Waffle Day ( , , ) is a tradition that is celebrated in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

on 25 March, which is also the

Feast of the Annunciation The Feast of the Annunciation () commemorates the visit of the archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, during which he informed her that she would be the mother of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is celebrated on 25 March; however, if 25 Marc ...

, upon which

waffle A waffle is a dish made from leavened Batter (cooking), batter or dough that is cooked between two plates that are patterned to give a characteristic size, shape, and surface impression. There are many variations based on the type of waffle iron ...

s are typically eaten. The shift from the religious celebration to Waffle Day occurred because the Swedish ''Vårfrudagen'', meaning "Our Lady's Day" or "the Day of our Lady" (the Feast of the Annunciation), sounds similar to ''våffeldagen'' ("waffle day") in faster speech, and so over time Swedes began calling it Waffle Day and celebrating by eating waffles. Waffle Day has recently begun to be celebrated in other countries as well, often ushered in by restaurants and cafés specialising in waffles, as in India, where the Belgian Waffle Co. in 2018 declared that they would celebrate National Waffle Day in July, or in Norway, where Waffle Day was all but unknown until producers of waffle irons, milk and flour started to promote waffle day in the mid-2010s. In the United States, National Waffle Day is celebrated in August to commemorate the date of a U.S. patent on a waffle iron; however the celebration is described as "at best a 'bizarre' or 'unique' holiday – the fluff stuff of radio DJ commentary", a frequent criticism of food celebration days. Some people love the occasion and think of it as a real festival whereas others don't really like or understand it.{{Cite news, url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/feb/22/tripe-day-waffle-day-nutella-day-when-did-food-get-so-needy-jay-rayner, title=Tripe Day, Waffle Day, Nutella Day – when did food get so needy?, last=Rayner, first=Jay, date=2018-02-22, work=The Guardian, access-date=2019-01-30, language=en-GB, issn=0261-3077

References

March observances August observances Culture of Sweden Swedish folklore Waffles Observances about food and drink sv:Våffeldagen