Christmas gifts are most commonly opened on Christmas Eve. Photo: Ann Lindberg / www.imagebank.sweden.se

Christmas is the main family event of the year, and there is always a certain amount of discussion about where to celebrate it this time round. Sweden is a large country, and those wishing to be reunited with their families often have to travel far. Train and air tickets need to be booked at least two months in advance, and motorists are advised to start their journeys in good time.

Christmas in Sweden is a blend of domestic and foreign customs that have been re-interpreted, refined and commercialized on their way from agrarian society to the modern age. Today, most Swedes celebrate Christmas in roughly the same way, and many of the local customs and specialities have disappeared, although each family claims to celebrate it in true fashion in their own particular way.

The food you eat at Christmas may still depend on where you live in the country, or where you came from originally. But here, too, homogenization has set in, due in no small part to the uniform offerings of the department stores and the ready availability of convenience foods. Few have time to salt their own hams or stuff their own pork sausages. 


A mixture of syrup, sugar, cream and chopped almonds, Knäck can be found on most coffee tables.Photo: Ann Lindberg / www.imagebank.sweden.se

High expectations

Ingmar Bergman’s Oscar-winning film Fanny and Alexander, although set in the late 19th century, nevertheless reflects Swedish Christmas celebrations today: a bright and lively occasion full of excess, good food and happiness, but also a time during which family secrets tend to surface.

Perhaps celebrating Christmas is more complicated than ever nowadays. Present-day family constellations, comprising ex-wives and ex-husbands, children from marriages old and new, newly acquired relatives and mothers-in-law, are all hard to fit into the nuclear family celebration that, deep down, all Swedes prefer. As though they weren’t already under enough pressure to celebrate a perfect Christmas.

As a rule, Swedes expect a great deal from their Christmases. There should be snow on the ground but blue skies and sunshine, everyone is expected to be in good health, the ham must be juicy and tasty, and presents must be numerous. Moreover, the children are expected to be happy and well-behaved and the home is expected to be warm and bright.

Everyone does their best, and the Swedes perhaps are better placed than most to celebrate Christmas. The ever-present candles and lights provide a nice contrast to the winter dark, the red wooden cottages are at their most attractive when embedded in snow, and the fir trees stand dark and sedate at the edge of the forest. Santa Claus moves about the land and the North Star pulsates in the night sky. 


Electric tree lights have replaced candles in most homes. Photo: Ann Lindberg / www.imagebank.sweden.se

Christmas trees and hyacinths

On the day before Christmas Eve, Swedes venture forth to look for the perfect Christmas tree. This is a serious matter – the tree is the very symbol of Christmas, and it must be densely and evenly branched, and straight. If you live in a city or town, you buy the tree in the street or square. Those who live in the country fell their Christmas trees themselves, with an axe, a bucksaw or – as in western Värmland on the Norwegian border – with a shotgun.

Trees are decorated according to family tradition. Some are bedecked with flags, others with tinsel and many with colored baubles. Electric lights are usually preferred to candles because of the risk of fire.

Homes are also decorated with wall hangings depicting brownies and winter scenes, with tablecloths in Christmas patterns, candlesticks, little Father Christmas figures and angels. The home is filled with the powerful scent of hyacinths.

Cartoons, herring and ham

At 3 pm, the whole of Sweden turns on the TV to watch a cavalcade of Disney film scenes that have been shown ever since the 1960s. Only then can the celebrations begin in earnest.

Christmas presents are placed beneath the tree, candles shine brightly and the smörgåsbord has been prepared with all the classic dishes: Christmas ham, pork sausage, melée of egg and anchovy (gubbröra), herring salad, pickled herring, homemade liver pâte, wort-flavored rye bread (vörtbröd), potatoes and a special fish dish, lutfisk. The ham is boiled first then grilled with a mixture of egg, breadcrumbs and mustard. Lutfisk is dried ling or sathe soaked in water and lye so it swells. Once everyone has had their fill, Santa Claus arrives to wish the gathering a Merry Christmas.

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Po Tidholm is a freelance journalist and a critic with the Stockholm daily, Dagens Nyheter. He often writes from a northern Swedish perspective, and specialises in cultural history, cultural policy matters and social issues.

The author alone is responsible for the opinions expressed in this article.

Translation: Stephen Croall

Classification: A79ENb

This article was previously published 21 December 2004 on www.sweden.se

© Photos: Ann Lindberg / www.imagebank.sweden.se