How Swedes celebrate Easter - A guide
Swedish Easter is a rather unique celebration that starts on Maundy Thursday and runs until Easter Monday – with Holy Saturday marked as the main day for festivities. In recent decades, it’s been largely secularised, yet incorporating a blend of Christian, folkloric and Old Norse traditions.
To get in the right mood, Swedes dress up a birch twig with coloured feathers a while before Easter. A nice way to get some colour in house, long before the spring flowers arrive. On Maundy Thursday, children dress up as colourful Easter witches and walk from door-to-door with self-made Easter cards that are exchanged for sweets. This custom – rather like a less menacing version of “trick or treat” – draws from folklore believes that the witches flew on a broom to the mythical island of ‘Blåkulla’ to mingle with the devil.
Food and candy however play the leading role during Easter. Tables are laid smorgasbord-style, brimming with Swedish food spanning egg dishes, lamb, herring and salmon as well as more recent vegan alternatives. Easter is also associated with Swedish candy, particularly the pick and mix variety so cherished by locals. Adults eat candy, too. Stuffing ourselves with gummies, hard candy and liquorice is a tradition that has continued blossoming since the 1930s. It’s estimated that the average Swede consume around one kilo of candy during the Easter weekend.
Like here in The Netherlands, Easter is foremost about spending time with family. Painting boiled eggs together then eating them for lunch being one of the more common activities. Some families hide the sweets-filled Easter eggs outside and have the kids search for them.
Other customs, mainly in the southwestern parts of the country, include Easter bonfires – ‘påskbrasor’ – lit on Holy Saturday to fend off evil spirits (Easter witches included) said to be at large during the crucifixion of Christ. The first recording of these fires dates to the 19th century when Dutch merchants introduced the custom to Gothenburg.
The Embassy is open as usual on Maundy Thursday. Closed on Good Friday and Whit Monday. Click here to see our general opening times.
Sources: Sweden.se, VisitSweden.nl
