The Confiteor (E) Other Denominations

Armenian:
Under the influence of the Dominican missionaries, the Armenian Church adopted many liturgical practices of the Roman Church in the 13th century, among them the Confiteor. Thus, in the Holy Badarak of the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Armenian Catholic Church the Confiteor, Misereatur and Indulgentiam is found in the following form:

I confess before God and the Holy Mother of God, and before all Saints and before you, fathers and brethren, all the sins I have committed. For I have sinned in thought, word and deed, and with every sin that men commit. I have sinned, I have sinned, I pray you, entreat God for me to grant forgiveness.

May God Almighty have mercy upon thee, and grant the forgiveness of all thy transgressions, past and present; and may He deliver thee from sins to come, and may He confirm thee in every good work, and give thee rest in life to come, Amen.

May God, who loveth men, deliver you also, and may He remit all your sins. May He give you time for penitence and time to do good work. May He guide your future life, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, the mighty and merciful, and unto Him be glory forever.

Church of Sweden
In 1556, John III of Sweden issued a revised “Liturgy and Order of Ceremonies, Prayers and Readings in the celebration of the Mass” with a preface by the then Archbishop of Upsala Laurentius Petri. Though Lutheran, the order was greatly based on the Roman Catholic Mass: John III was, at the time, sympathetic to Catholicism. The Confiteor is similar to those of the time, differing only in omitting the mention of saints

Confíteor Deo omnipotént et vobis fratres quod peccáverim nimis in vita mea, cogitatióne, verbo et ópere: mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa. Ideo precor vos, oráre pro me ad Dóminum Deum nostrum.

Misereatur tui omnipotens Deus, et remissis omnibus peccatis tuis, perducat te ad vitam aeternam.

Indulgentiam, absolutionem et remissionem omnium peccatorum nostrorum, tribuat nobis omnipotens et misericors Dominus.

I confess to Almighty God and to you, brethren to have sinned exceedingly in my life, thought, word, and deed, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault. Therefore, I beseech you to pray for me to the Lord our God
May the Almighty God have mercy on you, and having remitted all your sins, and bring you to eternal life.

May the Almighty and merciful Lord grant us pardon, absolution and remission of our sins.

There was also provided a combined Confiteor and Misereatur for use before the Indulgentiam, if there was no one to respond to the priest.

Confíteor tibi Deo Patri omnipoténti me miserum peccatorum in peccatis conceptum et natum, nimis peccasse in vita mea, cogitatióne, verbo et ópere: mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa. Ideo precor propter dilectissimum Filium tuum Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum, qui pro nobis victima factus est, miserearis mei, et remissis omnibus peccatis meis, perducas me ad vitam aeternam. Amen

I confess to you, Almighty God, I a miserable sinner, conceived and born in sin, have sinned exceedingly in my life, thought, word, and deed, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault. Therefore, I beseech (you) on account of your dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who for us was made Victim, have mercy on me and remit all my sins, and bring me to life eternal

Anglican:
Although the Confession of Sins in the Book of Common Prayer of 1549 (and subsequent book until 1662) does not greatly resemble the Roman Confiteor, the absolution does resemble a combination of the Sarum Misereatur and Indulgentiam

Almighty God, our heavenly father, who of his great mercy hath promised forgiveness of sins to all them, which with hearty repentance and true faith, turn unto him: have mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and bring you to everlasting life: through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

First published in October, 2007

Sodality Pilgrimage to Rome, Sept 2011, Day V - Fifteen minutes under ground

Once we got this far in the pilgrimaging some of us had actually had to go back home. The rest of us kept going though - today out to San Sebastiano (picture 1), Pilgrim church no 5, located about half an hour out on the Via Appia Antica. Since burials weren't allowed inside the city most of the old martyrs and Popes were buried outside the walls, and the martyr we're visiting today is St Sebastian (picture 3), buried in the church that bears his name.

Born in the 3rd century he was a soldier in Emperor Diocletian's army and a Christian. When he refused to deny his faith he was tied to a tree and shot by archers but miraculously survived and confronted the Emperor who then had him stoned.

The church in itself is beautiful, like churches are, and situated just over the tomb of St Sebastian and the catacombs built up around it. The catacombs contain both pagan roman and Christian tombs, some of the older ones, family vaults, with incredibly well preserved frescos and urns with the ashes of dead romans. Walking through the catacombs' sometimes narrow and labyrinth like passages was, at times, quite uncomfortable, but a quick prayer to Our Lady took care of that.

