FOODS AND FESTIVALS IN SWEDEN
Christmas
A Swedish Christmas is a cross between both heathen and Christian traditions. The actual word for Christmas, jul, can be traced back to Old Swedish. During heathen times we celebrated a midwinter sacrifice at about the time of the winter solstice, the day when the sun returned to the northern latitudes.
It wasn't difficult for the wise and ingenious priests to puzzle together both the heathen and Christian beliefs when Sweden became christianized. By approximately 100 A.D. the Church had already established December 25th to be the date of Jesus' birth.
One can also explain why Christmas ham ended up as the centerpiece of the Christmas smörgåsbord. The wild boar was probably tamed sometime during the Bronze Ages. Its meat was tender and succulent and soon became the cult animal of the Vikings. Valhalla was the Vikings' paradise and where warriors met to hold nightly feasts. Every night they dined on a special boar named Särimner, which was roasted over an open pit. Beautiful amazons served mjöd (mead), a beer brewed from honey and hops, to the warriors. Then, abracadabra, each morning lively little Särimner reappeared in his pen once again, grunting happily and eagerly awaiting a new slaughter for the evening feast.
Dried fish, preferably cod and ling, were the Vikings' most important provision during their long journies at sea. This eventuelly evolved into lutfisk and wasn't served more often during times of fasting than it is today. During the Catholic period in Sweden the Christmas fast wasn't over until Christmas Day. That is why we still dine on lutfisk on Christmas Eve.
Rice pudding is a later tradition. People used to put both coins and small figurines of the Christ Child in the pudding; nowadays we sometimes use an almond instead. The one who gets the almond - and has come of age - will marry during the coming year. In addition, everyone must try to make up a little verse while eating the pudding. No poet laureate has ever emerged because of this tradition … but it's great fun!
The Swedish Christmas actually Begins on December 13th with the celebration of Lucia, which combines a tradition from the Western part of Sweden together with an Italian saint. By the time "lusse" rolled around every year, all ofthe autumn farm chores of slaughtering, brewing, and baking had been completed. Both city dwellers and country residents had time to socialize now, and there was such an abundance of food that everyone - almost - was able to make a glutton of himself.
Our modern Christmas smörgåsbord is very lavish but also features much fruit and greens, thereby making it much more balanced than its predecessor. We pickle two or three different kinds of herring and make homemade liver paté or sausage from family recipes handed down from one generation to the other. Now, however, we don't devour Everything on a single occasion but rather spread out our dining enjoyment throughout the holiday season.
We have even begun to follow the Anglo-Saxon tradition of dining on turkey on Christmas Day, something unthinkable only 50 years ago. In every Swedish home there exists a special little pot filled with simmering spiced wine just waiting for guests who might pay a visit during the period from Lucia until Tjugondag Knut, that is to say January 13th, the day when Christmas is thrown out. This is literally the case now as this is the date when one usually throws out a Christmas tree that is shedding needles badly and seems to have done its part to enhance the Christmas season.
We exchange Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve. Our Swedish Santa is anglicized and allied to the Catholic Bishop Nicolaus, Santa Claus. In most Swedish families the father suddenly needs to run an errand at about four o'clock in the afternoon on Christmas Eve. While he's away, Santa usually shows up carrying his heavy sack.
Long ago the Christmas smörgåsbord of different provinces distinguished themselves from one another. For example, in Hälsingland one churned much more butter at Christmas and moulded two cones in which a branched Candle was placed. There was one branch for each family member. The butter from these cones were never eaten but remained on the table as a symbol of family fortune and was considered to be an extra blessing. In Hälsingland, one also ate a roast of veal seasoned with cloves instead of ham.
