There’s no exact definition of how many weeks oxveckorna refers to, and it used to also refer to similar holiday-free periods during the autumn or following midsummer.

Sweden’s most recent public holiday fell on January 6th, trettondag jul, which this year was a Saturday so it didn’t do you much good anyway. The next one won’t be until Good Friday, which falls on March 29th this year, giving Swedes a three-month period without a public holiday.

In addition to this, the fun and lights of Christmas are over, so Swedes – especially in the north of the country – have months of slogging through bad weather and dark days with no celebrations to lighten the mood until Easter.

This might be one of the reasons so many people take sportlov off around mid-February to escape to the ski slopes.

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But where does the term come from? 

In Sweden’s old agricultural society, farmers weren’t lucky enough to have the 25 days of annual leave Swedish workers expect today, so public holidays were one of the few chances for a break from hard, physical labour. The period after Christmas, devoid of public holidays, was especially difficult, as farmers had to work through the dark, cold months, “like an ox”.

It was also the time of year where farmers used oxen to plough their fields in preparation for sowing crops in spring.

The period between midsummer and Christmas was equally difficult, as it covers the busy harvest period, without the motivation of seeing the light return and the weather improve to keep you going. 

Nowadays, many Swedes escaped oxveckorna by getting on the nearest plane and heading to Thailand for most of January. Not everyone can afford this luxury, but planning a couple of days of annual leave for this period might help if you’re struggling.

Example sentences:

En kort promenad i vinterljuset kan lätta upp under oxveckorna.

A short walk in the winter light can help during the ox weeks.

Jag hatar verkligen oxveckorna, allt känns så segt och tungt och det är så långt till våren.

I really hate the ox weeks, everything feels so difficult and heavy and spring is so far away.

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