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Public holidays in Sweden ( sv, helgdagar) in
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
are established by acts of Parliament (the ''
Riksdag The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...
''). The official holidays can be divided into Christian and non-Christian holidays. The Christian holidays are '' jul'' (
Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
), ''trettondedag jul'' ( Epiphany), ''påsk'' (
Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samue ...
), ''Kristi himmelsfärds dag'' (
Ascension Day The Solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, also called Ascension Day, Ascension Thursday, or sometimes Holy Thursday, commemorates the Christian belief of the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven. It is one of the ecumenical (i.e., shared b ...
), ''pingstdagen'' (
Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christian holiday which takes place on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers ...
), and ''alla helgons dag'' (
All Saints' Day All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows' Day, the Feast of All Saints, the Feast of All Hallows, the Solemnity of All Saints, and Hallowmas, is a Christian solemnity celebrated in honour of all the saints of the church, whether they are k ...
). The non-Christian holidays are: ''nyårsdagen'' (
New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Whi ...
), ''första maj'' (
International Workers' Day International Workers' Day, also known as Labour Day in some countries and often referred to as May Day, is a celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement and occurs every year on 1 May, ...
), ''Sveriges nationaldag'' ( National Day), and ''midsommar'' (
Midsummer Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer usually held at a date around the summer solstice. It has pagan pre-Christian roots in Europe. The undivided Christian Church designated June 24 as the feast day of the early Christian martyr ...
). Midsummer is, however, officially also a Christian holiday to celebrate John the Baptist's birthday. In addition to this, all Sundays are official holidays, but they are not as important as the ''main'' holidays. The names of the Sundays follow the liturgical calendar and they should be categorized as Christian holidays.
Easter Sunday Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the ''Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel P ...
and
Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christian holiday which takes place on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers ...
are always on Sundays, but they are seen more like ''main'' holidays than ordinary Sundays. When the standard working week in Sweden was reduced to 40 hours by the
Riksdag The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...
, all Saturdays became
de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with '' de jure'' ("by l ...
public holidays. Holy Saturday, Midsummer's Eve,
Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...
, and
New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...
are also de facto holidays. Part of the Swedish tradition is the celebration of ''Lucia'' ( Saint Lucia Day). She is the only saint to be celebrated in Lutheran Sweden (as well as those parts of
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...
and
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...
, where Swedish influence has historically been prominent). The celebration, which, however, is not a public holiday, always takes place on 13 December and retains many pre-Christian traditions. The same is also true for many holidays in Sweden. In Sweden, a public holiday is sometimes referred to as ''röd dag'' (red day), as it is printed in red in most calendars. It is quite common for some businesses to close at noon the day before certain holidays, and also if a holiday falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday, Swedes will commonly take off the ''klämdag'' (squashed in days, or squeeze day) that falls between the holiday and the weekend.


Tradition

In Swedish tradition many holidays have their main celebrations not on the ''Day'' but on the ''Eve'' of the holiday, meaning one day earlier. This is especially significant on Christmas Eve, Holy Saturday, and Midsummer Eve, but also on New Year's Eve; however, in this case it is not really unique. Christmas Eve, Midsummer Eve, and New Year's Eve might very well be the single most important holidays during the entire year for the Swedish. These days are however only de facto holidays. There are also de facto half-day holidays (with some variation depending on employer):
Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vi ...
,
Maundy Thursday Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday (also known as Great and Holy Thursday, Holy and Great Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Sheer Thursday, and Thursday of Mysteries, among other names) is the day during Holy Week that commemorates the Washing of th ...
,
Walpurgis Night Walpurgis Night (), an abbreviation of Saint Walpurgis Night (from the German ), also known as Saint Walpurga's Eve (alternatively spelled Saint Walburga's Eve), is the eve of the Christian feast day of Saint Walpurga, an 8th-century abbess ...
, the day before Ascension Day, and the day before All Saints' Day. The Swedish calendar also provides for special
flag flying days A flag flying day is a day, when it is decreed, either officially or by tradition, that the national flag should be hoisted by every official agency in the country and private citizens and corporations are also recommended to fly the national flag, ...
. Flag flying days are in some cases official holidays or the birthdays and namedays for the
Royal family A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/ rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term pa ...
and ''informal'' holidays like '' Gustavus Adolphus Day'' (November 6) or the Nobel Day (December 10). There is no formal connection between flag flying days and holiday. Many flag flying days are ordinary workdays. The official National holiday of Sweden is celebrated on June 6, a status which it was finally granted in 2005, removing
Whit Monday Whit Monday or Pentecost Monday, also known as Monday of the Holy Spirit, is the holiday celebrated the day after Pentecost, a moveable feast in the Christian liturgical calendar. It is moveable because it is determined by the date of Easter. I ...
as a public holiday. The Name days in Sweden calendar is also denoted. It has a long history, originally a calendar of saints, some names have stuck throughout centuries while others have been modernized.


