Kort svar: Halloween 2008 är 31 oktober.
Vilket datum Halloween är brukar i oktober vara en av de mest frekventa sökvägarna in på min högtidsblogg. Förra året skrev jag att Halloween i Sverige bör firas på fredagen före Alla helgons dag, vilket gör att datumet kan variera.
I år (2008) är det dock så bra att Alla helgons dag infaller 1 november (alltså samma dag som Allhelgonadagen för övrigt) vilket gör att årets Halloween i Sverige otvetydigt bör firas på samma dag som sin motsvarighet i USA – alltså fredag 31 oktober.
Läs även andra bloggare om halloween, allhelgonadagen, alla helgons dag, högtider, traditioner,
Högtider och traditioner 
TACK! Jag har sökt högt och lågt efter info om detta. Varför ska det vara så komplicerat? Jag förstår i och för sig att man separerat Halloween från Alla helgons dag eftersom det firas på två väldigt distinkta sätt. Men det är jobbigt att få reda på info om NÄR det ska firas. Nåväl, nu vet jag!
Hmmm… :-)
As an American living over here I’ve been doing my best to teach the swedes, Halloween is ALWAYS, ALWAYS ALWAYS the 31st (last day) of October. It isn’t a holiday that gets moved around. That’s the beauty of Halloween. Even as a kid you don’t care if Halloween falls on a Tuesday or school night, because you know you get to stay up late and trick or treat. The reason Swedes want to shuffle the date around is because unlike most countries you guys shuffle around All Saint’s Day, for the rest of us All Saints is ALWAYS the 1st of November….so because you do that there is a RISK that your All Saint’s can fall on what is Halloween. :/ They are two separate holidays and shouldn’t be confused, in fact nothing PISSES me off more than having kids trick or treating for two weeks straight, a week before and after Halloween, and I have a special distaste for those that show up on All Saint’s…nothing worse than taking a day meant to respect the dead and spending it dressed as a dead zombie begging for candy. (Pretty tacky and disrespectful of the dead) I try to be understanding though, I know you guys haven’t learned how it all works…but if you want to adopt the holiday, perhaps adopting the date would be best too. It isn’t a drinking holiday, stores are open, mail gets delivered and you don’t get off for school/work so why bother moving it anyway?
Anyhow, I have my neighborhood trained at least now…took me two years but I think most of them here get it now that it is always the 31st. Simple. Easy. *shrug*
Ja, i år är ett bra år!
Fast min önskan är att 1 november vore en röd dag! :-)
Jag bor i USA och vi har redan börjat fira Halloween :)
Ylva – Well, some things usually turn up in stores early. I was home in Texas this summer until September 2nd and most of the stores were already carrying candy. (I bought a ton – plus Halloween pencils, etc.) kids in my neighborhood are in for a treat this year. Sometimes orginizations and schools may have some festivities (like costume contests) within the week before… but actual Halloween isn’t until the 31st. You’ll see…nobody is going to knock on your door until the 31st…and not until it gets dark. (Though some very young kids- like the ages of 3-5 go out about 6pm because of bedtimes). A tip for you though, if you are giving out candy in the USA be sure it is only store bought and individually wrapped – parents in the states won’t allow the kids (and we are taught) not to accept loose candy like kids will accept here, due to safety issues (loose candy is easily tampered with). You should be able to find packs of candy specially made for Halloween distribution at any local store though.
And just wait, day after Halloween… BAM! Stores will be full of Christmas crap. Back in the day they used to wait until Thanksgiving was over, but not anymore. XD
Amerikansk tradition? Nja, All Hallows’ Even kommer ju från Irland. (Wikipedia)
Tycker du att vi borde flytta jultomten till den 25:e december också, för att ”så gör vi i USA”?
Snälla du…tar ni svenskor en tradition ifrån USA, även om det i början kom ifrån Irland, följ då för fasan rätt datum. (Oktober 31) Är det verkligen så svårt?! Och förresten, kommer verkligen alla ”Svenska traditioner” ifrån Sverige? NEJ!!!!
Good on you Håkan, yes indeed it began as an Irish tradition, from there it spread to England, and then (since we were colonized before we bacme our own country) we adopted it in our country, since of course many colonists were English and Irish to begin with). Of course, it hit it’s peak as a national holiday by the 1900’s thanks to the great amounts of Irish immigrants that came in. (I myself like most Americans are of partly Irish decent – so there’s an attestment, hahah.) I actually teach a class about holidays here in Sweden as part of a culture course. It’s a good thing!
But Krissy is right, I mean…sure, it was Irish, and then English, but when the USA adopted it we didn’t CHANGE it….that’s the main issue I have with the Swedish holidays. Here people like to adopt holidays, but then they change what they mean or the dates. I’m actually thrilled Swedes want to celebrate Halloween – it is my FAVORITE of all holidays (even above Thansgiving and Christmas to me) and I’m so happy others can begin to enjoy what I grew up with.
