Easter(Ostern) in 🇸🇪 Schweden

Easter in Sweden, called Pask, is a holiday that uniquely blends Christian traditions with folk customs and a surprising connection to witchcraft lore. On the Thursday before Easter, Skartorsdag, children dress as Easter witches, or Paskkärringar, wearing headscarves, long skirts, and painted red cheeks. They go door to door with copper kettles, offering decorated willow twigs in exchange for candy, much like trick-or-treating.

This tradition stems from the old belief that witches flew to Blakulla, a mythical meadow, on Maundy Thursday to consort with the devil. Bonfires were lit on Holy Saturday to ward off evil spirits, and this custom persists in parts of western Sweden where large community fires blaze on Easter eve.

The Swedish Easter table is a smorgasbord affair featuring pickled herring, Janssons temptation, a creamy potato and anchovy gratin, salmon, eggs in various preparations, and lamb. Easter candy, or Paskgodis, is displayed in large decorated cardboard eggs that children receive as gifts. Swedes consume more candy at Easter than at any other time of year.

Birch twigs decorated with colorful feathers, called Paskris, adorn homes and public spaces. The Easter weekend is also a traditional time to open summer cottages and enjoy the lengthening Scandinavian daylight.

The most important Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after crucifixion, observed worldwide with sunrise services, egg hunts, and family gatherings.