Traditions and everyday life in SwedenFestivals, family customs, favourite places and everyday traditions, written by members of Global Penfriends who live in Sweden. Each cultural keepsake is a short note about life where they are.
69 keepsakes from Sweden · page 1 of 3
Ever since I was a little kid, me and my family have always been watching Eurovision Song Contest. As you can hear in the name, it’s a song contest - in Europe. It has been streaming on TV every year since 1956 I think. And…
Shared by idontlikesand
Midsummer (Swedish: Midsommar) is one of the most important holidays in Sweden. It is celebrated on Midsummer’s eve , which is the Friday that occur between June 19 and June 25 each year. While other Nordic countries have a…
Shared by Erland
Sadly, the movie "Midsummer" caused some confusion among some people who now believe that Swedes sacrifice each other every June... Swedish Midsommar is actually an amazing holiday spent with friends and family and is a…
Shared by yellowmarshmellow
Midsommar is what I would say the most Swedish thing there is. Midsummer is traditional celebration of the summer solstice where you decorate a big pole with lots of flowers and greenery and later dance around it wearing flower…
Shared by Molly.polly
Knäckebröd - crisp bread - is a very common dry, hard and crunchy type of bread in Sweden, and very important basic foodstuff. (Note: Not my own images; online & Wikipedia.) Traditional crisp bread is made of rye flour, water…
Shared by Lakeswimmer
Lucia is a Swedish tradition that is celebrated on 13 December. I think that Lucia is supposed to bring light in “the darkest of hours”. Lucia is celebrated because of a girl named Lucia who was a young Christian girl who died…
Shared by Elli12
We swedes love order and respect, so we stand in line. If enough people stand in a line (which is not a real queue), so formed a queue automatically. We have coined the phrase Fika, and we do it all the time. Fika is a collective…
Shared by BlissfulAnguish
Midsummer is my favorite tradition and holiday here in Sweden. It's not the same midsummer as in the horror movie haha. We dance around a flower-pole, with flowers crowns in our hair (that we made together earlier in the day)…
Shared by Oktoberbarn
Many universities in Sweden have student overalls! At my uni they are worn to "ugly" events, events where maybe you sit on the ground or there will be food fights, and particularly worn when welcoming new students at the start of…
Shared by emeraldz
When we celebrate midsummer in June then we go to a place where they put up a “midsommarstång” that is like a tall cross type of pole, dressed in leafs and flowers. At the place there is always some type of food and different…
Shared by Irran
In Stockholm We visited The Wasa Ship while teenager, its splendid , old but not as old as the Danish, Norse Viking Ships, or those of antiquity, but its as complete a ship from its era ever found, and the total exhibition is…
Shared by LazagneLizardLevitation
hey friends, just wanted to share how we celebrate midsummer in sweden. it's one of our most loved traditions.we usually gather in the countryside, make flower crowns, and raise a maypole decorated with leaves and flowers. then…
Shared by Gameofthroneslover
Big parts of Sweden, such as the province of Småland, are made up of forests and woodland. When glaciers of the latest ice age here slowly melted, many lakes were created - beautiful places to spend time outdoors. Together with…
Shared by Lakeswimmer
Midsummer in Leksand is widely considered the most traditional celebration in Sweden. It takes place in Sammilsdal (often called "Gropen"), a large natural amphitheater in the center of town that fills with tens of thousands of…
Shared by Annica
Fika is a surprisingly difficult thing to explain, to Swedes it is obvious what is and isn’t fika but to explain it really requires some effort. I guess you could say that eating fika is to sit down with someone (or alone but…
Shared by Sksk
Midsummer, or "Midsommar" in Swedish, is a traditional celebration in Sweden marking the summer solstice, typically held on the Friday and Saturday between June 19 and 25. The festivities include raising and dancing around a…
Shared by F08
Midsommar (Midsummer) is a national holiday that celebrates the summer solstice and always occurs on a Friday between the 20th and 26th of June. On Midsommar we dance around the Midsommarstång (Midsummer pole) like little frogs…
Shared by PeachPoph
Midsummer’a day was from the beginning a religious celebration but nowadays at least in Sweden it’s more like a tradition. We meet up with friends, neighbours, cousins or total strangers and dance around a pole which is decorated…
Shared by evlina
From Swedish Lapland in the far north, via the coastline to the deep south, and stretching up the west coast, Sweden boasts several archipelagos and thousands of islands. With 267,570 islands, Sweden has the most islands of any…
Shared by Okidoki
Swedish midsummer is celebrated by dancing around a big pole and singing, the pole celebrates fertility and it symbolizes a female reproductive system. Some Swedish midsummer might differ, my family eats hearing with potatoes and…
Shared by Kittygurl
I always go to a special book club every Saturday. It’s special because it’s only books about the bad things in the world so we can learn from them and see what we can do now to help. It’s a great place and I’m not going to say…
Shared by S.O.
Every year, Sweden builds and raises a huge goat of straw, 15 meters high. That's one tradition. The other is that people try to burn it down every year. And most year they succeed in destroying it. Which of course is very…
Shared by Neeeaa
This is not in my hometown but in Söderköping, about 15 minutes south of my town. It’s a yearly festival that allows people to dress in medieval clothes and purchase homemade items on the market. Several activities takes place as…
Shared by Artsy_S
Every year, families across the country gather around the television at 3pm on Christmas Eve to watch an hour of "From All of Us to All of You", but we just say "Donald Duck at 3pm". Afterwards, it's time to eat the "Christmas…
Shared by Swede08
Socks are hung out in the evening, and if you've been nice, then the cranes that are coming back in the spring will drop some candy into it for you to enjoy! It's a pretty local tradition that is only celebrated in some parts of…
Shared by Oknytt
Midsummer is a tradition we have in Sweden ?? Which is that we’re celebrating that summer is here! By dancing around one, which we call ”midsommarstången” = Midsummer pole, like you see in the pictures. We all hold our hands &…
Shared by Alwva
Kurbits are a decorative painting art from Dalarna (where I'm from) with a distinctive decor of fantasy plants with large flowers and leaves. Kurbits are both a independent decor and a complement to the narrative scenes of the…
Shared by BlissfulAnguish
Sweden is very big on the fika tradition. Fika is about sitting down during the day with colleagues, friends or family to have a coffee or a pastry. Some workplaces have a scheduled time for that - once in the morning and once in…
Shared by BooktokgirlyWant to hear about life in Sweden first-hand? Write to a penpal who lives there.
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