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The Newbie Guide to Sweden

The Newbie Guide to Sweden

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halloween

All You Need to Know About Halloween and All Saints’ Day in Sweden

27 October 2023 By Ellen Boyer Pokorny Leave a Comment

Halloween and All Saints’ Day are both celebrated in Sweden, let’s look at the differences. Halloween – a spooky tradition that now haunts Sweden alongside the rest of the world, and All Saints Day – a day of remembrance of those who have passed on. Both are full of ghosts, but one sports costumes and candy and the other light and reminiscence.

Although many of us may enjoy the cozy (mysig in Swedish) feels of autumn, the crisp air, the beautiful foliage, the candles starting to crop up in everyone’s windows, there are two events that occur at the end October and beginning of November that can really add to the coziness: Halloween and All Saints’ Day.

How is Halloween celebrated in Sweden?

Although Halloween has only more recently been widely celebrated in Sweden and throughout Europe, Swedes and non-Swedes alike have been more readily embracing the spookiness and candy-ness of Halloween since the ‘90s and (mainly) kids participate in the celebrations today. Kids dress up in costumes (mainly simple witches and other ghostly characters) and walk around their neighborhoods saying “bus eller godis” (trick or treat) and ask for candy. Teenagers are now also taking up the mantle and elevate their dress-up to more intricate costumes and go to parties or events. Adults in Sweden have the option to attend parties, events, parades, etc. as well, as some restaurants and establishments will decorate for Halloween and host events.

Halloween and all saints day in Sweden
A local COOP decorating for Halloween.

You will also find the theme of Halloween in the plockgodis (picking candy) aisles – behold many strange creatures and characters!

Local grocery stores often put up displays of pumpkins and other Halloween items such as masks, skeletons, and other fun items prior to Halloween.

Coinciding with Autumn break for many schools, Halloween (October 31st) and All Saints Day (November 1st) are often celebrated while children are at home.

Nowadays, it is a bit more common for pumpkin patches (självplock – choose yourself) to crop up at farms that typically sell other fruits and vegetables throughout the year, although this trend is still quite small and not every farm sells pumpkins that you can pick yourself.

 Halloween and all saints day in Sweden

Pumpkin Patches in Sweden

Choosing and carving your own pumpkin is a time honored tradition in many cultures that Sweden has caught on to. Not only do many grocery stores sell pumpkins these days, (to decorate or eat, you decide) but now many farms are setting up activities for the entire family and growing pumpkins in their fields (patches) in the autumn.

Stockholm

The nearest patch to Stockholm is Thorslunda, about 45 minutes outside of the city by car. You can also get there by bus. They have information on how to get to them on their website (information in Swedish). They also have a café that serves lunch and “fika”.

Southern Sweden

  • In Southern Sweden, you can pick pumpkins at Söderköpingsbonden. They also have tractor rides for the kids, pigs, and a strawberry field.
  • In Malmö, pick your pumpkins and corn at Slattvikgård.
  • In Södertälje, you can find a pumpkin patch and many other items to choose yourself at Trädgårn Södertälje.

Halloween Events in 2023

There are plenty of halloween events around Sweden to keep you spookily entertained. Here are a few from some of the major cities in Sweden. But just google Halloween + evenemang + the name of your city or Allhelgona + evenemang + the name of your city and you will find something more local.

Stockholm

If you fancy an extensive parade to enjoy with the family, Stockholm hosts the Shockholm Halloween Parade, this year taking place on November 4, 2023.

Gamla Stan hosts ghost tours all year, but around Halloween they pull out all the stops to bring an even ghostlier walk. Tours are in English and Swedish, so take a look for on their website before booking.

You can also journey through Gröna Lund amusement park to celebrate Halloween where they host special Halloween themed evenings.

Skansen, the open air museum located near Gröna Lund, hosts some fun fall activities and has a lot to do for the entire family during autumn break.

Drottningholm Slottsteater hosts a haunted theater show during the autumn holidays this year in their usually closed theatre. You book tickets on their website.

Gothenburg

In Gothenburg, there are various activities throughout the city during autumn break. Liseberg, the amusement park, decorates for Halloween and has activities for the entire family. The Culture Center puts on shows, and many more events for young, old, and in between.

What is All Saints’ Day and how is it celebrated?

All saints day

All Saints’ Day is the day to remember passed loved ones and has religious basis dating back to the 7th century. In Sweden on November 1st, many will make their way to Skogskyrkogården, an extensive cemetery and UNESCO World Heritage site. Families gather around graves of those they wish to remember and light candles. Others attend church service in one of the five chapels on the cemetery grounds. Although it is no longer seen as a religious affair, it was once considered a hallowed day, which is why All Saints’ Day is a red day (röd dag) in Sweden.

All saints day in Sweden
Candles light up the cemetery near Stockholm on All Saints’ Day.

By November 1st, Sweden can already be quite dark. But the numerous candles surrounding the gravesites up and down the entire cemetery at Skogskyrkogården is a serene sight. Skogskyrkogården is open to the public and the cemetery, aglow with candlelight, is a peaceful place to visit. If you choose to walk the paths of the cemetery, you are sure to see many families taking part in the traditions of reminiscence.