Several observances at once

There are instances where official holidays, de facto half days, official flagdays and other observances clash and several celebrations may run concurrently. One such case is the April 30 which is immediately followed by May 1. April 30 is a de facto half day because it is the Walpurgis Night and the main day for celebrations to the arrival of the spring season. The following day is actually Walpurgis Day; however, in the calendar it is primarily denoted as May Day, or Labor Day. This means that depending on your sympathies you may either celebrate it as May Day or as Walpurgis Day. In addition to this April 30 is also the king's birthday and an official flag flying day. Also May 1 is an official flag flying day by virtue of May Day ''or'' Walpurgis day. If either day would fall on a Sunday, that day would also in that respect be an official holiday and a Christian holiday, as one of the Sundays following Easter. In 2008, due to the unusually early Easter, Ascension Day occurred on 1 May. This was the first time this happened since May Day became a public holiday in 1939. The next time these holidays overlap is in 2160. The next time Ascension Day will coincide with Walpurgis Night on April 30 (which is the earliest possible day) is in 2285.


Festivities

See Swedish festivities


List of public holidays in Sweden


Public holidays always on Sunday

Some public holidays in Sweden always occur on Sundays but are, in fact, official public holidays. This will usually not affect working schedules or ordinary opening hours.


De facto holidays

The day before an official holiday is in most cases treated as a ''de facto'' holiday in two variants, full day and half day.


De facto holidays

The de facto holidays are almost always treated as official holidays by employers, so most employees working regular office hours do not work these days.


De facto half holidays

The de facto half holidays are often treated with the afternoon off, but this varies depending on employer. It is more common to work a full workday than not these days. Many of the employees that have half days off have a slightly longer workweek the rest of the year to compensate for the time off. In many cases employees take the whole day off, combining the half holiday with some other form of leave.


Eves always on Saturdays

For most employees there is little practical difference between these eves and the other Saturdays of the year, which means they are de facto holidays.


(squeeze day)

Days between a holiday and a weekend are in Swedish called (squeeze days). These may arise at different holidays, but there is one permanent every year. Many people are off work on getting long weekends. In some cases employers treat some of these days as de facto holidays; in other cases people may use some form of leave (e.g.
vacation A vacation (American English) or holiday (British English) is either a leave of absence from a regular job or an instance of leisure travel away from home. People often take a vacation during specific holiday observances or for specific fes ...
).


Christmas week and the first days of January

During Christmas week and the days before and after Epiphany many Swedes are off from work, combining holidays, de facto holidays and other forms of leave (e.g., vacation). It is, in fact, quite common to leave work before Christmas Eve and then not come back to work until around January 10 (after the weekend after Epiphany). Most people, however, work at least some of these days. For instance, in 2019, Christmas Eve falls on a Tuesday, with Christmas Day falling on a Wednesday and St. Stephen's Day on a Thursday. Thus, some employees are automatically allowed the day off (as they are ) on the Monday before Christmas Eve (December 23) and the Friday after St. Stephen's Day (December 27), while others chose to take those days off as vacation. The same goes for the Monday before New Year's Eve (December 30). However, the Thursday and Friday after New Year's Day (January 2 and 3 of 2020) are not considered , since they are two workdays falling next to each other. Thus, if people wanted those days off, they would have had to take them as vacation. As most people in Sweden are not required to work on Saturdays or Sundays, people could work their last day on December 20, having taken two or five vacation days, and then not have to return to work until January 7 (the Tuesday after Epiphany).


See also

* Flag flying days in Sweden * Name days in Sweden


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Public Holidays In Sweden Swedish culture
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
Observances in Sweden
Holidays A holiday is a day set aside by custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work including school, are suspended or reduced. Generally, holidays are intended to allow individuals to celebrate or commemorate an event or t ...