But if everyone is going through the trouble of adopting it, the least people can do is understand what they are adopting into their culture. In today’s information age it REALLY doesn’t take much effort. Imagine if ”we in the USA” were to suddenly take a shine to a holiday you celebrate here that we don’t – like Midsummer. Now let’s say us yanks decide that the date that actual Midsummer fell on wasn’t convienient for us so we decided to move it to the 27th of July. Oh, and we liked the idea of making Majstånger – but flowers – nah, we decided to decorate them with hot dogs – that way we can peel them off and plop them on the grill (the good ol American way – summer holidays MUST involve grilling hot dogs and burgers) as soon as we are done dancing the macarena around them. Yeah…….that’s about right.
Now wouldn’t you be a little pissed if that above scenerio was true? At the very least irritated and do your best to ”teach” Americans what Midsummer was all about and what they were doing wrong? Nobody’s saying that you are wrong in taking a holiday – we’re just saying if you are going to adopt a holiday then take a little effort in knowing how to celebrate it. All I’ve done for the last few years is try and make my voice heard – politely – to help others understand what an awesome fun holiday this is – especially for children. Yet still, in my hometown I see things like stores listing ”buy your Halloween items now – Halloween is 31st Dec – Nov. 2nd!” and people setting up ”Halloween” parties mid November.
Taking the date isn’t difficult. And not confusing it with another Holiday (All Saint’s) isn’t difficult. In the USA, England, and in Ireland there was never a problem. Halloween (All Hallow’s Eve) was always the 31st, and for us the day BEFORE All Saints’ Day – (hence the EVE part.) The date was pretty much right there in the name – everyone knew it wasn’t All Saint’s Day, because the name itself told you it was the day BEFORE. The two should be kept separate – that’s the biggest issue for me – the confusion of the two holidays. All Saints’ Day should be left at that, a day to remember and respect your dead…and it saddens me that people are using an adopted holiday to replace the importance of remembering your loved ones that have passed when it isn’t necessary.
But anyhow, HAPPY HALLOWEEN to all of you. Hope you all have a safe and fun holiday.
Valerie
Oh crap…almost forgot to address this:
”Tycker du att vi borde flytta jultomten till den 25:e december också, för att “så gör vi i USA”?”
Not at all. Christmas (and the way you celebrate it) is part of your scandinavian tradition. The way you celebrate it is due to Sweden’s cultural heritage – so the name (Yule/Jul) stems back from when Scandinavia was pagan. You have celebrated on the 24th for a long time – and nothing is ”wrong” about it – it is your cultural tradition! I would never try and change that…changing tradition and building on tradition are two separate things.
My husband and I have lived here for 8 years, and my son was born here – and being a multi-cultural family is hard but I try and improvise. I want my son to learn and love both his heritages. Since moving here, I too celebrate Christmas on the 24th. But I did incorporate some of the old traditions from home. For example, everything we do on Christmas is 100% Swedish, but on the night before on the 24th (I guess we would call it christmas eve-eve, hahah) we hang up the Christmas stockings and my son leaves out milk and cookies for Santa. My son is old enough now that last year he asked WHY Santa came here on the 24th, but not ”to Texas” until the 25th. I say that Santa has a long way to go around the globe so he hits Sweden and this part of the world first on his way to the states – and since he’s made those long plane trips before, it makes sense.
We’re actually planning on moving our family back to Texas in a few years, and granted, I will keep some of the ”Swedish” traditions too – we’ll probably do something special on the 24th, and we’ll drink glogg, etc…even though nobody at home knows what that is. LOL. I really want my kid to know and accept both sides of his cultures.
But as said, adopting, changing, and building on tradition are separate things. I’d never ask anyone to change Scandinavian Christmas – that’s your tradition and heritage and one you should all be proud of – Swedes actually have a very interesting culture! Of course, it is hard to get a lot of Swdes to admit that though. As a culture teacher the texbooks say that Sweden has a ”cultural crisis” where the country feels a lack of cultural identity, because in Europe back in the day there were certain trends that said France etc. were the centers of culture, and many countries (including yours) spent a lot of time trying to imitate those cultures. (For example: King Gustav III creating the Swedish Royal Opera since opera was the prime envy of France at the time). It really is a shame, because if you look deep, there are tons of great cultural traditions that actually are 100% SWEDISH, and pretty awesome too, and really should be embraced. :) But taking in new traditions from other cultures is great too, as long as you respect the culture it comes from, and if a country adds on its own traditions to it and makes it uniquely their own – why not? :D That’s the beauty of culture, many of it is shared, but a lot becomes unique and very interesting after time. Just like Halloween again, the Irish celebrated it, we in the states accepted it, and after time we created our own traditions with it (carved pumpkins are actually an American thing) Irish folks made them from other vegetables – like turnips (Jack o’ Lanterns) but it wasn’t until the USA got the tradition that we used pumpkins since they too were a vegetable, and they were plentiful since they grew in our climate well. :D
Jo Valerie. När Halloween kom från Irland till USA så förändrades den. Med influenser från bl.a. Dias de muertos och Guy Fawkes Day och indiantraditioner blev Halloween något nytt amerikanskt som skiljde sig på en rad punkter från den Halloween som firats på Irland.