Leaving San Sebastiano and walking back in the direction of the city we passed a field with cute, lovely and jumpy lambs (picture 4) before coming to the church of Domine Quo Vadis. Built on the spot where St. Peter was suddenly stopped from fleeing persecution in Rome by Our Lord asking "Lord, where are you going?" Peter answering: "I am going to Rome to be crucified again". The church was built in the 17th century and is, certainly when you compare it to the basilicas in the city, very small. On the floor, in the middle of the church, is a copy of the foot prints (picture 5) left in the ground by Jesus on the occasion described above. The original (picture 2) is now kept in San Sebastiano. So how cool is that - Jesus' feet!!!? Coming back to the hotel that afternoon my own feet felt like stone as well - lovely long walk, underground excursions, sheep and then by far the most aweinspiring footprints - I too would stop in my tracks and go back to Rome!

St. Knut's Day - The Last Day of Christmas in Sweden

Today is the feast of St. Hilary of Poitiers but in Sweden it is celebrated as the Twentieth Day of Christmas and the feast day of St. Knut (Tjugondag Knut). Other countries may celebrate the twelve days of Christmas ending on the 6th of January but in Scandanavia we celebrate the twenty days of Christmas ending today. Today was obviously a special day in ancient times because the feast day of St. Hilary gives the name to the whole academic term in many Universities and even in some Legal Systems around the world. It is also interesting that the liturgical season of Christmas that once lasted a whole forty days until Candlemas on the 2nd of February was shortened to the twenty days and ended on 13th January in the new rubrics of Blessed Pope John XXIII (VIII De Anni Temporibus N. 72).

The St. Knut who is celebrated was King Knut or Canute IV of Denmark, which, in those days, included Sweden and Norway too. His uncle had been the King Canute who also ruled England so the era we are talking about is the end of the Viking era and the beginning of the modern (and Christian) era in Scandanavia. The feast isn't really celebrated in Denmark maybe because Canute was very ambitious and warlike and the nobles of Denmark, who elected his half-brother to be king before Canute, were tired of the war and war taxes that he introduced. He attempted to invade England to regain his uncle's crown and he assembled the last Viking army and fleet ever to be assembled but delay meant that the invasion wasn't a success.

However, the feast is an important day in the calendar of Norway and Sweden. King Canute was a devout Catholic who strongly supported the Church. He was martyred in the year 1086. There was some interesting research some years ago on his bones buried in the Cathedral of Odense on the Island of Funen, where he was martyred. It showed that he died of a single wound from the sacrum through the abdomen and with no signs of struggle, seeming to confirm the account of his death without a struggle from a lance wound. Soon after his death King Canute's reputation for holiness and the miracles reported to happen at his grave caused him to be regarded as a saint. His reputation became so great that in 1101 Pope Pascal II recognised public devotion to him.



However, this day isn't really his feast day, which is in July but it is the day that he is remembered because it is the last of the twenty days that he decreed should be celebrated as the Christmas season. It is another date in the Christian Calendar that we Swedes celebrate but in a different way and at a different time, like the feast of All Souls and how we celebrate the eve of Christmas and the eve of Easter and the eve of St. Walpurga's Day.

As usual with Swedish feasts, there are special songs. One tells us the meaning of the feast:

På Tjugondag Knut dansas julen ut och då plundras och kasseras granen.

This translates to "on St. Knut’s day, dance Christmas away and then plunder and scrap the spruce tree".

On this day we obey the law of St. Knut by plundering the Christmas tree of its decorations (especially the chocolate ones!) and drive out Christmas by throwing the Christmas tree out (usually through the window) and singing that rhyme. We also knock on the walls to scare out any Jultomten who are hiding in the house! Sometimes there is a man dressed as “Knut” in a kind of crazy ragged costume who helps to sweep out Christmas.

Another song of St. Knut's Day was written by Sigrid Sköldberg-Pettersson and reminds me of the frog song for St. John's Day: It's really a song that is sung during the whole Christmas season (starting from St. Lucy's Day) but the last verse is especially about today.

Raska fötter springa tripp, tripp, tripp!
Mamma har så bråttom klipp, klipp, klipp!
Juleklappar lackas in.
Dörren stängs för näsan din.
Det är bara roligt.

Pappa har gått ut i sta'n, sta'n, sta'n;
Köper där en präktig gran, gran, gran.
Den skall hängas riktigt full,
Först en stjärna utav gull,
Nötter sen och äpplen

Se nu är ju allting klart, klart, klart.
Barnen rusa in med fart, fart, fart.
Vem står där i pappas rock?
Jo, det är vår julebock.
Han har säkert klappar.

Alla barnen ropa: "Ack, ack, ack;
Snälla rara pappa, tack, tack, tack"!
Margit får en docka stor.
Gungehäst får lille bror.
Stina får en kälke.

Snart är glada julen slut, slut, slut.
Julegranen bäres ut, ut, ut.
Men till nästa år igen
Kommer han vår gamle vän,
Ty det har han lovat.

This translates to:

Rushing feet run tripp, tripp, tripp!
Mother is so busy cut, cut, cut.
Christmas gifts are wrapped.
The door is closed before your nose.
But it is all fun.

