Sweden Easter
Easter Present
Happy Easter is GLAD PÅSK!
Easter has become a secular holiday in Sweden. Most people celebrate it at home with their families and relatives.
Easter
has its own rituals. Children dress up as Easter witches with
red-painted cheeks, they go from house to house in the neighbourhood
and present paintings and drawings in the hope of getting sweets in
return. At home they are given Easter eggs filled with candy.
A
traditional Easter lunch is likely to consist of different varieties of
pickled herring, cured salmon and Jansson’s Temptation (potato, onion
and pickled sprats baked in cream). The table is often laid like a
traditional smörgåsbord. Spiced schnapps is also a feature of the
Easter table. At dinner, people eat roast lamb with potatoes au gratin
and asparagus or some other suitable side dish.
Easter Past
Long
ago Easter was thought to be the witches' time. Easter bonfires were
lit around which people would scream and yell to frighten away the
witches. On Maundy Thursday the witches were said to fly off to
"Blåkulla" and return again on the Saturday.
After the long fast during Lent, eggs were eaten in celebrations and children would play games with eggs.
As
a reminder of Christ's suffering, young people would thrash each other
with silver birch twigs on the morning of Good Friday. These silver
birch branches, decorated with brightly coloured feathers, were the
originator of both the Lent and Easter decorated branches.
credits: http://www.sweden.se/templates/cs/CommonPage____11349.aspx
http://hem.bredband.net/berteg/sweaster.htm