Flavors of Sweden

Easter in Sweden

The night before Easter, children receive an egg filled with candy. The traditional meal for Easter eve is herring and eggs.

In the old days, people took their time lighting the fireplace on Easter morning, as it was believed that the first person to have smoke coming from the chimney was a witch! These days the Easter Sunday meal usually includes spring lamb, though this is a relatively recent tradition. It shares the table with herring and salmon cooked in various ways, including Strömmingsflundror (stuffed herring) and Laxpudding (salmon gratin).

Meanwhile the children have dyed basketfuls of hardboiled eggs - yellow using onion peels, and red using beet juice. Now everyone pairs off to tap their eggs one against the other. The person with the egg that is last to crack is supposed to have good luck through the coming year.