Easter
In Sweden, Easter has Always been a Christian holiday; however the Paschal Lamb did cause a few problems for us. Easter usually precedes the lambing season in Sweden. Nevertheless lamb is often the main course on Easter Day. Luckily this is facilitated by Swedish meat regulations which stipulate that all sheep less than a year old are to be classified as lamb. This is also the time of year when chickens once again begin to lay. Eggs were "forbidden fruit" during Catholicism's Lent: therefore they were eaten with special indulgement at Easter. One gorged on eggs and egg dishes. In the Southern part of Sweden one played different types of games with eggs. Spring herring began to run, and salmon returned to spawn in Swedish rivers. Everything made its contribution to a splendid Easter smörgåsbord. We paint Easter eggs by boiling them together with onion peel or special egg coloring and then decorate them according to our imatination. This is also part of the Swedish food tradition.
Good Friday was an extremely long and tedious day in Sweden previously, especially for the Young. In 1969 the ban was lifted barring public entertainment on Good Friday. Now one can play Music for easy listening, go to the movies or theater, or even arrange dances on what was previously such a solemn day. Nonetheless we still often serve fish (salmon) on Good Friday, a custom descending from our Catholic heritage.
Pentecost
Pentecost, like Easter, originates from Hebrew celebrations but became a Christian holiday during the first Century and commemorates Christ's appearance before his disciples fifty days after his death. The Greek translation of the word pentecost is "the fiftieth day". Pentecost is called "the time of rapture" in the Nordic countries. That is not so peculiar since Pentecost always falls towards the end of spring when the days are filled with Sunlight, and summer is just around the corner. Everything in nature is lush and green and in full bloom. One can go out and pick nettles for nettle soup, and old Swedish custom. Before, restaurants always had either spring chicken in cream sauce together with cucumber salad or dilled lamb with creamed morels on their spring menu. It goes without saying that dessert was, and still is, some variety of rhubarb, either a compote or a pie.
Midsummer
Perhaps Midsummer is the easiest of all Swedish holidays when it comes to food as the menu is practically given: matjes herring, spring potatoes with sour cream and chives. For dessert one enjoys fresh strawberries with whipped cream. In Skåne one likes to serve regular salt herring with chives in Cream; however, matjes herring is often found as a sidedish.
In the beginning the Roman Catholic Church celebrated June 24th, Midsummer Day, in commemoration of the birthday of John the Baptist. After the Reformation the tradition continued, and Midsummer Day was celebrated on June 24th until 1953. After that Midsummer Day became a rotating holiday, with Midsummer Day falling on the first Saturday after the summer solstice. The custom of decorating a maypole and gathering to dance and play on Midsummer dates way back. Midsummer Eve was filled with mysticism. Young maidens picked 7 (or 9 depending on the custom) different sorts of flowers to put under their pillow in order to dream of their future husbands that night. In some areas one collected special herbs and flowers during Midsummer, believing their medicinal powers would be enhanced. For the sake of good health, one gladly took a drink from a cold spring.
Around Midsummer, and in Northern Sweden especially, it was time to put the cows out to pasture and seriously begin to get underway with milking once again. It was then that one made the first processed sour cream of the season.
Crayfish and "surströmming"
Foreign tourists visiting in August usually say that crayfish parties are the closest a Swede gets to really letting loose. Crayfish were once very common in our lakes and streams and were eaten year round. In the beginning of the 1900s a crayfish plague struck the original river crayfish. Therefore the plague-resistant signal crayfish was then introduced, and today we import crayfish from practically all over the world. The restricition forbidding frozen crayfish to be eaten prior to the second Thursday in August has been removed. Today the supply of Swedish crayfish is so minute that the former rules for a crayfish première have been abandoned. However, if one does trap fresh Swedish crayfish, the premère regulations still apply, and the crayfish must be at least 10 cm in length from "head to toe" to be considered legal bounty.
The first crayfish parties were held by the middle class during the latter part of the 1800s. In the beginning of the 1920s crayfish accessories such as funny hats, moon-shaped paper lanterns, special plates, tablecloths, and schnapps songs appeared.
The other major food festival in August is surströmming (fermented Baltic herring) which has its première the third Thursday of the month. Surströmming is served together with finely diced onion (red and white), new boiled potatoes - preferably the yellow almond-shaped kind - and flatbread, both soft and hard. Beginners like to make a klämma (a type of sandwich roll) which is composed of a layer of diced boiled potatoes, a layer of finely diced onions, and finally a layer of fermented Baltic herring rolled up in a piece of soft, buttered flatbread. Wash this down with beer. The aroma of fermented herring itself is not worse than that of a well-ripened cheese, and many ardent surströmming lovers insist on being present when the can is opened and the odor leaks out!