Daddy has gone to town, town, town;
To buy a grand Christmas tree, tree, tree.
It is going to be well-decorated,
first a star of gold,
followed by nuts, and apples.

Look, everything is done, done, done.
The children rush in with speed, speed, speed.
Who is standing there in father's coat?
Yes, it is our Christmas goat.
I'm sure he's got presents.

All the children shout Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.
Dear Daddy, thanks, thanks, thanks!
Margit has got a big doll.
Rocking horse for little brother.
Stina gets a toboggan.

Soon the lovely Christmas is at an end, end, end.
The Christmas tree is carried out, out, out.
But next Christmas once again
Our old friend will return.
Because he promised!



There really isn't a good choice on YouTube for this song but this is the best. The second song is about the arrival of the snow... so a real Autumn song in Sweden!

Trettondag Jul - Epiphany in Sweden

The Epiphany, the feast of the Three Holy Kings, known in Swedish as Trettondedag Jul (Thirteenth day of Christmas, just as the day after Christmas Day is Annandag Jul, Second day of Christmas) is the most controversial of our Christian Public holidays. The "Almega" employers union disapproves of the religious theme of the holiday - nothing to do with having to give employees a day off of course!

Public holidays in Sweden are called Röda Dagar (Red Days, just like "red letter days") because the important Church feasts were marked in red in Church calendars. There are 13 Red Days. They are Nyårsdagen (New Year's Day), Trettondedag Jul (Epiphany), Langfredagen (Good Friday), Påskdagen (Easter Monday) Forsta Maj (1st May), Kristi Himmelsfardsdag (Ascension Day), Pingst (Pentecost Sunday) - Annandag Pingst (Pentecost Monday) was a Red Day but was replaced by - Sveriges Nationaldag (Swedish National Day, 6th June), Midsommardagen (Midsummer Day on the Saturday between 20th and 26th June), Alla Helgons Dag (All Saints/Souls Day on the Saturday between 31st October and 6th November), Juldagen (Christmas Day) and Annandag Jul (26th December).

Everyone in Sweden also celebrates a few other days like Julafton (Christmas Eve), Midsommarafton (Midsummer Eve) and Nyårsafton (New Years Eve) as full holidays and Trettondagsafton (Epiphany Eve), Skärtorsdagen (Easter Thursday), Påskafton (Easter Saturday), Valborgsmässoafton (Walpurgis Eve), Kristi Himmelsfärdsdag (Ascension Eve), and Allhelgonaafton (All Saints/Souls Eve) as half holidays. Also, if the Red Day falls on a Tuesday or Thursday we take the Klämdag (squeeze day between the Red Day and the weekend) as a holiday too!

Only 1st May, the Swedish National Day and Midsummer are not Christian Days, unless you include the feast day of St. Joseph the Workman and the election of King Gustavs I Vasa, who founded the Reformation in Sweden, and the feast day of St. John the Baptist as Christian Days!

Back to the Epiphany or Thirteenth Day of Christmas. It was celebrated in Sweden during the Middle Ages with Mystery Plays. It used to be the day that stjärngossar (Star Boys) dressed in white with cone hats with stars on would put on pageants of the journey of the Three Kings to Bethlehem and they would make a procession from house to house. Balthazar carried a star lantern on a pole and Caspar and Melchior would carry swords. The other children dressed as biblical characters. All would go singing songs and hymns and collecting gifts. The most famous of these biblical characters was always Judas in a big beard. The one dressed as Judas would jingle a bag with the 30 pieces of silver he received for betraying Jesus.

In Sweden today children dress as stjärngossar on Luciadag (St. Lucy's Day) instead but in a few places in Norway they can still be seen on Epiphany.

All Hallows Eve in Sweden

Hallowe'en in Sweden is a very confused affair. All Hallows Day or Alla Helgons Dag, the feast of all the Saints, in Sweden is more like a season than a single Holiday, and is celebrated between the 31st of October and the 6th of November. It has been celebrated in Sweden since Catholic days, then on the 1st of November (of course), but, as is typical of Swedish Lutheranism, although the cult of Saints was no longer practised, the feast of all the Saints continued to be observed.

In 1772 the day lost its status as a National Holiday, which was not to be brought back until 1953. Even then, the intention was more to provide a public holiday in the late Autumn than to restore the Christian tradition. It was then to be celebrated on the Saturday between October 31st and November 6th. The day is marked as a sort of second class public holiday with the Friday before, which becomes our eve of All Hallows, allhelgonaafton, being a half day.

The celebrations consist mainly of looking after the graves of departed loved ones and placing candles on the graves (like in the picture above), but in recent years the more American Halloween traditions have become popular also in Sweden with children dressing up and trick-or-treating. Therefore, although we call it All Hallows, the celebration is really about 'the Holy Souls' as Catholics would describe them.