På samma sätt förändras Halloween när det kommer till Sverige.
maxelson,
Well, hopefully Sweden will add some interesting things to the mix. Hopefully not giving away lutefisk instead of candy though…(heh-heh).
That sort of thing does take time though, which I’m interested, when would you guys (the readers/posters that are native Swedes) say Halloween ”came” to your neck of the woods. When I moved to Piteå in 2000 there wasn’t anything for several years. In fact, I’d say it wasn’t until 2005 people started to think about Halloween really – now grocery stores carry pumpkins and we do get trick-or-treaters (yet most in the neighborhood still don’t carry candy and are prepared for the kiddos, *sigh*). I’d be very interested to hear when Halloween hit certain areas in Sweden.
I tell you one thing I’ve adopted into Halloween since being here – marchaller! (Man those are neat!) Back home when you are expecting trick or treaters you leave the porch light on – it’s like a universal symbol to the kids that reads ”CANDY HERE!”. If you don’t want to give out candy or run out too soon, you turn off the light and the kids don’t knock. But even when my light is on and my jack o’ lantern is lit up kids still aren’t sure…but man, you light up som marchaller in a row by the door and they know they can come and knock. :D i like how marchaller in Sweden seems to translate as ”party and fun here!”. I’ve never seen anything like them in the states, but they sure are nifty! :) This year I’m going to make a path with them up to my doorway…hehe. :D
Valerie,
You’ve lived here in Sweden for quite a couple of Christmases. How would you compare the Swedish tradition and the American food-wise? I presume the main difference is that our main course is ham and yours is turkey, but what about the rest? Please do inform me for I am very curious.
Thanks, and happy Halloween!
Jag tycker hela ”högtiden” halloween är lite luddig i Sverige men fattar inte riktigt liksom hur det hela går till :S
hey Dan, great question! :)
Actually, the ”main dish” at Christmas is pretty similar – we eat ham too. Though you are correct in saying turkey. See, some holidays have a ”MUST HAVE” item in our food culture. Easter for example, is HAM ONLY. Thanksgiving is TURKEY ONLY. But Christmas is a bit different, you can choose ham or turkey for the Christmas table (and sometimes BOTH!) I usually do ham myself, because after Thanksgiving in late November you get SICK of eating turkey, and it’s nice to eat ham. Hahaha. The only difference in the ham is how it is prepared. There are lots of different ways but I haven’t seen any done like you guys do. (Though I’ve learned how my hubby likes his, found it in an old traditional foods Swedish cookbook)…with the egg yolks and mustard brushed on then covered in bread crumbs. In the USA there are lots of ways to make ham, and basically two main ”camps” if you will. You find a lot of folks in the southern usa prefer honey-basted ham with cloves pushed in it. In the north (and oddly enough in Texas) we prefer smoked ham. :)
Other than that most foods we make for the Thanksgiving table are okay for Christmas, with exception to two pies that are pretty much ”designated Thanksgiving” items – pecan and pumpkin pie. My favorite to have at Christmas (and any time really! Is a good ‘ol cherry pie.)
I really like the Swedish idea of the ”julbord”. It makes things pretty easy, and I must confess I LOVE smoked reindeer heart, which is something we put on our table here. Although when people back home ask me what I like to eat at Christmas here and I say ”reindeer heart” you should see the looks on their faces! Most Americans aren’t aware reindeer are real animals, many presume it’s fictional and our only connotation to reindeer is thinking they pull Santa’s sleigh. So when I say I eat reindeer heart to them it’s like saying I celebrate Christmas by ripping out and eating Rudolph’s still-beating little heart…hahaha! But I still find that VERY tasty…along with meatballs, princekorv, and man how I love gravad lax! I am still picky about how I eat my foods though, no matter how long I live here I still can’t put lingon on my meat (the thought of anything sweet or berry-like on meat I find a little disturbing – I don’t do the American cranberry sauce on turkey either – ick!)
But you should see the looks I get here when I put ketchup on my pite palt. To me, that’s what it needs….it’s meat and potatoes, and it needs ketchup…hahaha. My poor hubby refuses to let me eat palt in public anymore, he still shudders when I put ketchup on it. XD
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Är det den 31 iår också? =D
Jovisst, och i år också… :-)
I have to agree, Halloween is a wonderful holiday but we have to keep it to the same day every year otherwise it just loses it’s special nature.
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This is so not accurate for me