Other traditions outside of lighting candles at the cemetery include wreath making. They are made from evergreen branches that can be laid on gravesites. The wreaths are usually made to fit around candles and can also be decorated by items that have specific importance. The circular wreath is said to symbolize eternity and lighting candles are meant for remembrance.

Where do these celebrations for Halloween and All Saints’ Day in Sweden come from?

Modern day Halloween comes from Celtic traditions, where evil spirits were warded off by lighting bonfires and wearing costumes on Samhain (October 31st). It is said that the veil between the living and the dead is the thinnest on this night. This adds a layer of spook to Halloween celebrations and explains the traditions on November 1st, when All Saint’s Day (Alla helgons dag) is celebrated in Sweden. All Saints Day, also called All Hallow’s Day or All Souls Day, celebrates those that have passed on. They were said to visit family members during the Samhain celebrations the evening before (or All Hallow’s Eve).

Influence from other cultures on Halloween and All Saints’ Day in Sweden

Cultures and traditions often go beyond their physical borders – the same is true of Halloween and All Saints’ Day celebrations. Let’s delve into the influential cultures that have likely shaped Sweden’s celebrations today.

Halloween in the US

The US is a long way away from the simplicity of Samhain. Ghosts are now warded off by lighting a “bonfire” no bigger than the average jack-o-lantern with a tea light candle. But Halloween is often celebrated by child and adult alike. In the US, Halloween is treated as an important event every year. Children go trick-or-treating (or dress up in various costumes and ask the neighbors for candy) as soon as it’s dark out as well as during school hours. Adults partake in similar cosplay but go searching for alcohol instead of (or alongside) candy. Houses are decorated with pumpkins, spider webs, spooky characters, and fake grave stones. Neighbors often camp out on their front lawn dressed as their favorite characters to hand out giant candy bars. Pumpkin patches and haunted hayrides are a common occurrence and you can find them wherever there is a field (or a farm!).

Day of the Dead in Mexico

Mexico celebrates the Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) on November 1st. They make offerings (ofrendas) to their family members who have passed on. These can include favorite foods, drinks, pictures, and cut marigolds. This tradition celebrates their loved one’s memory and often includes lighting candles by their gravestones.

American culture brings an over-the-top-ness to Halloween including political statements and giant skeletons. Swedish festivities are usually more simple but still influenced by the US Halloween culture. There is also a similarity to Mexican traditions in Sweden. Many Swedes journey to the cemetery (kyrkogården) to light a candle and remember their loved ones on All Saints’ Day.

Autumn in Sweden comes on quickly and moves just as quickly into winter. But in its midst are fun celebrations for Halloween and remembrance of those who came before during All Saints’ Day.

How do you plan to celebrate Halloween and All Saints’ Day? Do you have similar traditions where you are from? Let us know in the comments, we’d love to hear from you!

Filed Under: Blog, Culture, Info, Social, Sweden Tagged With: all saints day, candy, culture, food, food in sweden, halloween, halloween in sweden, pumpkins, Swedish Culture

Why ‘When the Clock Strikes’ is a must-have for your child this spring

17 April 2019 By The Newbie Team 1 Comment

You won’t regret buying this book about Halloween for your child this spring. Why? Because, no matter if you like ghosts, pumpkins or dress-ups, your child will learn a lot from When the Clock Strikes on Halloween – especially about learning to tell time.

Created with Lisa Ferland

As a parent, you’ll find inside not only a great story but also (and most importantly) a cultural lesson, rhyming patterns and a great tool to learn to tell time, all hidden between the lines, so your child can learn and have fun at the same time. Sounds good? Read an interview with Lisa, the author of When the Clock Strikes and see where can you order the book.

Who are you and why have you decided to publish a book about the American Halloween in Sweden?

I’m Lisa Ferland and I changed careers from the public health sector to the creative arts/writing and publishing sector when we moved to Sweden from the US. 

My writing has evolved from documenting our lives in Sweden as foreigners to being inspired by all that’s around me which is a lot of Swedish folklore of elves, witches, and spirits.

Now that my kids are entering the Swedish school system after years of förskola, I’m discovering that there are cultural gaps in their education. As parents, we need to provide the non-Swedish practice of our family holidays and traditions. 

My new illustrated children’s book series, When the Clock Strikes, was inspired by a conversation I had with my seven-year-old son. Last year, we had a conversation about all of the spooky things that happen on Halloween night and together, we wrote the rhymes for everything that happens on Halloween.

Since Halloween is a relatively new holiday in Sweden, we see the classic ghosts, witches, and zombies. This classic celebration of the Halloween spirit inspired the book as well as my kids’ inability to tell analog time. Teachers are always struggling with new ways to introduce time telling concepts to kids and the book was born.

The next book will focus on the different ways Christmas is celebrated around the world but the first book has this fun Halloween theme that kids love year-round.

How is the book supporting children’s development?

