From the Nobel Prize to the Advent Star

A Christmas celebration in Sweden

Adventstar: The shop window of Ljusexperten in Linköping, Sweden displays electric advent candles and stars of Bethlehem. (By Lars Aronsson/LA2 via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC SA 1.0)

For me, there are four very important highlights in the Swedish Christmas celebration. It is something that I have adapted, loved and enjoyed since I arrived here in the early 80s.

Lighting the Advent Star. The classic advent star has four stearin candles and every Sunday one candle is lit in homes and working places. When all four candles are lit, Christmas has arrived. All over towns or villages one can see Advent stars hanging and brightening all windows, driving the darkness away since it is already pitch dark at 3 PM!

The Nobel Prize festivities. Around the 1^st week of December, the Nobel prize winners or laureates start arriving in Stockholm for the December 10 award ceremony. They walk around with their loved ones enjoying the ambience and the aura of this most beautiful city of 14 islands nestling by the Baltic Sea and the Lake Mälaren. There is an air of awe, wonder and excitement with the knowledge that something extraordinary is taking place. 

And if you really want to meet a Nobel laureate close up, you can take a lunch or afternoon tea at the Grand Hotel and you will most likely bump into one of them. Or you can hang around at the Concert House on the very day of the awarding ceremony and catch a glimpse of royalties and dignitaries too, in their coat tails or gala dresses. The invited guests will then proceed to the City Hall for a great banquet and dance the night away at the Golden Hall, whose walls are filled with real gold.

Santa Lucia: A postcard celebrating Santa Lucia day by Adèle Söderberg from the early 20th century. (Public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The Santa Lucia celebration. In the early morning of the 13^th of December, in churches, schools, offices and other places of work, the Santa Lucia lady and her handmaids give their performances. A Lucia is chosen every year, she has to wear a white gown with a crown of live candles. She is followed by a few other Lucia “tärnor” or handmaids, each holding live candles in their hands, singing Christmas carols reminiscent of angels on high.

The Christmas Food. This includes all kinds of marinated herrings you can hardly imagine, with salmon, prawns and even oysters; ham, healthy salads; and loads of cookies, pastries and other baked goods. And the hot mulled wine, “glögg,” is standard drink during this season.

The pine tree. Two or three days before Christmas, a fresh pine tree will be bought and chosen very carefully. Some families cut down their own Christmas tree in the woods. The tree is then decorated by all members of the family. All Christmas presents will be laid under this tree. On Christmas Eve, the 24^th of December, families and loved ones gather to partake of the “julbord,” or Christmas table. Lots of love and laughter and warm feelings are shared. 

On the 13^th day of Christmas, there’s one last reason to celebrate as families and loved ones gather once again to dance and sing around the Christmas tree before it is thrown away.

God Jul och Gott Nytt År till er alla!