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How we celebrate Christmas in Sweden
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Advent

On the first Sunday in Advent it is traditional
to put up Christmas decorations both in the home
and around town. We usually decorate our homes
with stars and tomtar Christmas gnomes who can
look a lot like Father Christmas himself. Out in
the town, the streets and shop windows are
decorated with tomtar, and Father Christmases,
lights, stars and other things that are
associated with Christmas.
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A very common decoration you can see in every
house is the advent star. The design of the stars
varies, they are most often made of paper, wood
or ceramic.
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In every town and village you can find a
Christmas tree. In gardens where they dont have
a Christmas tree people decorate trees and bushes
with electric lights.
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The candleholder with seven candles is common.
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One Swedish tradition is the Christmas calendar,
a childrens TV series, made new for each year.
It is very much appreciated by all the children
in the country, who follow every episode from the
first of December all the way to Christmas Eve.
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Children also have a Christmas calender in their
homes where they open one shutter each day from
the 1 st of December till the 24 th.
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In the beginning of December, it is usual to bake
lussekatter and peppar kakor sweet saffron buns
and ginger snaps. Some people also make a
gingerbread house.
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A nice December tradition is to meet with friends
to drink GLÖGG, a hot spicy drink, and eat ginger
snaps, saffron buns and other pastries.
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Lucia The Eve of St Lucy
Lucia and her choir sing Christmas songs and
songs written specially for Lucia.
On December 13th, all over the country, we
celebrate Lucia. Lucias choir consists of
stjärngossar and tärnor star boys and maids
Lucias attendants, and Lucia herself, of course.
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The star boys are also dressed in white and wear
cornet hats.
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Food plays an important roll in our Christmas
traditions. Traditionally, the food which is
prepared and served at Christmas is made from
Swedish raw materials even if some foreign foods
are being used nowadays. Some of the dishes
which are always served are the Christmas ham
(which is also served at Easter), many different
varieties of pickled herring, cooked potatoes,
salmon, Janssons potatoe dish (an augratin dish
with ansjovies), herring sallad, beet sallad and
finally dopp i grytan (a dark bread which is
dipped in the broth which the ham was cooked in).
People either drink a special juniper drink or
Christmas beer with their food. In addition,
aquavit is usually served.
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Pickled herring and cooked potatoes
Janssons potatoe dish
Salmon and beet sallad
The Christmas ham
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In addition, we eat a variety of sausages,
stockfish (a specially prepared fish which has
been dried over the summer and soaked in lye the
last weeks before Christmas), spareribs,
meatballs and a variety of bread and cheeses.
The traditional beverages are a juniper drink,
Christmas beer or water. The main meal is usually
served between 1 p.m.-2 p.m. and during Christmas
Eve we eat nuts, dates, fruits and candy. In the
evening we eat rice porridge with suger and
cinnamon (a fun custom is to put a whole almond
in the porridge and the person who ends up with
the almond is said to get married in the coming
year). We also snack on the leftovers from the
earlier meal.
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Stockfish with cooked potatoes, ham with brown
beans and beet sallad, Christmas porridge and
fruits and nuts
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Santas and elves are seen everywhere as
decorations
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Traditional Christmas flowers are azalea,
hyacinth and pointsetta
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A relatively recent tradition is to gather the
family and watch Disney Times Christmas program
on television at 3 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
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On Christmas Eve, when the presents lie under the
Christmas tree and the children have seen Disney
Time on the TV, then the children sit and wait
for Father Christmas to come.
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Christmas is most often celebrated with family
and friends at home. Another alternative which
has become increasingly popular is to take a
charter trip to a sunny destination such as the
Canary Islands or Thailand.
New Years Eve is celebrated both at home with
private parties and at restaurants . It is not
as tradition-bound as Christmas and is usually
celebrated with good friends, for the younger
generation as well as the older generation.
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Sweden wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy
New Year!
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Im already longing for Christmas to come.