m not that ambitious as a cook. :)

Julmarknad and “skriva ihop”

Posted by Transparent Language 3 Comments
Dec 16 2008

This year, because I was away, I missed our local julmarknad. No big deal, really, because it’s tiny and not all that interesting (went last year, and the year before, and the year before-before, and so on) and held only during one weekend at our local skansen-type attraction – Gammlia. Yet, the official city hall statistics say that this year over 32 000 people visited the julmarknad. Which means either it was super-fabulous, or simply shows you just how little else is there to do in December.


Taken at least year’s mini-julmarknad downtown.

Anyway, what’s “julmarknad”? A Christmas market, of course.

  • jul (def. julen, pl. jular, def. pl. jularna) – en högtid som firar Kristi födelse kring 25 december – Christmas
  • marknad (def. marknaden, pl. marknader, def. pl. marknaderna) – ställe där folk samlas för att köpa och sälja saker – market

You add these two words together and end up with “julmarknad.” Easy, isn’t it?
And do you notice how this “double” word is written together, without a space between the compound nouns? Most of those “new” words made by putting together other words are written “together.” Of course, there are exceptions, after all we wouldn’t need to learn any grammar whatsoever if there were no exceptions the rules, right?

So, this rule in Swedish is drilled into kids as “skriva ihop” meaning simply “write together.” Luckily, Swedish is a lot more sensible than German and rarely will you see those massive words than can go on for a whole line of text.

Here are other “written together” words appropriate for the season:

  • julafton – Christmas eve, Dec 24.
  • julbock – traditional Christmas goat (made out of straw)
  • julbord – Christmas buffet
  • juldag – Christmas day
  • julgran – Christmas tree
  • julgransbelysning – Christmas tree lights (this word consists of not two, but three separate nouns: jul+gran+belysning)
  • julklapp – Christmas present
  • julkort – Christmas card
  • jullov – Christmas (school) break
  • julmust – traditional Swedish soft drink that people drink during Christmas time, personally can’t stand the thing, tastes a bit like root beer.
  • jultomte – Santa Claus
  • jultid – Christmas time

And how do you figure out if these nouns are “en” or “ett”? Quite simple. The last word in the compound noun rules. So, “julafton” is an “en” noun, but “julbord” is an “ett” noun.

Oh, and one more thing. Notice that “jul” in Swedish doesn’t have to be capitalized. In English we write “Christmas.” In Swedish, it’s simply “jul.”

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