In Swedish, Christmas is called Jul (the same word as the English Yule). Instead of Merry Christmas, we wish each other God Jul (roughly pronounced Good Yule, which is exactly what it means).
The celebrating of Christmas in the Western world has changed a lot in the last 200 years. For example, Christmas trees didn't really catch on outside Germany until well into the 19th century. On this page, I'm trying to give a sample of Swedish Christmas traditions, mostly from ca 1900 and on. I hope to add more information on the earlier traditions later on.
Lucia: On the Lucia Day, the 13th of December, a daughter of the family rises at dawn, dresses in a white gown with red sash and puts a crown of candles on her head. She then wakes the
family members with singing and a traditional Lucia Day breakfast. Santa Lucia always offers saffron buns decorated with raisins, and also gingerbread - see the closeup picture to the right.
Doll in the collection of Marilyn Nielsen.
The Lucia Day was originally celebrated in remembrance of the 4th century Sicilian saint Lucia. There's evidence of this custom in Sweden since the 1760s, but at that time it was a regional tradition in manor houses in Western Sweden, Lucia hadn't yet got her crown of candles, and she was serving a more ordinary breakfast. In the late 19th and early 20th century, a newly awakened interest in folk traditions made the Lucia celebrations increasingly popular throughout Sweden.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, a newly awakened interest in folk traditions (partly thanks to the recently opened open-air museum Skansen) made the Lucia celebrations increasingly popular throughout Sweden, and this doll shows what a Lucia could look like at that time. By now, many kindergartens and schools in Norway and Denmark have started celebrating Lucia too.
Christmas tree: I based this rather traditional Swedish Christmas tree on how my mother dresses her tree, though I simplified it by using only the largest and the most characteristic ornaments. Later I've tried to check up in books and photographs how long the these types of ornaments had been used, and was surprised to find that this tree could arguably fit a 1905 setting (with the reservation that the style of the crackers has changed a little bit since then). My directions for making the ornaments were published in the Little Enough News magazine.
I've made a similar tree that is in the collection of Pamela Scott.
Candlestick: This Christmas candlestick design has been popular since the early 20th century, always painted bright red and usually with a white flower on it. I included the basket of saffron buns in the pic just to show the size.
Old-world food: In Swedish farmhouses and cottages, up to about 1900, every family member got a julhög ("yule pile") on Christmas Eve. This was a pile of various types of bread for eating during the holiday season, and it might be topped with e.g. an apple or a pretzel-shaped bun. Butter was proudly displayed on a tall turned wooden plate painted in bright colors.