The Irish-American Hallowe'en with its witches and pumpkins is making a big impact upon popular culture in Sweden now but of course we have our own native traditions relating to witches that I have already described in my posts for Valborgsmässoafton (St. Walpurgis' eve) and for Skärtordagen (Pink Thursday or Holy Thursday).

Midsummer in Sweden - St. John's Day

Midsummer in Sweden is something quite spectacular. Celebrated on the weekend closest to St. John's Day, the celebrations usually involve a lot of outdoor activities; picnics, dancing, singing - anything that makes a day out more enjoyable. The dancing usually happens around the midsummer pole (midsommarstång) - a Maypole (majstång) - and the songs are, apart from summer psalms, usually rather silly and playful. The maypole is in the shape of a cross, decorated with flowers and the dancing takes place around it.

Like with most feast days, there are a number of dishes involved with Midsummer celebrations, the famous Swedish smörgåsbord. The Swedish tradition of eating herring as soon as a chance is given, is represented during these festivities as well, but then, as Convenor often responds to my drafts, most Swedish festivals seem like just an excuse to eat pickled herring. At midsummer they are served with sour cream, raw red onions and new potatoes that are usually seasoned with dill. Many people instead of herring choose smoked salmon. For dessert fresh strawberries with whipped cream or ice cream is the most traditional way to go. The meal is usually washed down with cold beer or Brännvin a kind of Scandanavian poitín.

The frog dance is an essential part of the Swedish celebration of St. John's Day. The song Små Grodorna is sung while the partygoers (usually small children) hop around the maypole in the style of frogs, singing along to the immortal lyrics 'Little frogs are funny to look at. They don't have ears or tails'. The Convenor told me to try really hard to find a Christian message in the frog dance. He came up with some really good ones like it being a sign of being prepared to stand up (or hop up) for the Christian Faith or that it is a metaphor for St. John saying that He must increase and I must decrease. In the end, I couldn't find any deep meaning to the frog dance. It's just fun (but Christianity is fun sometimes too) but it has all the religious significance of the hour of Donald Duck on Christmas Day. Speaking of which, it can also be sung around the Christmas tree. There is also a version about little pigs who do have ears and tails.

Små grodorna, små grodorna är lustiga att se.
Ej öron, ej öron, ej svansar hava de.
Kou ack ack ack, kou ack ack ack!

Small frogs, small frogs are funny to see.
No ears, no ears, no tails have they.
Quack quack quack, quack quack quack!

A more sensible (and it is actually religious) song for St. John's Day is the Sommarpsalm or Summer Psalm, although it isn't actually a Psalm from the Bible. It was composed by Waldemar Ahlen, a 20th Century organist at St. Jakob's Church in Stockholm. He was a 'pioneer' of traditional musical styles and composed this piece based on an old traditional hymn. It is very popular at any time of year in concerts in Sweden but is particularly favoured for celebrations of St. John's Day.

A myth associated strongly with St. John's Eve is that of the näck (pronounced neck), who is a kind of siren spirit of the water who tries to lure people into water to drown by means of sweet singing. It is very like Sirens of Greek mythology and the Rhinemaidens of German myth, the except that the näck is potentially much friendlier and is known to be very partial to brännvin and will teach you the magical music if you drop some into the water! The exact nature of the näck isn't clear but it seems that it is not a Child of God and will never be so it is among the lost souls somehow. Water lilies are known in Swedish as näckrosor or näck roses.

A Swedish verse says “Midsommarnatten är inte lång, men den sätter många vaggor igång". That translates to "Midsummer night is not long but it sets many cradles to rock". Traditionally, unmarried girls pick seven (or sometimes nine) different types of flowers and place them under their pillow in the hope of dreaming of their future husband. It is quite like the tradition common in many places of putting some wedding cake under the pillow to dream of a future husband. It was believed that herbs picked at Midsummer were highly potent, and water drawn from springs on Midsummer could bring good health.

Christ Heaven Flight-Day

Ascension Thursday is known in Sweden as Kristi Himmelsfärdsdag, which translates to Christ Heaven Flight-Day. Here, just like everywhere else, it is celebrated to commemorate Jesus' ascension into Heaven, body and soul, forty days after his resurrection. Unlike everywhere else, though, we haven't moved the celebrations to the weekend.

Celebrated 39 days after Easter, always on a Thursdsay, Kristi Himmelsfärdsdag is always celebrated between April 30th and June 3rd, which means it sometimes falls on a couple of secular feasts celebrated in Sweden during this time; Valborgsmässoafton (Walpurgis eve, April 30th) and May 1st (International Labour Day or, indeed, the Feast Day of St. Joseph the Worker).

It is celebrated as a national holiday even if it has lost many of the traditions attached to it. It used to be the day when cows were allowed out to grass for the first time of the year and since 1924 it is an important day for the sobriety movement. It is also the first day for fishing - första metaredagen - it used to be widely believed that fish wouldn't bite before this day.

