Spending Christmas in Sweden - Next Stop on Our Virtual Tour

What is the Christmas season like in Sweden? How do the people of Sweden celebrate this wonderful time of year?

In Sweden, the season begins on the first Sunday in Advent with the lighting of an Advent candle.Similar to the tradition in other countries, an additional candle is lit each Sunday to mark the weeks until Christmas.

Our Swedish nativity scene shown above holds four taper candles - a sleek and joyous Scandinavian design for Advent!

On December 13th, Sweden honors Lucia Day - known as Saint Lucy's Day or the feast of Santa Lucia in other countries - the tradition involves more candles (a Swedish theme around Christmas). The day is celebrated with coffee and ginger biscuits and Saint Lucia is depicted as a woman dressed in white with a crown of candles on her head.

On Christmas Day, church is attended very early in the morning and it used to be said that the first family to arrive at church on Christmas morning would have an especially fortuitous year. Of course this led to jubilant racing to church on Christmas day!