Parents with kids between the ages of 4-8 years will really get the most out of the book but it’s enjoyable at every age. The large clock on each page introduces kids to numbers and the rhyming pattern helps them learn to read and speak English.

The cover of When the Clock Strikes On Halloween

You can buy the book at https://bit.ly/clockstrikeshalloween or head over to lisaferland.com.

Would you like to read more about the American and Swedish culture? Click here.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: children, halloween, literature

Sweden vs. the US: Halloween Celebration

10 April 2018 By The Newbie Team

Halloween is a relatively new holiday in Sweden (as it is in most of Europe) and adoption of the American tradition has been interesting to watch as an American immigrant living in Sweden. So, trick or treat?

Created with Lisa Ferland


Copyrights: Lisa Ferland

When we moved to Sweden from the US in 2012, not many people celebrated Halloween. Fellow American moms advised me to host my own Halloween parties and create a faux trick-or-treat experience by giving the neighbors candy to hand out when my kids came by at 3 pm that day.

Over the past few years, more Swedish kids are shouting, “Bus eller godis!” and stores are decked out in skeletons, spiderwebs, and fake blood packets. What we’re seeing take shape in Sweden is a scarier, more traditional Halloween than most American families celebrate in the US.

Pulling from classic horror films, Halloween in Sweden often means Freddy Krueger, chainsaws, and screams whereas, at Halloween parties in the US, you see princesses, Spiderman, and satirical versions of political figures.Here are some other ways in which celebrating Halloween in Sweden differs from what we experienced in the US.

The Costumes

Halloween costumes in Sweden tend to be the classic representations of monsters compared to the often ironic and interpretive costumes one sees in the US. 

Last Halloween, I saw pictures of my American friends’ kids dressed up like the house from the Wizard of Oz complete with the witch’s legs sticking out from underneath.

Looking out my front window, I saw Swedish kids dressed as witches, ghosts, and vampires. Trick-or-treating in Sweden is like stepping back in time to when Halloween was all about the mystery and horror of the dark October night. 

Perhaps, after a few decades of celebrating Halloween, more Swedes will tire of the traditional costumes and use the holiday as an excuse to make a statement on current affairs, but for now, the day is simple and a bit retro.

The Candy

Candy in Sweden is the pick it yourself type from big bins in the grocery store and is often not wrapped or packaged in bulk. The Halloween Day-specific candy market just isn’t that big in Sweden (yet). 

As a result, our kids get a bunch of loose, unwrapped candy, similar to what they eat every Saturday as part of lordagsgodis (Saturday candy). Since we limit the amount of candy they eat every Saturday, Halloween is seen as a HUGE treat because we release the limit on the amount they can eat. (I know, I know, we are super generous parents.)

What’s funny is that since our kids are so used to eating only 5-7 pieces of candy, the amount of candy they get on Halloween totally overwhelms them and they freak out giggling in excitement as they dump their “treasures” onto the table.

I look at their “candy haul” and laugh to myself because I know that when I was their age, we’d dump out pillowcases full of more candy than we could ever handle. 

What I love is passing on the tradition of examining and trading candies with their friends. We used to do this on our living room floor in upstate New York, USA when I was a kid and I loved making deals with my brother, “I’ll trade you two Kit Kat bars for your supersized Snickers bar.”

My kids get to have that same experience but on a slightly smaller scale as they are trading jelly beans and red Ferraris instead of Snickers and Kit Kats. 

The Parties

Since Halloween is a new holiday in Sweden, only the most die-hard Halloween enthusiasts host holiday parties. That means that Swedish Halloween parties often far exceed your expectations. 

I’m constantly blown away by the inventiveness of my friends and the lengths to which they’ll go to make the event super special and fun for both the kids and adults.

My Australian friend hosts one of the best parties I’ve ever been to and even created a “mad scientist lab” with dry ice, black lights, and other reagents and laboratory equipment. The decorations are incredibly detailed was well-thought out.

Another Halloween party we attended featured a “spooky forest walk” where parents dressed in costumes, hid behind trees, and jumped out to scare the kids as they walked along the path. The procession ended with a witch (our neighbor or so I thought) handing out candy bags from her bubbling and smoking cauldron.

Celebrating Halloween in Sweden

Without much to do in late October, the Halloween tradition fits nicely in most Swedish neighborhoods and I believe we’ll see more and more kids trick-or-treating in the coming years. 

Celebrating it in Sweden is like taking a step back in time to a simpler age. The kids are happy with a small bag of candy (very lagom), houses aren’t being egged or covered in toilet paper, and the classic costumes. While “bus eller godis!” has replaced, “Trick or treat!” Halloween in Sweden doesn’t look that different from Halloween in the US and I’m glad that my family gets to continue the fun tradition every fall.


Lisa Ferland is a writer and mother to a ninja warrior and a dancing firefly. Her first children’s book, When the Clock Strikes on Halloween, introduces kids to the concept of telling time in rhyme with a Halloween theme. Pre-order the book at https://lisaferland.com.

Psst… You want to read our interview with Lisa? Click here.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: celebrating in sweden, halloween, US

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