All the Scandi Christmas traditions you need to know about

Here in Scandinavia, Yuletide stems from a pagan midwinter festival for feasting and celebrating that the harvest was done. Today, however, when you think of the festive period, you most likely conjure up images of snow-covered cabins, candle-lit interiors and glittering Christmas markets. While the five modern-day Nordic nations share many seasonal commonalities (glögg/gløgg/glögi/jólaglögg, anyone?), each country has its own set of unique traditions. We take a look at how each celebrates this festive time, with some surprising customs we’re sure yule enjoy.

It should come as no surprise that the home of hygge takes Christmas ambience pretty seriously. Copenhagen’s famous amusement park Tivoli alone could be spotted from space thanks to the festive glow of its Christmas Market. And on December 24th, homes are lit up with the inimitable glimmer of live flickering candles adorning the tree. Despite the potentially hazardous combination of wood and flame, candlelight is an indispensable part of what makes the celebrating so special.

Families come together for a Christmas dinner on the evening of the 24th. Before this meal, however, many will have brushed up on their feasting skills by attending a Julefrokost in the previous weeks. Though the name may translate to Christmas lunch, Julefrokost is more of an all-day eating extravaganza, a Christmas party with multiple courses of festive foods laid out, buffet-style, to offer everything from smørrebrød (open-faced rye-bread sandwiches) to marinated herrings, leverpostej (liver pate) and medisterpølse (pork sausage).

On Christmas Eve, most eat andesteg (roast duck), and the other most popular dish is flæskesteg (roast pork with crackling). These are accompanied by rødkål (red cabbage), rich gravies (brun sovs, literally meaning brown sauce) and the much-adored brunede kartofler – potatoes that are first boiled, then pan-fried in sugar to a decadent caramel finish. All this and much more is washed down with special edition Christmas beer or some digestion-assisting Julesnaps.

Dessert is risalamande, a vanilla-flavoured, cold rice pudding topped with cherry sauce. A blanched almond will have been hidden in the pudding, and whoever finds it in their bowl is rewarded with a present. Depending on how empathetic the person who finds the almond is, the risalamande ritual can be a seemingly endless activity, one that lasts until all bowls are empty. Each year since 1962, Denmark produces a new 24-part television special Julekalender, a Christmas calendar with daily episodes culminating on Christmas Eve, the final airing of this staple is a key part of the day’s planning.

From the first of advent, you start getting into the Christmas spirit. This is the day on which the first of four advent calendar candles will be lit, bright Christmas stars will be hung in windows, and the first glögg party might be held, where the hot mulled wine drink is served with blanched almonds, raisins and pepparakakor (gingerbread cookies).

The next most important day in the Christmas lead up is Luciadagen, Lucia Day celebrated on 13 December. The tradition centres around the mythological Santa Lucia, who brings light to the darkest of Swedish winter nights by wearing a crown of candles on her head. Celebrations include eating special saffron-flavoured buns (lussekatter) and watching musical candlelit processions in which boys and girls wear long, white robes, hold candles and sing carols.

But it is on Christmas Eve that the full jul festivities really take place. Though exact timings of meals and other activities may differ, there is one moment when no matter what, everything comes to a standstill. At 3pm, the country stops to watch Kalle Anka’s Jul, Donald Duck’s Christmas. Over 3.7 million tuned in to watch the programme in 2021, which has been broadcast on public television across the Nordic countries every year since 1959.

After that quacking good show, it’s time for the smörgåsbord (literally sandwich table), which will include classic Christmas foods such as pickled herrings and gravad lax (cured salmon), gubbröra (a mixture of egg and anchovies), potatoes and Janssons frestelse, a creamy potato and sprat casserole that translates rather alluringly to Jansson’s temptation. No traditional Christmas smörgåsbord is complete without julskinka, a Christmas ham that is boiled then glazed in a mustard, egg and breadcrumb mix.

