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Spring in Sweden is a nonstop parade of holidays; this is not a joke.

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As if I needed any more reasons to love spring in Sweden, we appear to be in the middle of a period of non-stop holidays. Last weekend was Easter, and this weekend is the two-for-one combination of Valborg (April 30th) and May Day (May 1st).

For those of you who went to college or university after the point at which students were supposed to Behave With Decorum and Pay Due Attention To Your Studies, remember Spring Frolics? The weekend of partying and ridiculousness right before exams? The final BOOYAH before cracking down in the library? Well, I’m about to relive that weekend with several thousand Swedes… and without the looming specter of a week’s drudgery in the library to follow.

For those of you who actually did Behave With Decorum and Pay Due Attention To Your Studies without Indulging in Irresponsible Behavior, I’m sure there are a few movies you could watch to get an idea of what I’m talking about.

All I’ve heard about for the last couple of weeks is Valborg, and from what I can tell, Valborg is the real-deal Spring Frolics for all Swedes. Bonfires! Choirs! Day drinking in the park! And lest you start to think that I’m hanging out with the wrong kind of people, it’s not just other 20-somethings who are looking forward to the day of revelry. My middle-aged students—the successful professionals looking to hone their English for a competitive edge—are just as excited.

As with many Swedish holidays, it’s hard to sort out what the original reason for the holiday was: Christian tradition? Pagan customs? Something related to the current amount of sunshine? It’s still unclear, and even the Swedes that I’ve been asking seem to have a pretty fuzzy understanding of the story behind Valborg.

Is this a holiday for witches or saints? Or sunshine-loving Swedes? Photos courtesy (l-r) of www.rhine-river-lights.com and catholicheritage.blogspot.com

Here are the few facts I have gleaned from the internet and bugging the people around me:

Valborg’s technical name is “Valborgsmässoafton,” which is known in English as Walpurgis Night. More on the “afton” part of the name later. The holiday started out as a pagan grain festival and was later appropriated by the Catholic Church as a religious holiday.

Just in case you didn’t know what a Walpurgis is, she was an 8th century Catholic saint from England who traveled to Germany to be a missionary. Depending on what website you read (and I checked the Vatican’s website for credible information, but no luck), she is the patron saint of rabies, seamen, invalids, farmers and/or the common cold… and/or a protectress against magic arts and/or failed harvests. What can I say? The poor woman’s got a lot on her plate.

Walpurgis Night is also supposed to be a night of witches or a “Witches’ Sabbath.” This might be connected to the legend of Blåkulla, but it’s definitely important to modern-day Satanists. (Scary thought.)

So what is a modern day Valborgsmässoafton all about? If you live in a student city like Lund or Uppsala, champagne breakfasts, hanging out in the park, and fancy student balls can all be part of a typical celebration. If you’re a little bit farther out in the countryside, bonfires are the most important part of the celebration. Very large bonfires. In Lund, a there’s a famous student choir (Studentsångarna) that performs the next day, singing out the winter and singing in the spring.

Maybe at its heart Valborg is just about FIRE! Unbelievable displays of FIRE! Photos by (clockwise) dark botxy/Flickr, t_buchtele/Flickr, WixPix/Flickr

This whole April 30th/May 1st two-for-one holiday brings me to my final and biggest question about Valborg. We celebrated Easter on Saturday, on “Påskafton,” or Easter Eve, just like Christmas is celebrated on the 24th, on “Julafton,” or Christmas Eve. If Saturday is “Valborgsmässoafton,” why is Sunday just May Day? Shouldn’t Sunday be Valborg and Saturday be Valborgsmässoafton? How can you have an “afton,” or eve, without an official holiday following? When I posed this question to a group of Swedes, I got nothing but blank stares and exasperated sighs in return. Why, my friends? Why?!


Kate Reuterswärd - Expat

April 27, 2011

  • http://museconfuse.wordpress.com/ museconfuse

    Omg, that is one BIG bonfire…nothing compared to the little bonfires we have back in Canada.I’m really intrigued by the whole dressing up as witches and hope to be able to experience all Swedish traditions first hand one day.. ;)

    • http://www.transatlanticsketches.com Kate

      Having lived through the weekend, I can safely say that this is definitely a weekend to experience in Sweden! We don’t do any of the bonfires/Walpurgis activities in the US, so it was all totally new to me, but I feel like the Swedes really take it to the next level with their Valborg celebrations!

  • Quarryman

    Första maj ÄR faktiskt Valborg, kolla vem som har namnsdag! (Actually, first of may IS Valborg, it’s the namnsdag (name of the day). Some googling tells me that Valborg has been in the calendar since first of may 1901, the origin was a german nun who lived in the sevenhundreds and later was declared a saint.

    • http://www.transatlanticsketches.com Kate

      Pretty funny that everyone refers to the Saturday as Valborg instead of Valborgsmässoafton! I think the actual day is overshadowed by the May Day celebrations now. Tell me, though, any idea why Sweden celebrates all its holidays on the day before the actual holiday? I would love a definitive answer!

      • Quarryman

        My guess is that is has to do with church, wich in the old days was a great power factor in Sweden, preasts and churches sort of occupied the holidays and allowed no pagan celebration. But on the day before they had no saying, and on saturdays and holiday eves work ended around midday so people were free to do what they wanted until sunday, when church called.

        But I am nowhere near of an authority on this subject, just doing a bit of “spåna”…

        And now to a piece of music on the matter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0nGdBla9Z8

  • Monica-USA

    Well either way it sounds like a wonderful time and a long happy weekend.

    • http://www.transatlanticsketches.com Kate

      It was great! You’ll have to experience it for yourself some day :)

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  • Emma

    I don’t know why Valborg has afton in its name but the reason may 1st doesn’t have a name that’s connect it to valborg is because may 1st doesn’t always fall on a Sunday. And may 1st is a day to demonstrate, it’s the day for all the workers. It doesn’t have anything to do with Valborg.

    • http://www.transatlanticsketches.com Kate Reuterswärd

      Hmm… interesting. So how is the day for Valborg/Valborgafton decided? It’s not the last day of April?

      • cynic

        It is, in part of the country it is called “Last of April” (Sista April). But I think (pure speculation) that the Valborg main day put up by the Church wasn’t very well recieved since it probably just included a boring Mass in church. The old pagan nightly celebration was put the night before (as is customary for Swedish Celebrations*) stayed. So when they pulled or moved the main day the celbration stayed, and in some places chanegd name to “Last of April”. When the Labour movement later got the 1st of May to a Holiday it gave the “Last of April” celebration kind of a rebirth.

        *If you have a day of of for celebration. And the celebration includes alcohol (often much) and mostly late nights, you of course celebrates it on the evening before so you can sleep in/tend the hangover on the day off and not come to work with a hangover (even if you had to be in church, standing in church for a few hours with a hangover is easier than to work an entire day with one). It is just common sense and I suspect the reason all Swedish holidays that include drinking alcohol (all of them) was and is mainly celebrated on the afton not the actual day off.