Swedish Sittnings

When you come to LiU you will probably come across events called ‘sittning’. The literal translation means a session or a sitting (quite similar actually). However, there is a lot more behind that word. Basically a sittning is a dinner event usually with a welcome drink, a 3 course meal and a drink of choice included. You are lead through the dinner by one or two Toastmaster that are responsible for announcing the different activities and performances. There is also a very important singing tradition. On each table you will find sheets of paper with numbered songs and at the beginning of each event a question is set. If you want the room to sing a song, you and your table will do a drum roll on the table until everyone joins in. Then you scream the your answer to the question before announcing the song number. The Toastmaster will then begin the song for everyone to join in. A lot of the songs are actually in Swedish as it’s tradition and they are always the same. Often there is also one or two performances by some of the university choirs.

There is a bunch of different types of sittnings. I have been to 4 sittnings in total all very different.

The Master sittning

The first sittning I ever went to was my Master Sittning. This was a very classic version of the sittning tradition. It was organized by the section that my programme belongs to. All the Master students from the section were invited, however there is always a limited amount of places. So, my friends and I had to be quick to sign up. As this was a traditional one the dress code was formal, so dresses and suits. My Swedish friends had to explain a lot of the things that were happening to me. But it was a great experience.

The Christmas sittning

This was a sittning also organized by my section FLiNS. As it was Christmas themed the dress code was a bit more loosely. Some wore ugly Christmas sweaters, other wore winter dresses and a Christmas hat. It was a lot of fun as the songs chosen for the event were Christmas songs, even some in English. This is a great way to get int othe Christmas spirit.

The Harry Potter sittning

Of course the university has a Harry Potter section that also plans different events like PubQuizzes and Game Night. Their big event however is the Sorterningssittnigen (Sorting Sittinging). So everyone dresses up like they’re part of the Harry Potter Universe, usually in their house colours. I obviously had to wear my time turner necklace and a red dress (yes, according to Pottermore I’m a Gryffindor) But you can also take a little quiz before the sittning and get sorted at the event. The decorations and the songs were of course Harry Potter themed. We actually did the Severus Snape rap.

The Carnaval sittning

This is the most recent sittning I went to. It was organized by UPF and was held in English, which was really fun. Given the Carnaval theme, we were meant to dress up as something, there was even a costume contest where we could vote for the best one during dinner. I wore a sequin dress, a bit like a disco ball. We also had some German and English song options which I loved and really enjoyed. And my friend group and I came second in the Kahoot! ESN and ISA also organize sittnings. If you are unsure about the Swedishness of the section sittnings I recommend you start by going to a sittning organized by one of the international organizations. They stick to the traditions but do it in English.

The price usually varies between 350 and 450kr if you choose an alcoholic beverage, the non-alcoholic option is cheaper. This depends on the organizers and where the sittning takes place. The two main locations are Ryds Herrgård (HG) next to the Ryds Centrum or Kårhuset Kollektivet (KK) which is located in town. Again the location depends on the organizers and the size of the sittning. KK is the bigger venue with multiple rooms to use.

I can only recommend to join at least one sittning during your studies in Sweden it’s a quite fun tradition to take part in.