Why is Ascension Day a public holiday in Sweden?
This year Thursday, May 18th marks Ascension, making this a three-day week for the many workers in Sweden who take a 'klämdag' off on Friday and give themselves a four-day weekend.
Klämdag literally means “squeeze day” (klämma – to squeeze, and dag – day) and refers to the day that falls, or is squeezed, between a public holiday and a weekend.
Ascension, which Christians believe marks the day that Jesus ascended into heaven, is always 40 days after Easter Sunday, which means that its exact date varies from year to year. The earliest possible date is April 30th, and the latest possible date is June 3rd.
But why does Sweden give people a day off work on this day?
Ascension is actually a holiday in quite a few European countries – Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, France and the other Nordic countries get a day off, although Spain, Italy and the UK do not.
From the 12th century to the 16th, Sweden was a Catholic country. According to high school history teacher and tradition expert Mattias Axelsson, around a third of the days in the Middle Ages were public holidays.
“With the exception of May 1st (Labour Day) and our National Day (June 6th), all public holidays go back to the Middle Ages,” he told The Local in 2021.
In Sweden, Ascension Day, known as Kristi himmelfärdsdag (literally: Christ's journey to heaven day) or more colloquially Kristi flygare (Christ flying), has been celebrated since the mid 300s. The holiday originally celebrated around this time was betessläppningen, the day where cattle were let out to graze on pastures.
Since 1924 or 1925, it has been also been celebrated as the national day of sobriety by Swedish teetotallers.
Ascension was also historically seen as the first day of summer in some parts of Sweden, referred to as barärmdagen or "bare arm day". It's the first day of the year where women were allowed to go outside without their arms covered.
Gökottor are a traditional Ascension Day activity, which involves going into the forest early on a spring morning, picnic in hand, to wait in silence in hopes of hearing a cuckoo (although you won't find a lot of Swedes doing that today).
Despite Sweden being a mostly secular society, Swedes still celebrate many religious holidays, like trettondag jul, Easter and Christmas.
Most Swedes don't really do anything to mark Ascension Day though, they're just happy to have an extra day off.
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Klämdag literally means “squeeze day” (klämma – to squeeze, and dag – day) and refers to the day that falls, or is squeezed, between a public holiday and a weekend.
Ascension, which Christians believe marks the day that Jesus ascended into heaven, is always 40 days after Easter Sunday, which means that its exact date varies from year to year. The earliest possible date is April 30th, and the latest possible date is June 3rd.
But why does Sweden give people a day off work on this day?
Ascension is actually a holiday in quite a few European countries – Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, France and the other Nordic countries get a day off, although Spain, Italy and the UK do not.
From the 12th century to the 16th, Sweden was a Catholic country. According to high school history teacher and tradition expert Mattias Axelsson, around a third of the days in the Middle Ages were public holidays.
“With the exception of May 1st (Labour Day) and our National Day (June 6th), all public holidays go back to the Middle Ages,” he told The Local in 2021.
In Sweden, Ascension Day, known as Kristi himmelfärdsdag (literally: Christ's journey to heaven day) or more colloquially Kristi flygare (Christ flying), has been celebrated since the mid 300s. The holiday originally celebrated around this time was betessläppningen, the day where cattle were let out to graze on pastures.
Since 1924 or 1925, it has been also been celebrated as the national day of sobriety by Swedish teetotallers.
Ascension was also historically seen as the first day of summer in some parts of Sweden, referred to as barärmdagen or "bare arm day". It's the first day of the year where women were allowed to go outside without their arms covered.
Gökottor are a traditional Ascension Day activity, which involves going into the forest early on a spring morning, picnic in hand, to wait in silence in hopes of hearing a cuckoo (although you won't find a lot of Swedes doing that today).
Despite Sweden being a mostly secular society, Swedes still celebrate many religious holidays, like trettondag jul, Easter and Christmas.
Most Swedes don't really do anything to mark Ascension Day though, they're just happy to have an extra day off.
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