Swedish National Day
On June 6 we celebrate Swedish National Day. It
has only been an official national holiday since 2005, before that it
was called Swedish Flag Day, but no one got off from work.
Why June 6? Well, it was on this day in 1523 that
Gustav Vasa was elected king. In1809 there was a constitutional reform
signed into effect on this day.
It was actually not publicly celebrated until the
beginning of the 1900s, when it started to become common for people to
have flagpoles at their homes. Flags were also sent out to every school
to make sure that all children knew what the Swedish flag looked like.
The first years it was Skansen, the open air
museum in Stockholm that took the lead on the celebrations, but nowadays
it’s an event in every town.
The biggest one is still held at Skansen, and the
royal family is always present at it.
The Swedes use this holiday to officially welcome
new citizens, who are given a flag and a certificate to celebrate their
new status.
There is also a pastry dedicated to this day. It
is a creation made with almond paste, orange liquor and sliced fresh
strawberries.
The Swedes are not as comfortable waiving their
flag around as Americans, maybe because we have only done it for a
couple of generations. But now that everyone has the day off to do
something, big celebrations are catching on and more and more people are
coming out for it.
--- Recipe - Swedish
National Day Pastry ---
For
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Midsommar ---
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