During the middle ages there would be himmelsfärdsspel - plays illustrating the events, this tradition is not very commonly practiced these days, but you can still see it in some rural parts of the country. (If Medieval mystery plays are what you're looking for Visby is the place you wanna be, where they have a Medieval week every year in August.)

The Swedish celebration of this day carries on the rebirth message of Easter and many activities, even Masses, take place outdoors to fully utilise the sunlight that's returned after months of darkness and gloom.

Valborgsmässoafton (St. Walpurgis eve) and Student Caps

The 30th of April is the feast day of St. Walpurgis, an English princess born in 710 AD. She lived with the nuns in Winborne Abbey, where she was also educated, for 26 years. She was the brought to Germany by Saint Boniface, her mother's brother who was also the Archbishop of Mainz, to help to make Christian the Germans. Once there she became a nun and later abbess of the monastery in Heidenheim where she lived until her death on February 25th, 779 AD. Canonized on May 1st 870 AD, by Pope Adrian II, (or it could also be the day when her body was moved or "translated" to lie next to the body of her brother), in Sweden we celebrate her on the eve of her Feast Day; Valborgsmässoafton - Walpurgis night. Her bones were, after her canonization, moved from Heidenheim to Eichstätt where they were placed in a rocky niche from which a miraculously therapeutic oil started sipping, drawing pilgrims from far and near.



In the Middle Ages a cult was developed in the memory of St. Walpurgis, which had as it's main objective to fight witches and evil forces.

Sir James Frazer wrote in The Golden Bough about St. Walpurgis' eve in Sweden; "The first of May is a great popular festival in the more midland and southern parts of Sweden. On the eve of the festival, huge bonfires, which should be lighted by striking two flints together, blaze on all the hills and knolls"

Valborgsmässoafton in Sweden is an evening when witches (or the good fight against them anyway) are central to the celebrations. We light fires to protect against them and some people dress up as witches. It's an eve where dark forces run wild, only to be warded off at the dawn of St. Walpurgis Day - May 1st.

April 30th is also celbrated by students "singing to the spring". There are student concerts in most cities, often outdoors, and people wear their student hats.



The Swedish student cap (studentmössa), used since the mid-19th century, normally has a white crown, a black or dark blue band and a black peak. At the front of the band is a cockade of blue and yellow, the colours of the Swedish flag. Walpurgis eve is the first day when new students are allowed to wear their caps.

The Annunciation - the Waffle day

The day of the annunciation is the feast day that commemorates the Virgin Mary finding out from the angel that she is going to have a Son - the Son of God. This day falls, in most reasonably religious countries, on the 25th of March; in Sweden, however, it falls on the Sunday between the 22nd and the 28th of March - like so many other holidays in Sweden it is celebrated on the nearest weekend. One might say, if one is feeling sinister, that the Swedes like to save religious feasts for the weekends, keeping that sort of thing out of their every day life. One might not even be completely wrong in saying so.

In Sweden, the Holy Virgin's Annunciation Day or Marie Bebådelsedag is usually called Våffeldagen (Waffle day). The reason is, according to some, a sort of vulgarisation of the term Vår fru dagen (literally day of Our Lady). This has the good result that Swedish people mark the Annunciation Day by eating waffles. Most do not really do it to honour the Holy Virgin anymore but it is another way that Swedish customs deliciously keep religious festivals alive. Frasvåfflor, the kind of crispy waffles that are eaten in Sweden are crisp (as you'd expect) and eaten with sweet things like jam and cream. Sometimes this will include lingonberries or cloudberries or other berries that will start to appear with the start of Spring. They can also be served with lemon juice and sugar just like Irish Pancake Tuesday pancakes.

At one level, the Swedish waffle is like the pancake of Shrove Tuesday. It is the occasion when we traditionally would have finished the winter chores and begin the spring/summer with waffles. Incidentally, the Swedish, Irish and English words for pancake are almost identical... just one more Swedish contribution to world culture ;-)

In English, the feast is called Lady Day and was one of the 'quarter days' of the English Calendar. The reason that it is Lady Day (like Lady Chapel) and not Lady's Day is because it is in the old genitive form that no longer exists in modern English.

So, in the Gloucester Chronicle it reads: "Bituene vur leuedi day þe late misselmasse day, Þis folc bisette kaunterbury" and even in the Norwich Chronicle they seem to be a bit like the Swedish: "If our lady day falle on yt moneday yan ye forseid eleccion shal be holden ye werkday þan next folwyng" but then you also have examples like the Chronicle of Nottingham where they use the name Annunciation: "at ye Anounsiacion of oure Lady and Mechelmes". I like Middle English. It makes my spelling look good!

