Christmas kicks off in Sweden on the first of Advent. On this day, it is as though, every window in Sweden is lit with candles and stars. Glögg party season begins where people gather to enjoy mulled, warm wine accompanied with gingerbread cookies. The city, too, is decorated in white lights
Old Town is the perfect place to visit with it’s pastel streets lit with Christmas lights and a traditional Christmas Market at the center. Products from all over Sweden, such as lamb skin slippers and silver laced bracelets handi-crafted from the Sami (a people from the north of Sweden) are sold along other Swedish delicacies.
The Swedish holiday of lights, Lucia, has to be mentioned and is celebrated on the 13th of December. On this day, there are Lucia concerts all over the city and many Lucia who are crowned with live candle crowns. Tradition goes that children wake their parents up with Saffron buns in bead, dressed in costumes such as the Lucia costume, Star boys or Gingerbread boys!
The NK Departent store windows are decked out annually. The windows are always on our stop before visiting Santa Claus who’s at NK, too. Across the street, in Kungsträgården, there’s another open-air Christmas market and ice skating.
The holiday and decorations are left up until the 13th of January which is called Julgransplundraring Day (meaning the day Christmas trees are taken down.) On this day, Christmas trees are taken down and organized in parties where kids dance around the trees and receive their last Christmas goodies, too! The long nights of Sweden feel ideal backdrop of everything Christmas.