Eel feasts and St. Martin's Day
In Skåne (Scania), where I live now, one looks forward to the gloom of autumn with special anticipation. When the moon has waned in late August, it's time to get ready for eel parties. The first man and woman to catch a live eel from a dark barrel located in a darkened rom are crowned king and queen of the party. The guests then feast on a myriad of different eel delicacies ranging from racked eel roasted over an open fire built from two different types of wood to straw-fried eel and eel in aspic.
One of the founders of the Swedish Academy of Gastronomy, author and lawyer Fritiof Nilsson (pseudonym Piraten, "The Pirate") wrote many humorous stories about eel feasts. Today, as Swedes have become more mobile, the customs of eel feasts as well as surströmming parties have become widespread throughout all of Sweden.
St. Martin's Day
This is another tradition from Southern Sweden that has worked its way northwards. The geese in Skåne were nicely fattened and ready for slaughter just in time for St. Martin's Eve on November 10th. November 11th happens to be Martin Luther's name-day (Skåne used to give the school children the day off on November 10th, but I don't know if it's done anymore).
Legend has it that in the town of Tours, France, there once was a pious and much-loved monk named Martin. He hid in a flock of geese to avoid being appointed bishop by the townspeople. The geese, of course, began to gaggle. The townspeople discovered Martin, and he eventually Went on to become an excellent bishop. Ever since then, people slaughter and dine on goose on November 11th, all in his honour.
The dinner itself begins with black soup, which is made from goose blood. Today, people who don't care for black soup can opt for bouillon instead - although this is considered to be cheating just a bit! Stewed prunes, apples, red cabbage, and either boiled or baked potatoes complete the main course. Apple cake with a custard sauce is the classic dessert for this dinner. Then one is satiated!
Christmas
A Swedish Christmas is a cross between both heathen and Christian traditions. The actual word for Christmas, jul, can be traced back to Old Swedish. During heathen times we celebrated a midwinter sacrifice at about the time of the winter solstice, the day when the sun returned to the northern latitudes.
It wasn't difficult for the wise and ingenious priests to puzzle together both the heathen and Christian beliefs when Sweden became christianized. By approximately 100 A.D. the Church had already established December 25th to be the date of Jesus' birth.
One can also explain why Christmas ham ended up as the centerpiece of the Christmas smörgåsbord. The wild boar was probably tamed sometime during the Bronze Ages. Its meat was tender and succulent and soon became the cult animal of the Vikings. Valhalla was the Vikings' paradise and where warriors met to hold nightly feasts. Every night they dined on a special boar named Särimner, which was roasted over an open pit. Beautiful amazons served mjöd (mead), a beer brewed from honey and hops, to the warriors. Then, abracadabra, each morning lively little Särimner reappeared in his pen once again, grunting happily and eagerly awaiting a new slaughter for the evening feast.
Dried fish, preferably cod and ling, were the Vikings' most important provision during their long journies at sea. This eventuelly evolved into lutfisk and wasn't served more often during times of fasting than it is today. During the Catholic period in Sweden the Christmas fast wasn't over until Christmas Day. That is why we still dine on lutfisk on Christmas Eve.
Rice pudding is a later tradition. People used to put both coins and small figurines of the Christ Child in the pudding; nowadays we sometimes use an almond instead. The one who gets the almond - and has come of age - will marry during the coming year. In addition, everyone must try to make up a little verse while eating the pudding. No poet laureate has ever emerged because of this tradition … but it's great fun!
The Swedish Christmas actually Begins on December 13th with the celebration of Lucia, which combines a tradition from the Western part of Sweden together with an Italian saint. By the time "lusse" rolled around every year, all ofthe autumn farm chores of slaughtering, brewing, and baking had been completed. Both city dwellers and country residents had time to socialize now, and there was such an abundance of food that everyone - almost - was able to make a glutton of himself.
