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 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 Novemb ...

, which includes Advent Sunday,

Saint Lucy's Day Saint Lucy's Day, also called the Feast of Saint Lucy, is a Christian feast day observed on 13 December. The observance commemorates Lucia of Syracuse, an early-fourth-century virgin martyr under the Diocletianic Persecution, who according to ...

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 ...

New Year New Year is the time or day currently at which a new calendar year begins and the calendar's year count increments by one. Many cultures celebrate the event in some manner. In the Gregorian calendar, the most widely used calendar system to ...

and

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 ...

. It is also known as "Dancing out Christmas" (''dansa ut julen'') or "Throw out the Tree" (''kasta ut granen'').

Origin

Traditionally since the 17th century, Christmas ends on the 20th day after Christmas in Sweden. The feast held in connection to this was originally in celebration of the Danish duke

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 ...

. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

the celebration shifted to the

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

ed King

Canute IV of Denmark Canute IV ( – 10 July 1086), later known as Canute the Holy ( da, Knud IV den Hellige) or Saint Canute (''Sankt Knud''), was King of Denmark from 1080 until 1086. Canute was an ambitious king who sought to strengthen the Danish monarchy, ...

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of Denmark and ''Knutsgillen'' ("Knut's

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

s"), a form of Medieval trading companies. The guilds sometimes organized balls and the Swedish word for the gatherings, ''gille'', may have influenced the tradition of the feasting since it also means "party". It is mentioned in the ''

Old Farmer's Almanac The ''Old Farmer's Almanac'' is an almanac containing weather forecasts, planting charts, astronomical data, recipes, and articles. Topics include gardening, sports, astronomy, folklore, and predictions on fad, trends in fashion, food, home, t ...

'' that "King Knut asked them for help to drive out Christmas". In the old Swedish

agrarian society An agrarian society, or agricultural society, is any community whose economy is based on producing and maintaining crops and farmland. Another way to define an agrarian society is by seeing how much of a nation's total production is in agriculture ...

, children would run from farm to farm to "call out Christmas" (''ropa ut julen''), that is call out that Christmas had ended and beg for food and drink. The present day tradition has changed very little since the 1870s. During the 20th century, the Knut's party became mainly associated with children and candy. The observance of the feast peaked during 1950–70.

Party

In private homes, there is often a party mainly for children. The

Christmas decoration A Christmas decoration is any of several types of ornamentation used at Christmastide and the greater holiday season. The traditional colors of Christmas are pine green (evergreen), snow white, and heart red. Gold and silver are also very co ...

s are then put aside. Such parties are also common in schools,

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th ce ...

s, churches and other places. In many towns, the illumination of the public Christmas tree is switched off, accompanied by an outdoor Knut's dance for the community. In some areas the feast is known as ''Julgransskakning'' ("Shaking the Christmas tree"). Party activities involve singing and dancing around the Christmas tree, "looting" the tree of ornamental candy and apples, smashing the

gingerbread house Gingerbread refers to a broad category of baked goods, typically flavored with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar, or molasses. Gingerbread foods vary, ranging from a moist loaf cake to forms nearly as crisp as ...

into pieces and eating it, opening Christmas crackers that have been used as decorations in the tree, lotteries, creating a '' fiskdamm'' ("fishing pond") where children will "fish" for toys and candy or a treasure hunt. The songs and dances are essentially the same as those performed at

and

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 ...

, and some songs with verses about the end of Christmas, such as ''

Raska fötter springa tripp, tripp, tripp Raska fötter springa tripp, tripp, tripp or just Raska fötter, is a Christmas music, Christmas song, originally published in ''Julklappen'' in 1901 in music, 1901. The song, originally entitled Liten julvisa, describes a time when on several plac ...

'', may especially emphasize such verses.

"Throwing out" the tree

During the 20th century, Christmas trees were literally thrown out of the window or from the balcony, onto the street once they had been "plundered" and stripped of all

ornaments An ornament is something used for decoration. Ornament may also refer to: Decoration *Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts *Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals that appear to serve on ...

. Since the beginning of the 21st century, areas for dumping the trees are designated by local authorities but in 2015, spontaneous and illegal dumping grounds were still a problem. Volunteers from sport clubs and other organizations such as

Lions Clubs International The International Association of Lions Clubs, more commonly known as Lions Clubs International, is an international non-political service organization established originally in 1916 in Chicago, Illinois, by Melvin Jones. It is now headquartere ...

also help collect the discarded trees. These can be recycled for heating or used in bonfires at

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 ...

(''Valborgsmässoafton'') later in spring. Failure to dispose of the tree in a manner designated by the authorities can result in a fine or a sentence of up to one year in prison. Since the late 1980s,

artificial Christmas tree An artificial Christmas tree is an artificial pine or fir tree manufactured for the specific purpose of use as a Christmas tree. The earliest artificial Christmas trees were wooden, tree-shaped pyramids or feather trees, both developed by Germans. ...

s have replaced a portion of the natural trees and thus eliminated the need to dispose of the tree. These are simply disassembled and put into storage after the Knut's party. A number of trees are disposed around

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 ...

, almost a week before St. Knut's Day.

References in popular culture

* Astrid Lindgren has depicted traditional Swedish Knut's parties in her books, such as '' Pippi Longstocking's After-Christmas Party'', (1979). *In the 1984

Gunilla Bergström Gunilla Elisabet Dukure Bergström (3 July 1942 – 23 August 2021) was a Swedish author, journalist, and illustrator. She is best known for her series of children's books about the character Alfie Atkins (Swedish: ''Alfons Åberg''), which she ...

book ''Klaga lagom, Alfons Åberg'' (later called

Lycklige Alfons Åberg ''Lycklige Alfons Åberg'' ("''Lucky Alfie Atkins''") is a 1984 children's book by Gunilla Bergström. As an episode of the animated TV series it originally aired over SVT on 15 January 1981. It was originally called ''Klaga lagom, Alfons Åberg'' ...

), no traditional Knut's dance is carried out. Instead, the Christmas tree is thrown down from the balcony of the

flat Flat or flats may refer to: Architecture * Flat (housing), an apartment in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and other Commonwealth countries Arts and entertainment * Flat (music), a symbol () which denotes a lower pitch * Flat (soldier), ...

into the January snow: a modern variation for children in

urbanized ''Urbanized'' is a documentary film directed by Gary Hustwit and released on 26 October 2011. It is considered the third of a three-part series on design known as the Design Trilogy; the first being ''Helvetica'', about the typeface, and the seco ...

20th century Sweden. *The final verse of the 1901 Christmas song ''Raska fötter springa tripp, tripp, tripp'', written by Sigrid Sköldberg-Pettersson and

Emmy Köhler Emmy Köhler, born 22 May 1858 in Stockholm, Sweden, died 2 February 1925 in Fresta, Sweden was a Swedish hymnwriter and writer. Among of her more famous works is the Christmas carol ''Nu tändas tusen juleljus'' and the music for the children' ...

, describes the Christmas tree being carried out (''julegranen bäres ut''); a Knut's party may specially emphasize the final verse.

References

{{reflist, 30em Christmas in Sweden January events