In fact, the Annunciation was the first day of the year in several senses. In the religious sense it is the moment when the Redemption began. In the 'secular' world, it was actually the first day in England up until the time when the calendar of Pope Gregory XIII took over from the Julian Calendar. Some countries still have their tax year beginning around the start of April as a vestige of this and where the quarter days are still used they reflect a calendar year that begins at the end of March. In Tess of the d'Urbervilles it is mentioned as the day when the workers hired at Candlemas move on to their next job.

In Des Hannon's post last year we learned that the Irish call it the Feast Day of Mary in Spring or Lá Fhéile Muire san Earrach.

Christmas Eve in Sweden

In Sweden we really start celebrating Christmas a long time in advance with the beginning of Advent and St. Lucy's Day which is taken very seriously here in Sweden. Here in Gothenburg the whole city is covered in lights from Liseberg Park to the Harbour. This year the really cold weather has helped to create the perfect atmosphere (especially if you are warm and indoors looking out the window!).

The Swedes, being a particurly difficult people, prefer to celebrate the birth of Christ on December 24th. (Same thing with Easter - we really are a tricky bunch!) Traditions differ between families, but for most people Christmas is one of those seasons when you enjoy spending time with your family. We decorate the Christmas tree together, cook, drink glögg (mulled wine) or julmust (very sweet like beer but with no alcohol) and eat far to many oranges, knäck (fudge), lussekatter (St. Lucy buns eaten right through Advent) and pepparkakor (little ginger bread men). Then, at precisely three o'clock Christmas starts for real - with Donald Duck on TV.

After about an hour of pretending not to laugh at the same silly things as the year before it's finally time to start eating. A traditional Swedish Christmas dinner or julbord is a huge meal with many differnet kinds of inlagd sill (pickled herring) and ägg (eggs - sometimes mixed together as gubbröra), rödbetor (beetroot), salad, prinskorv, fläskkorv and isterband (types of sausages), köttbullar (meatballs), rödkål, grönkål and brunkål (different kinds of cabbage - pickled and cooked), sweet bread, julost, bondost, herrgårdsost, prästost and getost (types of cheese), salmon, omelette, rökt ål (smoked eel), lutfisk, a special fish dish, paté and all sorts of pickles and condiments.

Recipes for the most important dish julskinka, the Christmas ham, are handed down through generations - they still all manage to taste exactly the same. The ham is enjoyed with mustard or apple sauce and is often accompanied by dopp i grytan, which means 'dip in the cauldron,' a slice of vörtlimpa (sweet bread) that's been dipped in the water in which the ham's been boiled.

Another Swedish Christmas tradition is the julbocken or Christmas goat. In the same way that the julbord is a reminder of pagan feasts the julbocken is pagan tradition based on the legend of the god Thor who used to ride in a chariot drawn by two goats, Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr but the tradition has been Christianised into the devil who would appear to menace St. Nicholas in the medieval mystery plays. In past centuries people used to play pranks disguised as the julbocken in the same way as on the Dymmelonsdag ('clapper Wednesday'). This is very like the Julebukking of Norway.

In some places, the julbocken brings the presents to children instead of jultomten, the Swedish Santa Claus. Unfortunately, not in my city. I would have loved a Christmas goat to bring me presents! Some towns such as Gävle build huge straw goats for the celebrations. Small straw goats wrapped in red ribbon can also be bought as a Christmas decoration.

There is also a tradition of carol singing associated with the julbocken that is very similar to the Wren Boys of Ireland.

Easter Saturday in Sweden

Like most holidays, Swedes prefer to celebrate Easter on the eve, known as Påskafton in Swedish, rather than on the day, Easter Sunday, Påskdagen in Swedish.

In certain parts of Sweden the custom of äggapickning was observed. People gathered on Easter morning with hardboiled eggs in their pockets. Two players stood opposite each other, one holding his egg still and the other using his for attack. There were strict rules - end to end, never the sides. The winner was the one whose egg remained unbroken after the assault.

People decorate their houses with the Easter colors; yellow, green and white. They put yellow chickens with feathers of different colors all over their houses.

Eggs and herring, sometimes lamb, are the characteristic traditional Swedish meal for Easter eve and they very nearly represent Påsk all by themselves. They are part of the very traditional Swedish feast smörgåsbordet. Another popular dish on the smörgåsbord is Jansson's frestelse - Jansson's temptation - a potato gratin that has anchovies in it.

Bonfires are lit in some regions of Sweden in the afternoon. Some say they are to scare off the evil influences of the Easter witches on their Blåkulla journey. Others take the opportunity to clear gardens for the coming spring. For some regions, including the Stockholm area, the bonfires will happen instead on Valborgsmässafton or Walpurgis Night at the end of April.

Easter Friday in Sweden

Easter Friday, in Sweden is called Long Friday or Långfredagen, and is not at all a pleasant affair. The most notable feature of popular customs for Long Friday is the påskris or Easter twigs. Birch twigs are brought indoors and decorated with coloured feathers.

