Last Friday was Friday the 13th, and with the exception of an extremely unlucky Italian cruise ship, the day passed like many others. Work, grocery shopping, På Spåret, and then sleep, heavenly sleep.
The special thing about last Friday, January 13, passed almost completely unnoticed, even in this country that loves holidays. There were no themed pastries, no advertising campaigns, no trivia quizzes in the free newspaper you get on the train. It’s like the whole country was totally unaware of the significance of this holy day, Tjugondag Knut, the official end of the Christmas season.
Tjugondag Knut translates into “20th Day Knut,” which refers to the 20th day after Christmas Eve. This used to be the day when Swedes, Finns, and Norwegians would ransack the tree of the candy and cookies it had been adorned with before Christmas and then kick it to the curb, so to speak. Now it seems to be widely forgotten, and if you ask me, it’s kind of a pity, because St. Knut’s Day is one strange but awesome holiday.
Sadly, there was no plundering our Christmas tree this year because by the time Tjugondag Knut came around, it was dry as a match and dead as a doornail. We threw it out the window and all the needles fell off. Photo: Kate Reuterswärd
