Easter in Sweden - from pickled food to witches

Hi everyone and welcome to my weekly blog on everything Sweden and Swedish! If you have visited my blog before you know that I am the founder of Learn Swedish Now, an online language school based in the Chicago area. My teaching philosophy is simple: a language is best learned by speaking directly to a qualified native instructor. My lessons are one-on-one or in small groups, no more than four students at a time. This way each student gets plenty of time to practice speaking, get feedback, and explore fun and exciting topics while doing so. I often focus my lessons around Swedish culture, traditions, current events, and everyday life. In today’s blog I will talk about a timely topic: traditional Easter holiday traditions in Sweden. Just like many other places around the world Sweden has its own unique take on this holiday, so here are a few facts about Swedish Easter traditions that you might not know about.

Let us start with the basics. Maundy Thursday is “Skärtorsday” in Swedish, which sounds similar to an older English name for this day: Sheer Thursday. Good Friday is “långfredag”, which literally means “Long Friday”. Holy Sunday is “Påsksöndag”, while Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are “Påskdagen” and “Annandag påsk”, respectively. The days are celebrated similar to most other places, but there are some distinctly Swedish Easter traditions around the food we eat, and of course the annual visit of the Easter Witches (“påskkärring”)!

Food - As with any major holiday, food plays a central role in the celebration of Easter in Sweden. If you ever celebrated Christmas or Midsummer in Sweden you will likely recognize many of the foods served for Easter: pickled herring, gravad (cured) salmon, and Janssons Frestelse (Jansson’s temptation). Pickled herring comes in a wide variety of flavors in Sweden: traditional “inlaggd” that is similar to the pickled herring in wine sauce found in the US, pickled herring in mustard sauce, and pickled herring in vodka-based sauce, just to name a few. There are even contemporary versions with curry sauce and chili sauce. Gravad salmon (“gravlax”) is cured using a process with relatively small amounts of salt and plenty of dill. The result is somewhat similar to smoked salmon but with somewhat different texture and flavors. And Janssons Frestelse is most definitely a holiday favorite in Sweden; this casserole dish has sliced potatoes, pickled anchovies and onion in a cream sauce. Perhaps a bit of an acquired taste, but most Swedes grow up with this dish served at major holidays. A popular drink to go with the meals is påskmust, a soft drink similar to rootbeer. And as is tradition with all Swedish holiday meals you will find schnapps spiced with various herbs. The Easter meal is usually laid out as a smorgasbord, which by the way is one of the few Swedish words used in English (the Swedish spelling is smörgåsbord).

Easter witches - Perhaps the most unusual part of Easter celebration in Sweden is the Easter Witches. More than one first-time visitor to Sweden has been surprised and confused when witches come knocking on the door on Skärtorsday (Maundy Thursday). On this day children dress up as cute witches and go around to homes in their neighborhood. They hand out drawings or homemade cards and wishes people a happy Easter. In return they receive candy meant to keep the “witches” happy and protect from dark magic and spells. The tradition is in many ways similar to Halloween in the US but with a more descriptive theme for the costumes. According to Swedish legend the witches would fly on their brooms to the island of Blåkulla on Maundy Thursday to meet with the devil, only to return on Easter Sunday. Before they left, people wanted to keep on their good side in order to avoid being cursed while the witches celebrated on the island. The island of Blåkulla is located in the Kalmar strait which is part of the Baltic sea, and can be visited by ferry from the mainland. It is a beautiful location and I highly recommend a visit if you are ever in the neighborhood.

So now you know a little of what to expect if you ever want to celebrate a traditional Swedish Easter. And if you want to be fully prepared and learn to speak Swedish I highly recommend one of my classes or private lessons. Take a free trial by registering below and learn about the options today!