Saint Knut's Day ( sv, tjugondag jul, ; , ; or ; fi, nuutinpäivä, ), or the Feast of Saint Knut, is a traditional festival celebrated in Sweden and Finland on 13January. It is not celebrated on this date in Denmark (the Knut day was moved in Sweden, not in Denmark) despite being named for the Danish prince

Canute Lavard Canute Lavard ( Danish: Knud Lavard; cognate with English Lord) (12 March 1096 – 7 January 1131) was a Danish prince. Later he was the first Duke of Schleswig and the first border prince who was both a Danish and a German vassal, a position ...

, and later also associated with his uncle, Canute the Saint, the patron saint of Denmark.

Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas. The custom was further developed in early modern ...

s are taken down on , and the candies and cookies that decorated the tree are eaten. In Sweden, the feast held during this event is called a

Knut's party A Knut's party or Knut's dance ( sv, julgransplundring, literally: "Christmas tree plundering") is a tradition in Sweden on St. Knut's Day (13 January), which marks the end of the Christmas and holiday season, which includes Advent Sunday, Saint ...

(, literally 'Christmas tree plundering').

Origins

(''Knut Levard'' in Swedish) was a Danish duke who was assassinated by his cousin and rival Magnus Nilsson on 7January 1131 so that Nilsson could usurp the Danish throne. In the aftermath of his death there was a civil war, which led to Knut being later declared a

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

, and 7January became Knut's Day, a

name day In Christianity, a name day is a tradition in many countries of Europe and the Americas, among other parts of Christendom. It consists of celebrating a day of the year that is associated with one's baptismal name, which is normatively that of a ...

. As his name day roughly coincided with

Epiphany Epiphany may refer to: * Epiphany (feeling), an experience of sudden and striking insight Religion * Epiphany (holiday), a Christian holiday celebrating the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ ** Epiphany season, or Epiph ...

(the "thirteenth day of Christmas"), Knut's Day and Epiphany were conflated to some degree. In 1680, Knut's Day was moved to 13 January and became known as or (the 'twentieth day of Knut/Christmas').

Finland

On , a tradition has been observed which is somewhat analogous to the modern Santa Claus, where young men dressed as

goats The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of Caprinae, goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a membe ...

(Finnish: ) would visit houses. Usually the dress was an inverted fur jacket, a leather or

birch bark Birch bark or birchbark is the bark of several Eurasian and North American birch trees of the genus ''Betula''. The strong and water-resistant cardboard-like bark can be easily cut, bent, and sewn, which has made it a valuable building, crafti ...

mask, and horns. Unlike Santa Claus, was a scary character (cf.

Krampus Krampus is a horned, anthropomorphic figure in the Central and Eastern Alpine folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral tra ...

). The men dressed as wandered from house to house, came in, and typically demanded food from the household and especially leftover alcoholic beverages. Unless received a salary from the host, he committed evil deeds. A dialectical proverb from

Noormarkku Noormarkku ( sv, Norrmark) is a former municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Western Finland and was part of the Satakunta region. The municipality had a population of 6,158 (31 December 2009) and covered an area of of which ...

says: or 'Good t.Thomas brings Christmas, evil Knut takes taway.' In Finland the tradition is still kept alive in areas of

Satakunta Satakunta (in both Finnish and Swedish, ) is a region ( / ) of Finland, part of the former Western Finland Province. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Pirkanmaa, South Ostrobothnia and Ostrobothnia. The capital city of the region is ...

Southwest Finland Southwest Finland, calqued as Finland Proper ( fi, Varsinais-Suomi ; sv, Egentliga Finland), is a region in the southwest of Finland. It borders the regions of Satakunta, Pirkanmaa, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Uusimaa, and Åland. The regi ...

, Ostrobothnia and very much so on the

Åland Islands Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an autonomous and demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1,580 km2, and a populati ...

. However, nowadays the character is usually played by children and now involves a happy encounter.

Sweden

In Sweden St. Knut's Day marks the end of the

Christmas and holiday season The Christmas season or the festive season (also known in some countries as the holiday season or the holidays) is an annually recurring period recognized in many Western and other countries that is generally considered to run from late November ...

. It is celebrated by taking out the Christmas tree and dancing around it. Nowadays, the feast is mainly for children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Knut's Day January observances Christmas-linked holidays

Knut Knut (Norwegian language, Norwegian and Swedish language, Swedish), Knud (Danish language, Danish), or Knútur (Icelandic) is a Scandinavian, German language, German, and Dutch language, Dutch first name, of which the anglicised form is Canute. ...

Finnish culture Swedish culture