Our modern Christmas smörgåsbord is very lavish but also features much fruit and greens, thereby making it much more balanced than its predecessor. We pickle two or three different kinds of herring and make homemade liver paté or sausage from family recipes handed down from one generation to the other. Now, however, we don't devour Everything on a single occasion but rather spread out our dining enjoyment throughout the holiday season.
We have even begun to follow the Anglo-Saxon tradition of dining on turkey on Christmas Day, something unthinkable only 50 years ago. In every Swedish home there exists a special little pot filled with simmering spiced wine just waiting for guests who might pay a visit during the period from Lucia until Tjugondag Knut, that is to say January 13th, the day when Christmas is thrown out. This is literally the case now as this is the date when one usually throws out a Christmas tree that is shedding needles badly and seems to have done its part to enhance the Christmas season.
We exchange Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve. Our Swedish Santa is anglicized and allied to the Catholic Bishop Nicolaus, Santa Claus. In most Swedish families the father suddenly needs to run an errand at about four o'clock in the afternoon on Christmas Eve. While he's away, Santa usually shows up carrying his heavy sack.
Long ago the Christmas smörgåsbord of different provinces distinguished themselves from one another. For example, in Hälsingland one churned much more butter at Christmas and moulded two cones in which a branched Candle was placed. There was one branch for each family member. The butter from these cones were never eaten but remained on the table as a symbol of family fortune and was considered to be an extra blessing. In Hälsingland, one also ate a roast of veal seasoned with cloves instead of ham.
Easter
In Sweden, Easter has Always been a Christian holiday; however the Paschal Lamb did cause a few problems for us. Easter usually precedes the lambing season in Sweden. Nevertheless lamb is often the main course on Easter Day. Luckily this is facilitated by Swedish meat regulations which stipulate that all sheep less than a year old are to be classified as lamb. This is also the time of year when chickens once again begin to lay. Eggs were "forbidden fruit" during Catholicism's Lent: therefore they were eaten with special indulgement at Easter. One gorged on eggs and egg dishes. In the Southern part of Sweden one played different types of games with eggs. Spring herring began to run, and salmon returned to spawn in Swedish rivers. Everything made its contribution to a splendid Easter smörgåsbord. We paint Easter eggs by boiling them together with onion peel or special egg coloring and then decorate them according to our imatination. This is also part of the Swedish food tradition.
Good Friday was an extremely long and tedious day in Sweden previously, especially for the Young. In 1969 the ban was lifted barring public entertainment on Good Friday. Now one can play Music for easy listening, go to the movies or theater, or even arrange dances on what was previously such a solemn day. Nonetheless we still often serve fish (salmon) on Good Friday, a custom descending from our Catholic heritage.
Pentecost
Pentecost, like Easter, originates from Hebrew celebrations but became a Christian holiday during the first Century and commemorates Christ's appearance before his disciples fifty days after his death. The Greek translation of the word pentecost is "the fiftieth day". Pentecost is called "the time of rapture" in the Nordic countries. That is not so peculiar since Pentecost always falls towards the end of spring when the days are filled with Sunlight, and summer is just around the corner. Everything in nature is lush and green and in full bloom. One can go out and pick nettles for nettle soup, and old Swedish custom. Before, restaurants always had either spring chicken in cream sauce together with cucumber salad or dilled lamb with creamed morels on their spring menu. It goes without saying that dessert was, and still is, some variety of rhubarb, either a compote or a pie.
Midsummer
Perhaps Midsummer is the easiest of all Swedish holidays when it comes to food as the menu is practically given: matjes herring, spring potatoes with sour cream and chives. For dessert one enjoys fresh strawberries with whipped cream. In Skåne one likes to serve regular salt herring with chives in Cream; however, matjes herring is often found as a sidedish.
