Christmas lights
Some characteristic Christmas lights you have no doubt spotted in the windows of houses and apartments where you live ar the poinsettias or Christmas star and the advent candlestick or Advent candlestick.
These Christmas decorations are available in countless different variations, both cheaper options at stores like Clas Ohlson and IKEA, and more expensive versions at design stores like Svenssons i Lammhult or Designtorget.
Other popular decorations include the angel game, angel chimes which rotate when candles are lit underneath, and the Julbock, a Christmas goat made of straw modelled after the famous Gävlebock, the 13-metre-high goat often set on fire by arsonists in the northern Swedish city of Gävle.
Also worth mentioning is the Jultomte, Christmas gnomes that are often mistaken as Santa. These can be found in almost all souvenir shops in many different sizes and are an unmistakably Swedish decoration found in every household.
Christmas snaps. Photo: Claudio Bresciani/TT
Christmas drinks
Many would say that a Swedish Christmas celebration is not complete without snaps – traditionally served at all major holidays, it is essentially Swedish vodka with spices and herbs like aniseed, fennel and caraway seeds.
The ritual of drinking about 60ml of snaps with pickled herring and potatoes is accompanied by singing drinking songs called snap song, which get increasingly more rowdy as the night goes on and as more alcohol is consumed.
Coupled with the other Christmas favourite, mulled wine (spiced wine), snaps is an essential part of the Swedish Christmas dining experience. You can make your own snaps at home by steeping some spices in vodka or unflavoured brandyor buy a bottle to gift to a snaps-loving friend or family member at the nearest Systembolaget. Here is The Local’s Swedish-style snaps recipe and more about its history and why it is so popular at Swedish holidays.
Crack and gingerbread cookies. Photo: Jurek Holzer/SvD/TT
Christmas treats
A Swedish julfica (Christmas Fika) is incomplete without a few staples. The most classic are fluffy cats (saffron buns), bright yellow buns most often formed into an S shape eaten around Christmas, gingerbread cookieswhich are thin spiced gingerbread biscuits and christmas cracker, small caramel flavoured sweets.
You can serve these with warm mulled wine (alcoholic versions available at Systembolaget with low-alcohol or alcohol-free variants available at most supermarkets), or with some sort of Christmas tea or coffee – look for you are luscious (tea spiced with saffron, orange and sometimes, chilli), Julte or Yule coffee (tea or coffee with Christmas spices). Pick any of these depending on your preference, these treats are perfect for warming you up on a cosy winter afternoon.
Other classic Swedish favourite Christmas snacks and drinks include christmas foam – soft candy with an admittedly unappetising name in the shape of Santa, and christmas must Christmas soda. Julmust is so popular in Sweden that it outsells Coca Cola during the Christmas season every year.
Although Swedes might not be massively impressed if you gift them Christmas foam or gingerbread cookies as a Christmas present, they can be great gifts for friends and family back home if you’re celebrating Christmas outside of Sweden this year. Most if not all of these items are available at supermarkets, and you might even be able to pick them up in the airport or train station if you’re looking for a last-minute gift.