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CHRISTMAS

Why Swedish Christmas lasts until January 13th

On the 20th day of Christmas my true love gave to me… Wait, what? Yes, Christmas officially lasts until January 13th in Sweden. The Local's Paul O'Mahony explains why.

Why Swedish Christmas lasts until January 13th
The plundering of the Christmas tree used to be a major part of festivities. Photo: OTW/imagebank.sweden.se

Christmas has twelve days and that’s quite enough, you grumble. Not so! In Sweden the festive season isn’t over until St Knut says so.

Who is St Knut and what’s he got to do with anything?

Knut Lavard (or Canute), was a Danish prince who was murdered by a dastardly cousin in the early 12th century. He was then made a saint. A few hundred years later his ‘name day’ began to be celebrated on January 13th and became synonymous with the end of Christmas.

A popular farmers’ handbook later also linked the tradition to another Knut, an earlier Danish king. 

It’s hard to argue with two Knuts. But what happens?

Ever since the 19th century Swedes have traditionally waited until St Knut’s Day to throw out their Christmas trees, though many modern Swedes chuck the spruces a week earlier, on Epiphany. Like the rest of the world, they’re sick of all the Christmas hits and getting pine needles stuck in their feet.  

Families schlepp their trees to designated areas where often they’ll be carted off by the authorities to be burned to generate district heating.  

How very Swedish! What else goes on?

Children and adults dance around the tree before it’s taken down, and any remaining edible decorations are happily gobbled.

In more impoverished times, this “plundering” of the Christmas tree was a huge treat for hungry children. 

Do people really still celebrate Christmas at this late stage?

A lot of the St Knut’s Day traditions were at their most popular in the years after the Second World War but they haven’t totally died out by any means.  

All of this is new to me. I don’t know what to say.

This is what you should say: Tjugondag Knut körs julen ut (On Knut’s 20th day, Christmas is driven out) and Tjugondag Knut kastas granen ut (On Knut’s 20th day, the Christmas tree is thrown out). 

Catchy!

Ho ho ho, Grinchy. It rhymes in Swedish. Happy St Knut’s Day!   

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DANISH TRADITIONS

Why is Maundy Thursday a holiday in Denmark and Norway but not in Sweden?

People in Denmark and Norway have the day off on Maundy Thursday, but people in Sweden still have to work. Why is this?

Why is Maundy Thursday a holiday in Denmark and Norway but not in Sweden?

Maundy Thursday marks the Last Supper, the day when Jesus was betrayed by his disciple Judas at a Passover meal, and depending on whether you’re speaking Swedish, Danish or Norwegian, It is known as skärtorsdagen, skærtorsdag, or skjærtorsdag.

Historically, it has also been called “Shere” or “Shere Thursday” in English with all four words “sheer”, meaning “clean” or “bright”. 

In the Nordics, whether or not it is a public holiday not depends on where you are: workers in Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands get the day off, but those in Sweden and Finland don’t.

The difference goes back to Sweden’s split from Denmark with the breakup of the Kalmar Union in 1523, and then the different ways the two countries carried out the Reformation and the establishment of their respective Lutheran churches. 

When Denmark’s King Christian III defeated his Roman Catholic rival in 1536, he imposed a far-reaching Reformation of the Church in Denmark, initially going much further in abolishing public holidays than anything that happened in Sweden. 

“Denmark carried out a much more extensive reduction of public holidays in connection with the Reformation,” Göran Malmstedt, a history professor at Gothenburg University, told The Local. “In Denmark, the king decided in 1537 that only 16 of the many medieval public holidays would be preserved, while in Sweden almost twice as many public holidays were retained through the decision in the Church Order of 1571.”

It wasn’t until 200 years later, that Sweden’s Enlightenment monarch, Gustav III decided to follow Denmark’s austere approach, axing 20 public holidays, Maundy Thursday included, in the calendar reform known in Sweden as den stora helgdöden, or “the big public holiday slaughter”.

Other public holidays to get abolished included the third and fourth days of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost, ten days celebrating Jesus’ apostles, and the three days leading up to Ascension Day. 

“It was only when Gustav III decided in 1772 to abolish several of the old public holidays that the church year here came to resemble the Danish one,” Malmstedt said. 

At the time Finland was simply a part of Sweden (albeit one with a lot of Finnish speakers). The other Nordic countries, on the other hand, were all part of the rival Denmark-Norway. 

So if you live in the Nordics and are having to work on Maundy Thursday, now you know who to blame.  

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