In the beginning the Roman Catholic Church celebrated June 24th, Midsummer Day, in commemoration of the birthday of John the Baptist. After the Reformation the tradition continued, and Midsummer Day was celebrated on June 24th until 1953. After that Midsummer Day became a rotating holiday, with Midsummer Day falling on the first Saturday after the summer solstice. The custom of decorating a maypole and gathering to dance and play on Midsummer dates way back. Midsummer Eve was filled with mysticism. Young maidens picked 7 (or 9 depending on the custom) different sorts of flowers to put under their pillow in order to dream of their future husbands that night. In some areas one collected special herbs and flowers during Midsummer, believing their medicinal powers would be enhanced. For the sake of good health, one gladly took a drink from a cold spring.
Around Midsummer, and in Northern Sweden especially, it was time to put the cows out to pasture and seriously begin to get underway with milking once again. It was then that one made the first processed sour cream of the season.
Crayfish and "surströmming"
Foreign tourists visiting in August usually say that crayfish parties are the closest a Swede gets to really letting loose. Crayfish were once very common in our lakes and streams and were eaten year round. In the beginning of the 1900s a crayfish plague struck the original river crayfish. Therefore the plague-resistant signal crayfish was then introduced, and today we import crayfish from practically all over the world. The restricition forbidding frozen crayfish to be eaten prior to the second Thursday in August has been removed. Today the supply of Swedish crayfish is so minute that the former rules for a crayfish première have been abandoned. However, if one does trap fresh Swedish crayfish, the premère regulations still apply, and the crayfish must be at least 10 cm in length from "head to toe" to be considered legal bounty.
The first crayfish parties were held by the middle class during the latter part of the 1800s. In the beginning of the 1920s crayfish accessories such as funny hats, moon-shaped paper lanterns, special plates, tablecloths, and schnapps songs appeared.
The other major food festival in August is surströmming (fermented Baltic herring) which has its première the third Thursday of the month. Surströmming is served together with finely diced onion (red and white), new boiled potatoes - preferably the yellow almond-shaped kind - and flatbread, both soft and hard. Beginners like to make a klämma (a type of sandwich roll) which is composed of a layer of diced boiled potatoes, a layer of finely diced onions, and finally a layer of fermented Baltic herring rolled up in a piece of soft, buttered flatbread. Wash this down with beer. The aroma of fermented herring itself is not worse than that of a well-ripened cheese, and many ardent surströmming lovers insist on being present when the can is opened and the odor leaks out!
Eel feasts and St. Martin's Day
In Skåne (Scania), where I live now, one looks forward to the gloom of autumn with special anticipation. When the moon has waned in late August, it's time to get ready for eel parties. The first man and woman to catch a live eel from a dark barrel located in a darkened rom are crowned king and queen of the party. The guests then feast on a myriad of different eel delicacies ranging from racked eel roasted over an open fire built from two different types of wood to straw-fried eel and eel in aspic.
One of the founders of the Swedish Academy of Gastronomy, author and lawyer Fritiof Nilsson (pseudonym Piraten, "The Pirate") wrote many humorous stories about eel feasts. Today, as Swedes have become more mobile, the customs of eel feasts as well as surströmming parties have become widespread throughout all of Sweden.
St. Martin's Day
This is another tradition from Southern Sweden that has worked its way northwards. The geese in Skåne were nicely fattened and ready for slaughter just in time for St. Martin's Eve on November 10th. November 11th happens to be Martin Luther's name-day (Skåne used to give the school children the day off on November 10th, but I don't know if it's done anymore).
Legend has it that in the town of Tours, France, there once was a pious and much-loved monk named Martin. He hid in a flock of geese to avoid being appointed bishop by the townspeople. The geese, of course, began to gaggle. The townspeople discovered Martin, and he eventually Went on to become an excellent bishop. Ever since then, people slaughter and dine on goose on November 11th, all in his honour.
The dinner itself begins with black soup, which is made from goose blood. Today, people who don't care for black soup can opt for bouillon instead - although this is considered to be cheating just a bit! Stewed prunes, apples, red cabbage, and either boiled or baked potatoes complete the main course. Apple cake with a custard sauce is the classic dessert for this dinner. Then one is satiated!
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