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SWEDISH TRADITIONS

Feeling unlucky? 13 Swedish superstitions to beware of

Friday 13th means bad luck in Sweden and plenty of other places. Of course you are far too sensible to believe in any of that, but if you do, here are another 13 (sorry) things you need to watch out for.

a manhole cover with the letter A
Watch out! Photo: Hasse Holmberg/TT

1. Spit three times if a black cat crosses your path

Just like elsewhere, black cats are harbingers of bad luck in Sweden. If one crosses a Swede’s path, you may see him or her spit three times over their left shoulder in order to ward off evil spirits. Best to duck and cover.

2. Peppar, peppar, ta i trä

Just like many other nationalities, to prevent something nasty from happening, Swedes knock on wood while reciting “peppar, peppar, ta i trä” so they’re not jinxed. Pepper, pepper, touch wood.

3. Don’t walk under a ladder

This leads to three weeks of bad luck. Ladders are known for being risky at the best of times, and walking under them leads to more risks. We’re not so sure, but avoid it just in case.

4. Prosit…

… is what you say in Swedish when someone sneezes. It is actually Latin and means “may it be beneficial”.

5. Save the tomte!

A more modern superstition is that if you say “thank you” when someone says “prosit”, a tomte (a little gnome in Swedish folklore) dies. But if you quickly clap your hands, he lives. Phew.

6. Spilling salt

Spilling salt gives bad luck. If you do, you have to pick up a pinch of the spilled salt and throw it over your shoulder. Good thing there’s a way to stop all this bad luck from happening, isn’t it?

7. Don’t open an umbrella indoors

This spells serious bad luck, and not only for the person standing next to you getting poked in the eye.

8. Don’t put your keys on the table

If you put something under the keys, like a book, we think you’re OK. But we’re no experts.

9. Don’t wish someone good luck

In English, you tell someone to “break a leg”. In Sweden, you give them a gentle kick to the buttocks.

10. Don’t step on an ‘A-brunn’

If you see a manhole cover marked with an A, don’t step on it or you may attract all the misfortunes that start with an A. If you do, just get someone to knock three times on your back and the bad luck will go away. 

11. Don’t compare hand size

We suspect this is allegedly small-fingered former US president Donald Trump’s favourite superstition.

12. Don’t kill a spider

Because if you do, it will rain the following day.

13. Don’t bring heather into the house

It means death, which is never a good thing.

Member comments

  1. Trying to compare to Italy …

    1. The same but without the 3 spits 🙂
    2. Leaving out the pepper, we say ‘tocca ferro! (touch iron!). Don’t know if with same ‘meaning’
    3. / 6. / 7. The same
    4. After a ‘starnuto’ (sneeze) we say ‘salute!’ (the same as prosit!)
    5. After a ‘salute!’ we normally say ‘grazie!’ (thank you), without killing anyone in the wonderful world of little creatures! 🙂
    8. Never heard in Italy. Maybe similar thing is ‘mai appoggiare un cappello sul letto’ (“never leave a ‘hat on the bed'”)
    9. We say ‘in bocca al lupo!’ (in the wolf’s mouth!) and the other normally replies ‘crepi il lupo!’ (die the wolf!). I you are animals’ friend, you counter-reply ‘viva il lupo! (long live the wolf!)
    10. Very funny. Never heard something similar in Italy
    11. Don’t know if similar ‘meaning’, but sometime in Italy someone compares ear size
    12. Never heard in Italy. Anyway, please let the spider live! 🙂
    13. Never heard in Italy. But we say ‘civetta alla finestra morte o sfortuna in arrivo’ (owl at the window means death or bad luck on the way)

    Cheers. LoryPanna

  2. Keys on the table isn’t bad luck. It is an indication that you are available – as a prostitute with your own room…

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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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