Another tradition is to make Dopp i Grytan - a rich broth using scraps from the ham and other meats, into which vörtbröd (wort-flavoured rye bread) and knäckebröd (crispbread) can be dipped. And a definite must at the table is Julmust, a Christmas soda exclusively sold during the festive season. Other staples are Christmas beers and snaps. Christmas-specific songs known as snapsvisor are sung with gusto at the table at multiple intervals throughout dinner, all while holding one’s snaps glass in the air and finishing with an emphatic "Skål!” to fellow tablemates.

During all this time, one Swedish Christmas emblem may or may not still be standing: Gävlebocken, the Gävle Christmas Goat. The town of Gävle builds a gigantic version of a traditional yule goat each year, and as it is made out of flammable straw, it invariably gets burnt down. It’s always a surprise to see how long the goat lasts, or in what creative new way it has met its yearly demise. Christmas is then officially “danced away” on 13 January, when Christmas trees are thrown onto the street, decorations are put away and focus is shifted to counting down to lighter days ahead.

It is on 23 December, Lille Julaften (Little Christmas Eve), that things get serious in Norway. It’s a dedicated time for the whole family to deck the home with decorations, make pepperkakehus (gingerbread houses) and dress a Norwegian Christmas tree, a variety that is not just locally appreciated. Since 1947, Norway has gifted one to the UK as a symbol of Norway’s gratitude for Britain’s assistance in World War II, and so a tall Norwegian Christmas tree lights up London’s Trafalgar Square each year.

Back at home, Norwegian trees are covered in flags, paper chains, tinsel and julekurver, woven, heart-shaped baskets filled with goodies. But perhaps most predictably on the 23rd, Norwegians will watch Dinner For One, a televised version of the British play of the same name. It has been broadcast in Norway every year since 1980. The 18-minute, black-and-white, 2-hander skit from 1963 is an unquestioned part of the day’s proceedings, and the show is also traditionally watched on New Year’s Eve in Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

Norway’s Santa, Julenisse, brings gifts to the home and music appears in the form of the annual televised concert by The Silver Boys Choir, the ringing of church bells at 5pm, and the singing of carols like Så går vi rundt om en enebærbusk (Here we go round the mulberry bush).

As for the Julaften food, staples include ribbe (pork ribs) served with sauerkraut and redcurrant sauce, pinekjøtt (literally “stick meat”) made of salted or dried lamb ribs, all accompanied by seasonal drinks such as julebrus, a sweet Christmas soda, and juleøl, festive ales. While these delicacies would suffice on their own, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a Scandinavian Christmas spread must be in need of some fish. And Norway does not disappoint. There is the famous lutefisk, dried cod that has been pickled in lye to give it a distinctly gelatinous texture that makes it as divisive a fish as coriander is a herb. And then there is rakfisk, made of either arctic char or trout which is salted and fermented for many months. To call this last fish pungent would be politely restrained.

And for that strange expanse of time between the end of Christmas and New Year, when time stops and nobody knows what day it is, there’s Romjul, a time during which one might go skiing or sledding – or just finally smash and eat the gingerbread house they built.

If you really love Christmas and think that a few days towards the end of December simply aren’t sufficient, then Iceland is the place for you. Because on the island nation, Christmas technically lasts for a whole 26 days, starting on the 12th of December and going through to 6 January.

While that might sound excessive, it is necessary, as there is quite a lot of Christmas to fit into those days, not least to accommodate Iceland’s own 13 troll Santas, the Jólasveinar. Known as the Yule Lads, these 13 sons of a terrifying ogress named Grýla each have quirky personality traits after which they are named. These range from the self-explanatory Þvörusleikir (Spoon Licker) and Bjúgnakraekir (Sausage Snatcher) to the less obvious Gáttaþefur (Door Sniffer), the latter being is a large-nosed troll who can be found sniffing doorways in search of baked goods.

