Swedish holidays: Happy Himmelfard

Today is one of the smattering of spring Swedish days off, celebrating Christ's ascension, or Himmelfard, or kristiflygare as it is also known.

Unlike the US, where most public holidays are secular (Happy Memorial Day all), in Sweden most holidays are based on Christian holidays.

Today, I spent the day with some teenage members of my husband's family, but none of them could come up with what Kristiiflygare day was for or why it was celebrated. This isn't a judgement, I just often marvel that in a country as secular as Sweden, we still get ascension day off as a major holiday.
I'mm not really sure there is much one can do to celebrate Kristiflygare or himmelfart as I often call it by mistake. I don't know if more people go to church that day. Unlike the US the day off doesn't seem to be an excuse for huge sales and shopping mall madness, or it might just be that I don't go to Swedish shopping malls much.

So happy himmelfart, and if you have a 5 day weekend (Sweden's national day is Monday) I hope you are enjoying it!

Also, sorry if this post is a little choppy, trying to get the computer fixed and writing on the phone isn't ideal.

It's the Day Before a Holiday – Go Home!

It's true – if you've got a pretty good Union agreement at your workplace, anyway (something I've never been able to manage). Tomorrow is Good Friday, or more aptly named in Swedish, Long Friday. It is an official Swedish holiday, which means most places of business are closed tomorrow. Today is the day before that – which means many places have a half day at work.

You wouldn't notice here. Well, I am on maternity leave today, and The Swede is working away and will probably be so for the rest of the weekend.

But the weather is BEAUTIFUL! Which means I will be spending the rest of the day outdoors.

Hope you can too!

Better late than never – Celebrating St. Lucia

Yesterday was Dec. 13^th, also known as Santa Lucia here in Sweden. It is a festival of lights, of sorts, and a real cozy experience if you have the chance to check it out.

For being exceedingly non-religious, most Swedish holidays still do link back to the church. And St. Lucia is one of the few for which many an average Swede can tell you a little bit about why you celebrate this day (compared to, say, the Pentecost, which tends to get a lot of blank stares but is also on the list of Swedish holidays)

Lucia is an Italian saint, but Sweden has adopted her and has taken good care of her. The story, according to some, goes that Lucia took a vow of chastity – and due to her unwillingness to marry a whole series of unfortunate events ensued – ending with her torture and her ability to withstand an enormous amount of pain before her death.

But the story has really very little to do with the celebration of this day in Sweden. See, Lucia is the only time the Swedes have anything slightly resembling a beauty contest on a large scale. Girls in each town compete for several weeks to be crowned St. Lucia. The runners up are her 'followers' and the girls parade through the town singing Lucia and Christmas songs. As in the US, there is a pretext to make this about other things than beauty – singing ability, charity, or just pure popularity are some of the common guises. But in the end, despite her Italian origins, Lucia is often portrayed as a nice Swedish blonde girl of about 17. To distinguish her from her lower ranked cohorts, she wears a red sash and a crown of candles (often electric) on her head.

But there is something warm and comforting about sitting in the Swedish darkness, listening to a bunch of kids sing by candlelight.