Traditionally, the birch twigs were used to scourge children and servants to remind them of the sufferings of Christ.

The tradition of eating the Easter Salmon today is also still much observed, preserving the Catholic law of abstinence from red meat on this day.

Easter Thursday in Sweden

The names for the days of Easter are very evocative of their meaning in Swedish. The name for the Thursday of Easter is Skärtordagen. Skär means 'pink', so the day is called 'Pink Thursday'. However, the real meaning is buried deeper. Skär is also an ancient word for 'clean', which is a reference to the washing of the feet done by Christ at the Supper.

On 'Pink' Thursday Swedish children dress up as Easter witches or påskkärringar. This is a kind of Swedish Hallowe'en. It is certainly superstitious but it is a little silly to regard it as pagan, since it is simply a remnant of the customs and beliefs that were converted by the Christian Missionaries. Although these customs of Hallowe'en or of Skärtorsdagen appear to be pagan, they keep the Christian feasts alive in popular culture.

As is often the case with major holy days in Sweden, certain superstitions have become associated with Easter. People believed that witches were especially active and their black magic especially powerful during this week. Even in modern times people believed that women who practise black magic ("Easter hags") were out and about practising their witchcraft. On Maundy Thursday they were thought to fly off on brooms to consort with the devil at a place called "Blåkulla", returning the following Saturday.

In a Swedish church in Uppland, there is a painting from 1480 portraying three Easter witches holding out their drinking horns to be filled by the Devil with a magic potion. It was believed that on Maundy Thursday, witches (häxor) flew off for a rendez-vous with the devil himself. They feasted and danced to the singing of magpies, flying back just in time for church services on Sunday morning, where they might accidentally reveal their identities by saying their prayers backwards.

On the Easter Sunday morning people were a bit hesitant when starting of a fire in the fireplace. This as the one who first got smoke up the chimney was believed to be one of the Easter Hags. The idea was common that the Easter Hags got caught in the chimneys on their way home from Blåkulla.

Before the Easter Hags could fly off on their brooms they had to smear the broom or the object with which they intended to fly with a special mixture of secret origin. On their way to Blåkulla they often gathered in some nearby churchtower to get company for the long voyage. At the same time they could an oportunity to scrape off some metall from the church bells. According to some theories the metal was used as one of the ingredients to the mixture they used, but other theories states that they droped the filings in lakes on their way. This they did because they wanted to show that they were as far from God as the filings were from their bell.

Easter Wednesday in Sweden

The week of Easter is called 'Stilla veckan' or 'the Quiet Week' in Sweden. The Wednesday before Easter is called Dymmelonsdag, dymmel being the wooden clapper you but in the bell in exchange for the metal one, to get the duller, more mournful, tone.

A common practice associated with this day is to fasten something on the back of some poor unsuspecting victim, often a silly note. This may be a continuation of the idea of betrayal that is found in calling the day 'Spy Wednesday' in other Countries. The notes are called dymmelonsdagspass - Spy Wednesday passports - and are thought to have originally been passports that the witches, who in Sweden were thought to have been particularly active at Easter, needed to get into Blåkulla. There they would feast with the devil and his kind. It can only be reached by air, so leaving brooms or agricultural tools out might mean loosing them to a passing whitch, who thought them suitable for flying.

One of the great traditions of Easter - and not just in Sweden - and in Sweden not just at Easter - is the performance of Bach, particularly his Passion Oratorios.

Feast days and name days - St. Agnes

St. Agnes died about the year 300 AD, at the tender age of thirteen. Like many other Christians during the first centuries in Rome, she was killed for her beliefs. She protects maidens and children, gardeners, engaged couples, chastity and rape victims. She is often, as in the pictures here to the left, depicted with a lamb, an agnus, signifying innocence and purity. The name Agnes, however, has nothing to do with agnus, but is derived from the greek word agnós, meaning chaste.

Today is the feast of Saint Agnes on the Church's Calendar. In the Swedish Calendar, it's also Agnes's Name Day. For each day, in the Swedish calendar, one or two names are being celebrated, these names usually correspond with the feast days of the Saints e.g. Stefan (Swedish version of Stephen) on Dec 26th, Michael on Sept 29th and Tomas (Thomas) on Dec 21st. On their day people named after these saints are usually congratulated and name days are celebrated like birthdays, though on a smaller scale. Some days, like New Years Day and June 24th, the day of John the Baptist, have no names attached to them, and some names, like Tor (October 19th) or Ragnar (October 1st) have name days, but have, of course, no connection to the Catholic Church whatsoever, being rather pagan in nature.

Agnes was a very popular name, in both Sweden and the English speaking world, at the start of the 20th century, and has now, in recent years, again become popular. Among the Agneses of the world we find, apart from the author of this blog-post, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, better known as Blessed Mother Teresa.

