Our Easter in Sweden

Glad Påsk! (That means "Happy Easter"...try not to get distracted by the little "a" with the circle on top).  I'll admit I have been a bit of a slacker when it comes to sharing my experiences about new and interesting traditions here in southern Sweden (I managed to completely skip Christmas), but I'm hoping to improve upon that...starting now.  This year Easter consisted of some new friends and new activities as well as some of our American traditions.

Our girls were off from school the entire week before Easter as well as the day after (maybe to nurse the sugar hangover?).  In other parts of Sweden, the children are free the week after Easter.  I worked part of the week, so the girls went to Fritids (which is play time at the school).

Trick-or-Treating ?
No, no....of course the Swedes don't call it that, but when kids show up at my door looking for candy, I call it trick-or-treating.   Folklore suggests that, on Maundy Thursday, witches flew off on broomsticks to dance with the devil at Blåkulla ("Blue Mountain").  In honor of this, kids dress up like witches and go in search of treats (truth be told, they look more like little old ladies, wearing aprons and scarves and painting their cheeks red).  I really don't understand the concept....but you learn to just play along!

 A couple of Swedish "witches"

Although the tradition says that the witches show up on Thursday, I was told kids could show up anytime over the long weekend in search of candy (this is similar to Halloween here...not quite as structured as it is in the U.S.).  Often the children will present you with a small card or drawing in exchange for the candy (which is preferable to Halloween "tricks").

I reckon that's worth a piece of candy!

I purchased bags and bags of candy only to be disappointed that we had only a few children knock on the door.

Easter Brunch
A friend invited us, along with two other families, to a traditional Swedish Easter brunch on Saturday.  The kids were all dressed up in their Easter garb....there were a few witches (mentioned above), two rabbits, an Easter chick and a girl decorated with colored eggs.  From what I understood, we enjoyed a pretty traditional Easter smorgasbord consisting of herring (to be honest, not my all time favorite), meatballs, potatoes, and eggs... among other things.  It was quite tasty!

After eating, the children decorated hard boiled eggs.   We then brought the colored eggs to a nearby park where they were used in games such as egg rolling and egg knocking (where you tap your egg against your opponent's....and the person with the cracked egg is "out")

This egg knocking is serious business!

We then returned to the house for an Easter egg hunt.  Each child found a large paper egg filled with candy...this is a traditional Swedish thing.  While the adults went for a short walk around the neighborhood, the kids stayed behind and devoured most of their candy.

A close up of the paper-ish egg

A quick photo before they dig in!

Now, in case devouring a giant egg full of candy didn't provide enough of a sugar high, the kids and adults also enjoyed cupcakes, decorated with flowers, bunnies and "nests" of Easter eggs.  In case you couldn't guess, the cupcakes were our "American" contribution to the Easter festivities.

Yes, all of the flowers are edible...yum!

Eggs and other Easter "stuff"
Yes, eggs are a big sign of Easter in Sweden.  Hard boiled eggs (to eat, roll, knock, etc.) as well as chocolate and other candy eggs are readily available.  The large paper eggs filled with candy are also quite popular.  These are also available at U.S. Ikea stores (for your future Easter planning purposes).

The traditional decorations are a bit different from all of the fuzzy chicks, lambs and bunnies that were displayed around our house.  In Sweden, there is a lot of yellow....candles, chicks, etc.  It is also common for brightly colored feathers to be attached to twigs or branches.  I'm not sure if there is a significance to this....my Swedish friends are welcome to comment!

The Swedish Easter feather tree

Easter Sunday
For many Swedes, it seemed that most of the Easter "celebrating" was completed by Sunday (the "eves" tend to get more attention here....Christmas is the same way).  As you Americans can imagine, our family was not quite finished.   The girls were geared up for a visit from the Easter Bunny....and he did not disappoint!  He made his way all the way to Sweden to deliver baskets of candy and small gifts.   He also hid Easter eggs for the girls....it was quite cold so he decided to hide them indoors.

Interestingly, for all of the beautiful churches here, there is not a whole lot happening on Easter Sunday.  Most churches have some sort of Easter service, but few people attend (this is only an observation...not a judgement).  Anyway, I did miss seeing all of the young girls proudly displaying their Easter dresses (often with matching hats) at church.  My mom always handed out jelly beans to us during the Easter service....which I missed this year!  

We finished our weekend activities with a wonderful dinner with friends on Sunday evening.   Monday was spent relaxing with the family and marked the beginning of the "chocolate bunny detox"!