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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.

Published: 13 January 2017 11:30 CET
Updated: 12 October 2023 12:23 CEST
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

  2. 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

  3. 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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SWEDISH TRADITIONS

April Fools’ is back: here are nine of this year’s best jokes in Sweden

For five years or so, it's looked like 'fake news' had put an end to the Swedish media's previously healthy April Fools' tradition. But 2024 saw a welcome return. Here are the best of this year's crop.

Published: 2 April 2024 12:57 CEST
April Fools' is back: here are nine of this year's best jokes in Sweden

Most of Sweden’s biggest newspapers and broadcasters stuck to recent protocol and opted not to run an April Fools’ story, with Dagens Nyheter, Expressen, Aftonbladet, GP and NSD all turning their nose up at the idea on the grounds that the proliferation of “fake news” made the concept redundant, irresponsible and even dangerous. 

But regional newspapers, politicians, public figures and companies in search of an easy viral advertising story appear to have started to let their hair down a bit.

Nearly 500 metres to be shaved off island of Ven for Nato aircraft carriers

The Sydsvenskan newspaper in southern Sweden pretended to have unearthed a so-far unnoticed clause in the deal Sweden signed to enter the Nato defence alliance: that a 500 metre chunk of Ven, the island in the Öresund between Denmark and the city of Landksrona, will need to be removed to make way for hulking US aircraft carriers. 

According to the newspaper, it is currently impossible for the largest aircraft carriers to perform a full turn in the straits between Ven and mainland Sweden.  

“This is a hell of a lot of earth. We start shifting it in 2025,” the suspiciously named US admiral Trusty McFool, who is responsible for “Operation Chop-Off”, was reported to have told the newspaper.  

Swedish Supreme Court to be replaced by functionalist block

The judge Mikael Swahn ruffled some feathers by posting a picture of a gray industrial warehouse, which he claimed was a rendering of the design for a new Svea Court of Appeal, which will be built after the Wrangel Palace, the 1802 building where the court is currently based in central Stockholm, is demolished. 

“I accept that the building is old and perhaps needs more space, but I still wonder whether the proposal to demolish the current building and replace it according to the pictures below is the right way to go” he wrote in a commendable deadpan which managed to take quite a few people in. “It’s functional perhaps, but the amount of daylight which will reach inside perhaps leaves a little to be desired.”

Frustrated Skellefteå locals to build own bridge 

With work on the proposed Karlgårdsbron bridge in Skellefteå suspended, two locals have taken matters into their own hands and decided to build a bridge by themselves, reported the city’s Norran newspaper in a satire on the slow progress of this important infrastructure project. 

“As soon as it gets a bit warmer, we’ll start laying down tarmac,” said Barbro Broman (who’s name includes the Swedish word for “bridge”, bro, twice).  

Social Democrat group secretary to release music single

Even the traditionally grey and dull Social Democrats got in on the act, with Tobias Baudin, the party’s political secretary, claiming on Instagram to have formed a new group called Baudinz, which will perform Sweden’s far-from-hip music genre dansband, releasing a single Ge mig din röst, or “Give me your vote/voice”, ahead of the EU elections. 

The post showed Baudin dressed in the sort of glitzy patterned jacket and tie favoured by practitioners of the music style. 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Socialdemokraterna (@socialdemokraternas)

Moderate’s lead candidate in EU election to change name from Tomas to Tobias

Tomas Tobé, the Moderate Party’s lead candidate in the coming EU elections, used April Fools’ for a bit of light-hearted campaigning, claiming to be changing his first name from Tomas to Tobias, on the grounds that “everyone always says it wrong anyway”. 

In the last EU election, he said, he had been referred to as “Tobias Tobé” as many as 600 times in the media and still gone on to be Sweden’s most ticked candidate. 

“I have long considered this but have never taken the decisive step,” he said in the post. “In parliament, surnames are mainly used and I want to make things simpler back home and be ‘Tobbe’ to the people of Sweden.” 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Moderaterna i Sthlm (@moderatsthlm)

New time zone for Öland controlled by AI

The main newspaper on the island of Öland, Ölandsbladet, reported that the island planned to bring in its own time zone, which would somehow be determined through AI, in order to help promote tourism. 

“We have found a loophole in EU laws which mean that larger islands are permitted to decide which normal time which the country should have in future when the clocks change,” Timmy Uhr (whose surname means “hour” in German) from the tourist company Solex, told the newspaper. 

The wine delivery company Vinoteket claimed to be sending an ice cream van for adults all over Sweden. Photo: Vinoteket

Wine company launches ‘ice cream van for adults’ 

The Swedish online wine delivery company Vinoteket took the opportunity to get a bit of free advertising, claiming in a press release to be launching an “ice cream van for adults”, sending out a wine van to streets around the country, alerting locals to its presence by playing a version of the UB40 soft reggae hit “Red, Red Wine”, which you can hear here. 

“For 10 years Vinoteket has been driving wine directly to the doors of people in Sweden. The wine van is the natural next step to fine tune our customer experience all the way from the vineyard to the customer,” Anders Signell, the company’s chief executive, said in the press release. 

Swedish region launches ‘ceremonial bus’ for Princess Estelle

The public transport company in Östergötland had a bit of fun with the region’s very own countess, Princess Estelle, writing on Instagram that it was about to launch a special “ceremonial bus” for her. 

The bus, which is done up in a heavily gilded baroque style, will be brought out whenever Estelle, who also holds the title Countess of Östergötland, visits the region. 

“We strive continually towards a situation where everyone who possible can do so, travels sustainably, and that applies to the Crown Princess and her family and to the Countess of Östergötland in particular,” the company quoted its “deputy court traffic chief”, Mattias Nässträöm as saying. 

Instead of a “stop” button, the bus features an old-fashioned bell. 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Östgötatrafiken (@ostgotatrafiken)

Swedish region launches high-speed ‘Pågabåten’ boat between Malmö and Copenhagen

The regional public transport company in Skåne also got in on the fun, announcing plans on Instagram for a boat between Malmö and Copenhagen that looks very much like one of its regional trains has sped directly out into the water.

“In 26 minutes, you’ll be able to go directly from Anna Lindh Square to the quay in Christianshavn,” the announcement claims. “That’s exactly the amount of time it takes to consume pølse [a Danish hotdog] in the little kiosk on board.”

Cross-border commuters who have to put up with the many delayed trains on the route may not have appreciated the joke. 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Skånetrafiken (@skanetrafiken)

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