What is an Easter witch?
The children soon has Easter break, but long before that many of them has started to prepare their Easter letters, colourful drawings with the text GLAD PÅSK (Happy Easter), and thereafter folded them together in the special Easter letter way. The more letters prepared, the more neighbours to visit and that gives more candy!Which day to expect a visit from an Easter witch depends on where in Sweden you are. Some has the tradition of going out as Easter witches on the Thursday, while other wait until the Saturday.
We have the custom of Easter witches because of traditions from the old folk belief, which is mixed in with the traditions from Christian traditions.
The children dress up by putting some old clothes on, often found in mom's closet, take som make up from mom and paint some rosy cheeks and freckles in the face. And one shouldn't forget to bring a basket or bag to be able to carry all the candy home. After all the preparations, the children bring their Easter letters and go from door to door, wishing everyone a happy Easter. Once back home again, they have more candy than mom and dad allow them to eat.
What do Swedes eat for Easter?
Påskafton (="Easter eve") is like any other eves in Sweden the day we celebrate the most. We often visit with our family and have an Easter buffé. The ingredient that is on everyone's Easter table is egg. Other than that, this buffé is similar to the julbord (Christmas buffé). Of course both alcohol and alcohol free drinks, such as must, are being served on the table.What is Swedish must?
Must is a soft drink that we often have to our buffés and often as an alternative to alcohol drinks, like beer. We can buy it in any food store. At Christmas we call it julmust, and at Easter - guess what? Yes! Påskmust. The recipe is the same though.Easter eggs
The Swedes don't have a strong tradition of Easter egg hunt, or Easter Bunny. Instead we buy cardboard eggs, påskägg, and give those to the children, filled with candy or maybe a Little toy. The bigger egg the better!Here are some Words and phrases for you to learn to survive the Easter:
- Glad påsk = Happy Easter
- Påskkärrningar = Easter witches
- Skärtorsdag = Thursday in Easter
- Långfredag = Good Friday
- Påskafton = Saturday in Easter
- Påskdagen = Easter day
- Annandag påsk = "Boxing day" Easter
- Klä ut sig = Dress up (Klä ut is a reflective verb that you can learn more about from our Swedish grammar site)
- Smörgåsbord = you know this, this is one of few Words that has actually been exported from the Swedish language, and we are pround of it!
- Sill = pickled herring
- Pynta = Decorate with traditional arnaments
- Påskris = Easter twigs (we have it both inside and outside)
- Blåkulla = The place we say the witches fly to
- Lov = School break
