Swedish Christmas Traditions

Christmas in Sweden is a season of light in the darkest weeks of the year. It begins with candles in the windows at Advent, brightens with the Lucia processions on December 13, peaks on Christmas Eve with a great buffet and a cartoon that families all over Sweden watch at the same hour, and ends only on January 13, when the tree is “plundered” and thrown out.

Advent: a light in every window

When: From the first Sunday of Advent, four Sundays before Christmas.

What people do: In Sweden, as in Germany, the four Advent candles are lit one more each Sunday. What strikes visitors is the windows: from the start of Advent, homes, offices and public buildings set an electric candle arch, the adventsljusstake, in the window. Seen from the street on a winter afternoon, row after row of windows glows.

Where it comes from: The Advent candles came from Germany. The electric candle arch is a Swedish idea: it was designed in 1934 by Oskar Andersson, who worked for a lighting manufacturer in Gothenburg, and went on sale in 1937.

Lucia: December 13

Before Christmas comes Lucia, one of the best-loved days of the Swedish year: a procession in white gowns, a crown of candles, saffron buns and songs that almost every Swede knows by heart. It has its own page: our guide to December 13 and the Lucia processions tells its story, from a Sicilian martyr to Swedish schoolrooms, and how families abroad keep it.

Christmas Eve: the big day

When: December 24, julafton.

What people do: In Sweden, Christmas Eve is the main day of Christmas: the family gathering, the big meal and the presents all happen on the 24th. Many parishes hold a short Christmas prayer or a gathering at the crib for children, and many churches hold a midnight Mass.

Where it comes from: The Church of Sweden explains it with the old way of counting days: a holy day began at six o’clock on the evening before. So Christmas, in effect, starts on the evening of the 24th.

The julbord

When: Christmas Eve at home, and through December in restaurants and at office parties.

What people do: The julbord, literally “Christmas table”, is the Christmas version of the smörgåsbord: a long buffet of cold and warm dishes, eaten in rounds. Typical are meatballs, little sausages (prinskorv), cured salmon (gravad lax), pâtés and Jansson’s Temptation, a creamy potato and anchovy bake. Rice porridge with cinnamon often follows. To drink there’s glögg, the spiced mulled wine served in small cups with almonds and raisins, and julmust, a sweet, dark soft drink that appears only at Christmas and Easter.

Where it comes from: The julbord is the Swedish smörgåsbord in its Christmas clothes. Julmust has a precise birthday: it was created in 1910 as a soft-drink alternative to beer.

Donald Duck at three o’clock

When: Christmas Eve, 3 p.m.

What people do: Families across Sweden stop what they’re doing to watch Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar God Jul, “Donald Duck and His Friends Wish You a Merry Christmas”, a Disney special of classic cartoons. Christmas Eve is planned around it.

Where it comes from: Swedish television first broadcast it in 1959, and it has been shown every Christmas Eve since. Each time a broadcaster has tried to change it, viewers have protested. Another television habit is the julkalender, a children’s series with one episode a day from December 1 to Christmas Eve, which dates from 1960.

The tomte and the Christmas goat

What people do: Presents are brought by the tomte, or jultomte, these days a figure much like Santa Claus. The julbock, a goat made of straw, is another symbol of the season, from little ornaments on the tree to the giant straw goat put up every year in the town of Gävle.

Where it comes from: The old tomte was something different: a small, wrinkled, mischievous gnome of folk belief who lived under the floor of the farmhouse or the barn and looked after the animals, as long as he was treated with respect. In more recent times he has taken on the look and the job of the Christmas gift-bringer.

The tree and its dance

What people do: The tree, the julgran, is often decorated with straw ornaments (stars, angels and goats), paper hearts and gingerbread, alongside glass baubles. On Christmas Eve, families may join hands and dance in a ring around it, singing, as they do around the maypole at Midsummer.

Christmas Day and after

When: December 25, juldagen, and December 26, annandag jul.

What people do: Early on Christmas morning many churches hold the julotta, a dawn service, also called the shepherds’ Mass, and there is another service later in the morning. On December 26 the readings in church remember St. Stephen, the first martyr. On trettondedag jul, January 6, the Church remembers the Magi.

January 13: Knut throws Christmas out

When: January 13, tjugondag Knut, the twentieth day of Christmas.

What people do: This is the end of Christmas in Sweden. The tree is stripped of its decorations, the last sweets and cookies on it are eaten, and the tree is taken out. Children often hold a party for the occasion, a julgransplundring, “Christmas tree plundering”, with dancing and games.

Where it comes from: The day is named for Knut Lavard, a Danish duke killed in 1131 and later made a saint. His day was first in early January and was moved to January 13 in 1680, and it has closed the season ever since.

Keeping the tradition far from home

Swedish Christmas customs are easy to keep in an apartment in Chicago or a house in Manchester:

• Light the window. A candle arch and a paper star from the first Sunday of Advent: if your neighbors ask, you have a story to tell.
• Make a small julbord. Meatballs, little sausages, a potato bake and rice porridge are enough for a Swedish Christmas Eve, with a pot of glögg on the stove.
• Watch Donald Duck at three. If you have a way to see it, it’s the surest way to be in step with the family at home, whatever your time zone. If not, any old Disney cartoons at three o’clock do the job.
• Go to Lucia. If there’s a Swedish church or a Scandinavian society in your city, its Lucia service around December 13 is the nearest thing to a December morning at home.
• Plunder the tree on January 13. A party with the children’s friends is a cheerful way to end the season, and to explain why your tree is still up.

The Christmas greeting in Swedish

The Swedish for Merry Christmas is God jul, and for the New Year, Gott nytt år. Our guide to writing God jul in a card explains the words, how to address mormor and farmor, and how Swedes sign off with a hug.

Cards for a Swedish Christmas

Our Nordic collection is painted for exactly this season: a red cottage by a frozen lake, with candle arches in the windows, a straw goat by the door and a sheaf of wheat for the birds, and a Lucia procession carrying its candles up to the church. Each card says God jul beside the scene, with your own words beneath it, and you can schedule it to arrive on julafton.