Sweden's National Day

Despite its very special position, Sweden's national day has not actually been a holiday for very long. But at the same time, it has its ancestry that stretches back several hundred years in time. How it is celebrated, on the other hand, varies greatly between different places in Sweden, and in a way its existence is still controversial.

We have taken a deep dive in Sweden's national day.

Old Sweden but modern tradition

Internationally, Sweden is one of the countries that has been united the longest. It is actually one of the oldest kingdoms in the world. But despite this, Sweden's national day is a fairly new phenomenon. It was not until the end of the 19th century that it was decided to celebrate Sweden as a united kingdom.

Today's history is interestingly closely linked to Skansen. The idea with Skansen has always been to represent a kind of living miniature of Sweden, which means that from the very beginning there was an idea to focus on Sweden as a nation state.

When it was decided in 1893 to celebrate Sweden, it was decided to give feedback to June 6, 1523 when Gusta Vasa became king and also a symbol of a united Sweden.

A fairly new holiday

Although the celebration of Sweden's national day now extends more than a hundred years back in time, it was not until 2005 that it became a public holiday. It makes the day an exciting and both new and old phenomenon.

The celebration varies greatly between different places in Sweden. But as flag day, it is a given to hoist the Swedish flag. Unlike other holidays, there is really no real template for how the national day should be celebrated. Skansen in particular continues to be a common denominator and this is also where a large part of the celebration actually takes place. Whether the day will gain greater broad popular support, however, remains unclear.

Ascension Day

Ascension Day is a very significant day in Christianity. It is also a public holiday in a large number of countries, but how it is actually celebrated differs in several respects. In Sweden, it has a long history that in many ways also connects with pre-Christian times.

Here is some information about the day of Christ's ascension and what characterizes it in our modern times.

Christian and at the same time pre-Christian

Ascension Day is a Christian holiday that aims to mark the day when Jesus left earthly life for heaven. It always takes place on the 40th day after Easter. As this is always a Thursday, the day has sometimes been referred to as Holy Thursday.

How it is celebrated varies greatly depending on the extent to which a country has become secularized. The more traditional celebration of the ascension of Christ includes a service and a visit to the cemetery where loved ones are.

What gives it a special position in Sweden in particular is that Ascension Day also coincides with the day when farmers release the cows on pasture. Therefore, the day is historically also known as the day of grazing release / cow release. This means that culturally it also has an anchorage in the peasant society whose history is in many ways older than the history of Christianity in Sweden.

Holiday that few actually celebrate

In many cases, Ascension Day coincides with Sweden's National Day in such a way that together they form a particularly long weekend. Therefore, Ascension Day sometimes becomes part of Sweden's longest weekend period.

Despite its status as a public holiday, it is relatively unusual in Sweden to celebrate Ascension Day. It is still mainly the Christians and believers who to some extent pay attention to the day. But the celebration has increased, and many predict that it will soon be a bigger phenomenon than it has been before.