In Sweden, Easter is more than just a festival - it is religious occasion that is celebrated with great splendor and glory. The grandeur of the festival is seen from the fact that a week before Easter, the entire country revels in the Eastertide festivities and shops are gaily decorated in festive symbols. People start cleaning their house and buy new attires for themselves as well as their loved ones. During Easter, Swedish households are decorated with tapestries, chicklings and daffodils. Birch twigs also form a part of the decoration, reminding people of the suffering that Jesus Christ went through.
Swedish people also hit each other with silver birch twigs, on the morning of Good Friday. It is said that these branches were the inventor of both, Lent and Easter decorated branches. Palm Sunday marks the start of the Easter celebrations in Sweden. On this day, processions are held, with people holding branches of small willows to place before the images of Christ. They revere the day as the success of Christ in entering Jerusalem. The entire country basks in the glory of festivity, with firework display as the major attraction in every part of the country. Bonfires also feature in the Eastertide festivity.
There are some Easter superstitions that remain a part of the modern Swedish society. For instance, Swedes believe that the witches and their black magic are active during the week preceding Easter. It is alleged that witches fly off on brooms, on Maundy Thursday, to harmonize with the devil at a place called blåkulla and return the following Sunday. In Sweden, Easter celebration is incomplete without conventional delicacies, like spring lamb, Strömmingsflundror (stuffed herring) and Laxpudding (salmon gratin). While Swedes attend church prayers and mass on Easter, they also look forward to an extended weekend, which gives them an opportunity for family reunion or a vacation in the beaches.
