Once the supermarkets have emptied out the Christmas leftovers, it doesn’t take long until the Easter sweets move into the shelves. Påsk, as Easter is called in Swedish, is coming up soon – so let’s see how the Swedes celebrate Easter and what traditions we can find.
Even though Easter has its roots in religion in many countries, it is not a highly religious celebration in Sweden. In the past years it became more and more a time, where you spend time with your family and loved ones. In Sweden, Easter runs from Maundy Thursday until Easter Monday with Påskafton (Holy Saturday) marking the main day of the celebrations.
Dressing up as witches
For children, Easter means time to dress up as witches! They go from house to house asking for candy – it sounds just like Halloween in the US, but it’s not 😄 On top of all the candy, some families also do a Treasure Hunt where they hide chocolate eggs for the children that have to solve clues to find the sweets. Sounds like a lot of fun, doesn’t it?
Lunch or dinner with the family
Similar to Midsummer and Christmas, Swedish families come together on Easter to have lunch or dinner. Among others, you’ll be likely to find pickled herring, potatoes, salmon, meatballs and the famous Jansson’s temptation (a gratin-like dish made from potatoes, onions and anchovies) on the table. That’s a lot of food! But, to round it up, you can also drink some spiced schnapps. Another typical drink is Påskmust, a soda which you can find in any supermarket around Easter – similar to Julmust during Christmas.
imagebank.sweden.se)
Decorating your home
Around Easter, the inside or outside of the houses are decorated with birch twigs and brightly coloured feathers to welcome the spring. Also good to know: it’s not the Easter bunny that brings the eggs in Sweden, but the Easter rooster. Yes, you heard me right, I was also very surprised when I noticed this difference 🐓
I hope you’ll be able to experience some of the Swedish Easter traditions that I mentioned as well when being in Sweden. Do you celebrate Easter as well in your home country and how does it look like? Let me know in the comments!
Glad Påsk & Happy Easter! 🐣
// Maria