In the 13 days leading up to Christmas, Icelandic children place shoes in their windows, and one by one, the troll brothers come down from their mountain to leave sweets or small presents in the shoes. If the child has been naughty the previous day, however, they’ll find a rotten potato in their footwear when they wake. The arrival of the last Yule Lad on 23 December coincides with Þorláksmessa: St Thorlakur’s Day. It is a day in honour of Thorlakur Thorhallsson who was canonised as the patron saint of Iceland in 1984. The main custom is eating a simple meal of strong-smelling, putrefied skata (skate fish) with potatoes and decorating the tree.

Christmas is then officially celebrated on 24 December. Known as Aðfangadagur, Christmas Eve centres around a 6pm multi-course dinner, after which gifts are opened. Traditional foods include marinated herring on rye bread, hearty hangikjöt (a uniquely Icelandic preparation of smoked lamb), and rjúpa, rock ptarmigan which has been boiled then fried. The latter being a game bird of the grouse variety, its protected status has made it less of a common feature in recent years. Peas, red cabbage, beans, potatoes and gravy are familiar accompaniments, and another staple of the Christmas feast is a bread so thin and so crispy that it garnered the evocative name laufabrauð: leaf bread.

Iceland is also home to one of the most unique and endearing Christmas traditions, experienced in the form of the yearly jólabókaflóð, or Christmas book flood. Celebrated on Christmas Eve, it is essentially the giving and receiving of new books by, and to, all. Starting weeks before Christmas, bookshop shelves in Iceland are flooded as publishers release new books in this intentionally specific timeframe, and the book-buying frenzy begins. Then, on the 6th of January, Christmas is officially over and to mark the end of the 26 days, bonfires are lit and people dance around them, bidding Christmas farewell. All before possibly returning home to get through a few pages of a recent gift.

As the home country of Santa Claus himself, it is no surprise that Finland has the ultimate Christmas traditions. Though Santa, or joulupukki, as he’s called in Finland, hails from Lapland, his home is in Rovaniemi, where he can be visited at any time of the year, except during his one-off, annual travel commitment.

The celebrations with parties known as pikkujoulut, or Little Christmas. Like Denmark’s Julefrokost, these boost the festive spirit in anticipation of the main celebrations on 24 December. It is at noon on that day each year that Christmas officially begins, with one of Finland’s most well-known Christmas traditions: The Declaration of Christmas Peace in Turku which has been broadcast since 1935. An almost uninterrupted tradition since the 1300s, the reading aloud of the declaration serves as a reminder to people that a peaceful christmas period has begun, that people should behave accordingly, and that anyone who interrupts the peace will be reprimanded.

Houses with traditional himmeli, unique ornaments which are three-dimensional, symmetrical pieces of art made out of straw, the best of which contain rye grain for its long and hardy stems. Hung in the tree or shown off in the framed setting of a window, they may vary in size but never in their place as a Christmas essential.

The Christmas table, joulupöytä, is filled with a variety of dishes, of which kinkku, an oven-baked ham, is usually the centrepiece. The ham is surrounded by side dishes such as lanttulaatikko, a casserole made of swedes, cream and bread crumbs, and the hearty and vibrant rosolli salad, made of beetroot and other root vegetables. Lutefisk and cured salmon also figure, and the spread is rounded off with sweeter treats such as star-shaped pastries filled with jam (joulutorttu).

Traditional tv watching is timed early on the morning of the 24th, when children watch joulupukin kuumalinja: Santa’s Hot Line. The programme has been broadcast annually since 1991, and is essentially a live stream straight to the action at Santa’s shed, showing elves busily preparing presents while Santa speaks to children on the phone.

But of the country’s Christmas traditions, perhaps the oldest of all is the joulusauna, the Christmas sauna. Finland boasts 3.2 million saunas for its 5.5 million inhabitants and the Christmas sauna is therefore perhaps the most important ritual to mark the holiday season. Whether enjoyed in solitude for a moment of silent reflection at the end of the year, or with others to share the festive mood, sauna bathing is a pastime that is uniquely capable of encompassing the variety of emotions that the Christmas season can bring.