Swedish Christmas traditions

A typical tradition is to set up a table with lots of food. We call it “Julbord”, which basically means ‘Christmas table’. It’s a Christmas equivalent of “smörgåsbord” – a table full of different types food where a person collects a plate, circles the table and selects what they want to eat and then sits down at a dinner table.

“Inlagd sill” comes in various different flavours. The most common ones are mustard, onion and garlic and are bought ready-made in small glass bottles. This dish also appears during the Easter and Midsummer holidays.

“Risgrynsgröt” is a warm sticky meal with a red fruit soup that is served for dessert. A peeled almond is sometimes put in the pot before serving and whoever gets it can make a wish or gets a small gift.

Gingerbread cookies and “glögg” (mulled wine) are served at any time during Christmas. “Glögg” can be with or without alcohol, and is served with crushed almonds and raisins on the side.

“Lussebullar/Lussekatter” is a sort of sweet bun with saffron that is usually shaped as an “S”, and has two raisins in the twirls of the “S”.

The tradition is to eat cold foods, such as eggs and herring, on a small plate and then have the hot foods served on a larger plate afterwards. If you are a Swede and decide to go against this tradition in terms of mixing foods – expect a verbal slapping from the elder generation. I’m speaking from experience! ;)

Music is played almost everywhere throughout the holiday. Anything remotely related to Christmas is played – even Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’. It’s common to dance around Christmas tree with children while mimicking hopping frogs.

Christmas Eve is celebrated on the 24^th and there is one tradition that Swedes over 30 devote time to whether they want it or not – the 3pm cartoons!

The tradition of Christmas cartoons dates back to 1960 and is a version of the American Disney programme ‘From All Of Us To All Of You’. It became very popular because it was the only cartoons available at the time. Nowadays there are cartoons everywhere, so children are usually not too keen on watching it. But they get indoctrinated relatively fast.

The cartoon scenes differ from the original though. Our version has scenes from the following cartoons:

The Christmas Cartoons is usually the second most viewed program of the year. During the past 14 years it has dropped to 3d or 4^th place only 4 times with an average of 3,500,000 viewers each year. That’s about 1/3 of the Swedish population as of 2011.

“Mellandagsrean” is the massive sale in shops during the days between Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. It is possibly the most manic time of the year, and I’ve heard of people pondering celebrating their Christmas in January to save money.

I’m not a hard-core Christmas celebrator but I still enjoy the holiday. To me, a great Christmas is spent with family members to eat good food and just have fun and relax. I need cold, snow (if possible), darkness and cosy lighting. Going away on a sunny holiday is heresy in my opinion.

Decorating my home has never been my thing. Growing up with cats that either knocked over the Christmas tree or stole miniature plush Santa statues made it too much of a hassle. But I do enjoy other people’s effort – as long as it’s not over the top.

I would definitely choose contemporary decorations if I went on a shopping spree. Small Santa figurines in grey with tall hats are what I would choose.

My music of choice differs greatly too. I have a habit of listening to Fleetwood Mac’s “Greatest Hits”. I believe it comes from growing tired of hearing 20 different versions of Jingle Bells, and other typical songs, and just feeling a strong need to protest.

One tradition I’ve tried to break free from but fail miserably at each time is watching the cartoons, not to mention not joining in during the speeches. It is impossible! I guess I’m too amused by them.