December 23, 2024
My Very First Christmas Experience in Sweden
Hejsan!
With 2024 almost coming to an end, here comes yet another exciting holiday — Christmas!
Christianity is not the main religion in Taiwan, but I grew up hearing a lot about Christmas (young people love it in particular). Yet how people actually celebrate it remains rather vague in my mind. Luckily many of the Swedes I know are willing to tell me about their Christmas traditions 🤓 So, today I would like to share with you what I know about Swedish Christmas as well as my Swedish cultural experience thus far🎄
In Sweden, Christmas is mostly celebrated on 24th of December. However, December is more than just about Christmas! On 13th there comes another celebration called Saint Lucia’s Day (or Lucia in Swedish), when girls and boys sing while holding candles in their hand during the procession. At roughly the same time, you’ll start to see shops selling pastry made with saffron, one of which is absolutely indispensable on Saint Lucia’s Day, called Lucias’s cats (lussekatters).
▲ Lucia’s cats (Erik Forsberg, 2012, flickr)
Moving on, preparation for Christmas keeps on going. Except for quality time with beloved ones, many companies or sometimes universities will organize a Christmas table (julbord), and this is when I had some typical Swedish Christmas food for the first time 🎈Yes, as many other holidays, Christmas also revolves a lot around food. But wait a second if you’re thinking about closing the tab because you assume there’s nothing special about Swedish Christmas. I’m sure there might be some Swedish specialty you’re not aware of!
▲ Julbord with some typical Swedish Christmas food
- Julmust
It’s a soft drink that has a distinctive taste. Julmust is so popular in Sweden that it’s said that Coca-cola’s attempt to replace it during Christmas has been in vain. There are several different brands of Julmust in Sweden, give it a try if you like soft drink!
- Prince sausage (prinskorv)
I personally find its name a bit amusing, and I wonder if the name is in any way related to princess cake (princesstårta, a type of classical Swedish cake). They’re small sausages and comes in variations made with different kind of meat. I tried the ones made with chicken and pork, both are good, but I like the latter more.
- Red beet salad (rödbetssallad)
Red beet is one of the most common vegetables in Sweden. You can buy fresh ones or ready-to-eat ones at the supermarket. I did not the existence of red beet salad until I had my Christmas table. It was delicious and the color (somewhere between purple and pink) is very eye-catching.
- Rye bread (vörtbröd)
Rye bread is a kind of bread that has a rather strong ginger-ish smell, mostly eaten on Christmas in Sweden. There are ones with raisin and ones without. I don’t like raisin, so I’ve only tried the ones without raisin. I highly recommend rye bread if you are also a bread lover like me🧈
- Rice Pudding (risgrynsgröt)
This one is probably the most horrifying one at first glance in my opinion. It’s porridge made of rice and usually eat together with milk and cinnamon. I associate rice with something savory as a result of my upbringing, however, after giving it a try, it’s actually pretty good 🌟
▲ Rice porridge (Ulrika, 2015, flickr)
So, this is it for today. God Jul (Merry Christmas) 🎁!
Until next time, see you!
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