Public holidays in Sweden

Public holidays in Sweden (Swedish: helgdagar) in Sweden are established by acts of Parliament (the Riksdag).^[1] The official holidays can be divided into Christian and non-Christian holidays. The Christian holidays are jul (Christmas, though it has strong roots from the Norse paganism). trettondedag jul (Epiphany), påsk (Easter), Kristi himmelsfärds dag (Ascension Day), pingstdagen (Pentecost) and alla helgons dag (All Saints' Day). The non-Christian holidays are: nyårsdagen (New Year's Day), första maj (International Workers' Day), Sveriges nationaldag (National Day) and midsommar (Midsummer).

In addition to this, all Sundays are official holidays but they are not as important as the main holidays. The names of the Sundays follow the liturgical calendar and they should be categorized as Christian holidays. Easter Sunday and Pentecost are always on Sundays, but they are seen more like main holidays than ordinary Sundays. When the standard working week in Sweden was reduced to 40 hours by the Riksdag, all Saturdays became de facto public holidays. Holy Saturday, Midsummer's Eve, Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are also de facto holidays.

Part of the Swedish tradition is the celebration of Lucia (Saint Lucia Day). She is the only saint to be celebrated in Lutheran Sweden (as well as those parts of Norway and Finland, where Swedish influence has historically been prominent). The celebration, which, however, is not a public holiday, always takes place on 13 December and retains many pre-Christian traditions. The same is also true for many holidays in Sweden.

In Sweden, a public holiday is sometimes referred to as röd dag (red day), as it is printed in red in most calendars. It is quite common for some businesses to close at noon the day before certain holidays, and also if a holiday falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday, Swedes will commonly take off the klämdag (squashed in days or squeeze day) that falls between the holiday and the weekend.

Tradition

In Swedish tradition many holidays have their main celebrations not on the Day but on the Eve of the holiday, meaning one day earlier. This is especially significant on Christmas Eve and Midsummer Eve, but also on New Year's Eve, however in this case not really unique. Christmas Eve, Midsummer Eve and New Year's Eve might very well be the single most important holidays during the entire year for the Swedish. These days are however only de facto holidays. There are also de facto half-day holidays (with some variation depending on employer): Twelfth Night, Maundy Thursday, Walpurgis Night, the day before Ascension Day and the day before All Saints's Day.

The Swedish calendar also provides for special flag days. Flag days are in some cases official holidays or the birthdays and namedays for the Royal family and informal holidays like Gustavus Adolphus Day (November 6) or the Nobel Day (December 10). There is no formal connection between flag days and holiday. Many flag days are ordinary workdays.

The official National holiday of Sweden is celebrated on June 6, a status which it was finally granted in 2005. The Name days in Sweden calendar is also denoted. It has a long history, originally a calendar of saints, some names have stuck throughout centuries while others have been modernized.

Several observances at once

There are instances where official holidays, de facto half days, official flagdays and other observances clash and several celebrations may run concurrently. One such case is the April 30 which is immediately followed by May 1. April 30 is a de facto half day because it is the Walpurgis Night and the main day for celebrations to the arrival of the spring season. The following day is actually Walpurgis Day; however, in the calendar it is primarily denoted as May Day, or Labor Day. This means that depending on your sympathies you may either celebrate it as May Day or as Walpurgis Day. In addition to this April 30 is also the king's birthday and an official flag day. Also May 1 is an official flag day by virtue of May Day or Walpurgis day. If either day would fall on a Sunday that day would also in that respect be an official holiday and a Christian holiday, as one of the Sundays following Easter.

In 2008, due to the unusually early Easter, Ascension Day occurred on 1 May. This was the first time this happened since May Day became a public holiday in 1939. The next time these holidays overlap is in 2160. The next time Ascension Day will coincide with Walpurgis Night on April 30 (which is the earliest possible day) is in 2285.

Festivities

See Swedish festivities

List of public holidays in Sweden

De facto holidays

The day before an official holiday is in most cases treated as a de facto holiday in two variants, full day and half day.

De facto holidays

The de facto holidays are almost always treated as official holidays by employers, so most employees working regular office hours do not work these days.

De facto half holidays

The de facto half holidays are often treated with the afternoon off, but this varies depending on employer. It's more common to work a full workday than not these days. Many of the employees that have half days off have a slightly longer workweek the rest of the year to compensate for the time off. In many cases employees take the whole day off, combining the half holiday with some other form of leave.

Eves always on Saturdays

For most employees there is little practical difference between these eves and the other Saturdays of the year, which means they are de facto holidays.

Permanent klämdag (squashed in day)

Days between a holiday and a weekend are in Swedish called klämdagar (squeeze days). These may arise at different holidays, but there is one permanent klämdag every year. Many people are off work on klämdagar getting long weekends. In some cases employers treat some of these days as de facto holidays; in other cases people may use some form of leave (e.g. vacation).

Boxing week and the first days of January

During the Boxing Week and the days before and after Epiphany many Swedes are off from work, combining holidays, de facto holidays and other forms of leave (e.g. vacation). It is in fact quite common to leave work before Christmas Eve and then not come back to work until around January 10 (after the weekend after Epiphany). Most people however work at least some of these days. For instance, in 2013, Christmas Eve will fall on a Tuesday, with Christmas Day falling on a Wednesday and Boxing Day on a Thursday. Thus, some employees are automatically allowed the day off (as they are klämdagar) on the Monday before Christmas Eve (December 23) and the Friday after Boxing Day (December 27), while others may choose to take those days off as vacation. The same goes for the Monday before New Year's Eve (December 30). However, the Thursday and Friday after New Years Day (January 2 and 3 of 2014) are not considered klämdagar, since they are two workdays falling next to each other. Thus, if people want those days off, they have to take them as vacation. As most people in Sweden are not required to work on Saturdays or Sundays, people could in fact work their last day on December 20, take two or five vacation days as it were, and then not return to work until January 7 (the Tuesday after Epiphany).

Summer vacation

Most employees in Sweden are able to choose when to have their vacation, but most people have at least a three- or four-week vacation during the summer, often in July and early August. These weeks may in some sense be considered as de facto holidays with few employees at work.

See also

• Flag days in Sweden
• Name days in Sweden

References

1. ↑ "Lag (1989:253) om allmänna helgdagar". Parliament of Sweden. Retrieved 2012-06-18. 

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