#swedish traditions

I think this is the first time I have my own påskris (“Easter twigs”). My family always used to have one when I was a kid since it’s a popular part of the Swedish Easter festivities. Påskris are birch twigs that are decorated and put in water so they will burst into leaf in time for Easter. I’ve read that they originally maybe were supposed to symbolize the palm leaves that were scattered before Jesus as he entered Jerusalem, but nowadays it’s just a way of adding color and greenery to your home in a time of the year that still is very grey. I’m not religious in any way, so that’s what it is for me anyway.

When I was a kid me and my friends also used to dress up as Easter witches on the Thursday before Easter. It goes back to the legends about witches flying to Blåkulla on brooms on that very day, to party with the Devil and his demons. We would go from house to house, sing songs and give people our home-made Easter cards in return for some candy or a few coins. The photo above is of me and some of my younger siblings dressed up as Easter witches in the late 1980′s.