Public holidays in Sweden

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In Sweden, public holidays (Swedish: helgdagar) 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), 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). Midsummer is, however, officially also a Christian holiday to celebrate John the Baptist's birthday.

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),[2] 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, Holy Saturday, and Midsummer Eve, but also on New Year's Eve; however, in this case it is 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' Day.

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

The official National holiday of Sweden is celebrated on 6 June, a status which it was finally granted in 2005, removing Whit Monday as a public holiday. 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 30 April which is immediately followed by 1 May. 30 April 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 30 April is also the king's birthday and an official flag flying day. Also 1 May is an official flag flying 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 30 April (which is the earliest possible day) is in 2285.

Festivities

See Swedish festivities

List of public holidays in Sweden

English name Local name Date of observation[3] Moveable date
New Year's Day Nyårsdagen 1 January
Epiphany Trettondedag jul 6 January
Good Friday Långfredagen Friday before Easter Sunday 7 April 2023
29 March 2024
18 April 2025
Easter Monday Annandag påsk Monday after Easter Sunday 10 April 2023
1 April 2024
21 April 2025
International Workers' Day Första Maj 1 May
Ascension Day Kristi himmelsfärds dag Thursday, 39 days after Easter Sunday 18 May 2023
9 May 2024
29 May 2025
National Day of Sweden Sveriges nationaldag 6 June
Midsummer's Day Midsommardagen Saturday during the period 20–26 June 24 June 2023
22 June 2024
21 June 2025
All Saints' Day Alla helgons dag Saturday during the period 31 October – 6 November 4 November 2023
2 November 2024
1 November 2025
Christmas Day Juldagen 25 December
Second Day of Christmas Annandag jul 26 December

Public holidays always on Sunday

Some public holidays in Sweden always occur on Sundays but are, in fact, official public holidays. This will usually not affect working schedules or ordinary opening hours.

Holiday Date of observation Moveable date
Easter Sunday (påskdagen) The first Sunday after a full moon on or after 21 March 9 April 2023
31 March 2024
20 April 2025
Pentecost Sunday (pingstdagen) The 7th Sunday (49 days) after Easter Sunday 28 May 2023
19 May 2024
8 June 2025

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 holiday Date of observation Moveable date
Midsummer Eve (midsommarafton) The Friday during the period 19–25 June. 23 Jun 2023
21 Jun 2024
20 Jun 2025
Christmas Eve (julafton) 24 December
New Year's Eve (nyårsafton) 31 December

De facto half holidays

The de facto half holidays are often treated with the afternoon off, but this varies depending on employer. It is 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.

De facto half holiday Date of observation Moveable date
Twelfth Night (trettondagsafton) 5 January
Walpurgis Night (valborgsmässoafton) 30 April
All Saints' Eve (alla helgons afton) The day before All Saints' Day 3 November 2023
1 November 2024
31 October 2025

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.

Eves always on Saturdays Date of observation Moveable date
Holy Saturday (påskafton) The day before Easter Sunday 8 April 2023
30 March 2024
19 April 2025
Whitsun Eve (pingstafton) The day before Pentecost (Whitsunday) 27 May 2023
18 May 2024
07 Jun 2025

Klämdag (squeeze 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).

klämdag (squeeze day) Type Moveable date
The Friday after Ascension Day Permanent 19 May 2023
10 May 2024
30 May 2025
The Monday before the National Day of Sweden 2023
The Friday after the National Day of Sweden 2024
The Monday before Christmas Eve 2024
The Friday after the Second Day of Christmas 2024
The Monday before New Year's Eve 2024
The Friday after International Worker's Day 2025
Additional 5 June 2023
7 June 2024
23 December 2024
27 December 2024
30 December 2024
2 May 2025

Christmas week and the first days of January

During Christmas 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 10 January (after the weekend after Epiphany). Most people, however, work at least some of these days. For instance, in 2024, Christmas Eve falls on a Tuesday, with Christmas Day falling on a Wednesday and the Second Day of Christmas on a Thursday. Thus, some employees are automatically allowed the day off (as they are klämdagar) on the Monday before Christmas Eve (23 December) and the Friday after the Second Day of Christmas (27 December), while others choose to take those days off as vacation. The same goes for the Monday before New Year's Eve (30 December). However, the Thursday and Friday after New Year's Day (2 and 3 January 2025) are not considered klämdagar, since they are two workdays falling next to each other. Thus, if people wanted those days off, they would have had to take them as vacation. As most people in Sweden are not required to work on Saturdays or Sundays, people could work their last day on 20 December, having taken two or five vacation days, and then not have to return to work until 7 January (the Tuesday after Epiphany).

See also

References

  1. ^ "Lag (1989:253) om allmänna helgdagar". Parliament of Sweden. Archived from the original on 12 November 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
  2. ^ "Helgdagar i Sverige | Nordiskt samarbete". www.norden.org (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 4 May 2023. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  3. ^ "Lag (1989:253) om allmänna helgdagar Svensk författningssamling 1989:1989:253 t.o.m. SFS 2004:1320". Riksdagen.se. Archived from the original on 27 February 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2018.