The Name Day Calendar of the Royal Swedish Academy is another link, probably an unconscious one, with Sweden's Catholic past. It is an example of some of the ways that Sweden, although technically a Lutheran Country, has many expressions of Catholicism. In many cases, Swedish National life retains many more of the outward signs of Catholic Civilization than many nominally Catholic Countries.

Celebrating the feast of St. Sylvester in Sweden

Today is the feast of Saint Sylvester I, who was Pope from 314 to 335, for 22 years, making him the eighth longest reigning Pope. He was the first Pope to use the title Pope meaning father. His reign coincided with the reign of the Emperor Constantinus so the Latern Basilica and Old Saint Peter's Basilica (the Constantinian Basilica) were built during his reign.

December 31st is the day of the burial of St. Sylvester in the Catacomb of Priscilla. Since it is also the last night of the secular year, the night of St. Sylvester (Sylvesternacht in German) is also celebrated in Catholic Countries.

In Lutheran Sweden, today is celebrated, among other things, as the birthday of cats. This seems like mockery or silliness but, in fact, like many Swedish celebrations, it has its roots firmly planted in Sweden's Catholic past. In Latin the term for a cat is Felis Sylvestris so the obvious day to celebrate the birthday of cats is the feast of their Saint, Sylvester. In a funny way, the Swedish celebration of the birthday of cats keeps alive in our National culture the feast of this holy Pope.

The Swedish celebration of St. Lucy

St. Lucy (283-304 AD) from Syracuse, is the patroness of the blind, having plucked her own eyes out. She also protects prostitutes regretting their unfortunate choice of career, this because she herself was condemned to work in a brothel.

Her name is derived from the word lux or lucis meaning light. She was an early Christian martyr. She consecrated her virginity to God, and would not marry the man her parents had promised her to. She did, however, send him her own eyes, after having removed them herself, which is why she is often depicted with a pair of eyes on a plate. Our Lady then gave her a new pair of eyes, even more beautiful than the ones she'd had before.

It is said that before her death she was attacked in the most horrifying of ways; she was drenched in burning oil, but was not hurt; she had a sword thrust through her neck, but survived just until recieving the Last Rites.

St. Lucy is one of the few saints celebrated in lutheran Sweden. The night of her feast day, the 13th of December - roughly half way through advent - was, during the middle ages, according to the Julian calendar, the winter solstice - the longest night of the year. This changed, however, with the conversion to the Gregorian calendar in 1753.

On the evening of the 12th, a popular custom is to have a Lussevaka - Lucy wake - staying up all night and preparing for the feast of St. Lucy. At dawn on the 13th, groups of young people, dressed in white and carrying candles, used to go from door to door singing, and, for this, getting treats or money. Nowadays, this tradition is kept alive in schools and universities by early morning choir performances, and by children singing to their parents, and bringing them breakfast. This is what goes on in the picture here to the left, painted by Carl Larsson, Sweden's most famous painter.


Treats may include lussekatter - Lucy cats - a kind of saffron bun made especially for St. Lucy's day, but often enjoyed throughout Advent, along with ginger bread and coffee or mulled wine. The bun comes in many different shapes, the one to the right here being the most popular. A more luxurious kind is stuffed with marzipan.

The celebration of St. Lucy in Sweden is very much a part of the preparation for Christmas and many of the songs sung during the celebrations are, indeed, Christmas carols. Often, little children will dress up as little house gnomes or ginger bread men while taking part in the celebrations.

In the video below is a girls' choir, dressed up in the customary St. Lucy dresses, and singing the St. Lucy song. There are several versions of the lyrics to this song, but they all describe how St. Lucy brings light into the dark and prepares us for Christmas.

The girl with the candles in her hair is the one representing St. Lucy. Being chosen for this is an honour and there are usually elections and preparations months in advance to get the perfect Lucy.

Another Saint often mentioned during the St. Lucy celebrations is St. Stephen, who even has his own song sung during the St. Lucy festivities. He is rarely mentioned here in Sweden, though, on his proper feast day - the 26th of December.

St. Stephen is sometimes referred to as the protomartyr, since he was the first Christian to be martyred. He was stoned to death in 35 AD. In Swedish tradition he is very closely connected with horses, like a stable boy, and this is also the theme of the St. Stephen's song; "Staffan var en stalledräng, vattnade sina fålar fem, för den ljusa stjärna" - "Stephen was a stable boy, he watered his five horses, for the bright shining star."



Why the tradition of celebrating St. Lucy's day has survived for so long in lutheran Sweden, where so many other Saints and religious practices are now, by most, forgotten, is not easy to say. Some will explain it as the longing for light during the dark season in a dark country. Others say that the St. Lucy celebrations are a Christian excuse to celebrate the winter solstice, a somewhat more pagan tradition.