Some Light Swedish Traditions

I am continually amazed at the different Christmas traditions here in Sweden. Most of them have something to do with light. This is hardly surprising, since it is dark for more than 17 hours a day here, and this figure is higher almost everywhere else in the country. Starting from the evening of November 30th (Sweden is very into this 'evening before' thing), you're allowed to turn on your electric Xmas lights. Quite often, these take the form of 7 candle lights in an upside-down V shape. We each have been given a set for our windows at BTH. It makes it seem a little cosier. Many people also put 3D stars in their windows. These have tiny holes in all their sides and a light on the inside, which shines out through these holes.

The entire department got together on December 1st to celebrate the countdown to Xmas. We all had some pepparkakor (gingerbread biscuits) and glögg, which I'd never had before. Glögg is a type of mulled wine. You heat it up in a saucepan and add raisins to it. It's quite yummy. I've also got my own advent calendar (for about $2, a bargain) and I'm counting down the days with a little chockie behind each door that I open. 

December 13th is Lucia Day. It's a bit of a beauty pageant as a beautiful girl in each town is chosen to be Lucia. She walks around all dressed in white (with a red sash to symbolise the original St Lucia being chopped in half) and wearing headgear of a circle of lit candles. Thus, she lights the way towards Christmas. It is held on this day because under the Julian calendar, it was the shortest day of the year. Another tradition of the day is to eat lussekakor, which are very yellow saffron buns. Of course, this was another excuse for everyone in the department to gather for afternoon tea.

We've also had a department Xmas party, and one for all of BTH - that's THREE campuses. And they put on a bus for us because it was held in the next town. I'm so spoilt already, and there's still more than a week before Christmas!