Shrove Tuesday
Why are they called ‘Fettisdag’ and ‘semla’? The celebration of festivals and folk traditions amongst the people of the Nordic societies is one of Nordiska museet’s areas of expertise. Here you can find out more about Shrove Tuesday based on the museum’s collections and expertise.
Shrove Tuesday marks the start of fasting with a feast
Pork Sunday, Blue Monday and Shrove Tuesday. Fettisdagen, or Shrove Tuesday is the last of three celebratory days which marked the start of a longer period of lent. These days, you probably associate the day most with semla buns and perhaps think of it as ‘the day of the semla’ or Semeldagen?
In areas with a Catholic heritage, Shrovetide is a time of carnivals, when an abundance of food and celebration stands in stark contrast to the fasting that is to follow until Easter. The Nordic countries do not have a strong carnival tradition, as we have been Protestant for many hundreds of years.
However, there are examples showing that food played a central role in Shrove Tuesday celebrations here even after the Reformation. Where available, people would feast on meat or pork during days of Shrove Week. Today’s semla is reminiscent of these excesses, even though it first appeared on our tables in the 20th century.
In folk tradition, Shrove Tuesday was a good day for weather forecasting
The museum’s collections contain examples showing that, in pre-industrial farming communities, many people regarded the three days of Shrove Week as good days for interpreting weather signs, that is, for predicting the weather:
- Long icicles on Shrove Tuesday night were a good sign, as this meant the cereals and flax would grow tall.
- If Shrove Tuesday was clear, dry and, ideally, sunny, there would be a good grain harvest.
- If there was a thaw with water dripping from the eaves on Shrove Tuesday, the cows would yield a good milk supply during the summer and the grains would be as large as the drops of water.
Semla, hetväg or fastlagsbulle?
The word semla comes from the German ‘semel’ and the Latin ‘simila’, which means fine wheat flour. The semla, which is baked with white flour and filled with whipped cream, almond paste and icing sugar, only took on its current form and became commonplace in the mid-20th century.
However, the semla has an older predecessor in the hetväggen, literal translation ‘hot wall’. Hetväggen was an upper-class pastry from the 18th century, similair in looks and taste as semla but served in a bowl with hot milk.
What do people in Nordics celebrate, and how?
As a museum of cultural history, Nordiska museet documents everyday life and festive occasions in the Nordic region. For example, we research: What do people celebrate, and how? What do the traditions and rituals of yesterday and today look like? And what role do they play in our social life?
We have been gathering knowledge about traditions since the late 19th century
Since the late 19th century, we have been documenting and gathering knowledge about traditions and rituals in people’s everyday lives and celebrations, which represent festivals and traditions. This knowledge takes the form of artefacts, photographs, folk memories and transcribed interviews featuring examples of rituals and traditions.
We have also collected and documented this material through fieldwork (that is, documenting celebrations on site), sending out questionnaires, interviewing people and, more recently, through digital collections.
Traditions change and are dynamic
Over the 150 years that the collections have been in existence, there have been enormous social changes in Sweden and the Nordic region. Traditions and social patterns are also dynamic and change: traditions are born, transformed and evolve in line with people, the times and the media. We continuously analyse the material in the light of both contemporary processes and historical circumstances.
Many factors shape and change celebrations
In short, it can be said that celebrations today reflect a multitude of influences from past social structures, from our own time, from migration, as well as social, economic and technological change.
Festivals and festive celebrations in the Nordic region are strongly influenced by the Christian faith, changes in society and values. Further factors include folk and supernatural- beliefs, folk religion and folk values that can be traced back to Nordic peasant society.
Over the 150 years that Nordiska museet has been gathering knowledge about traditions and rituals linked to festivals and special days of the year, there have been enormous social changes in Sweden and the Nordic region. Traditions are born, transformed and evolved in tandem with time and it’s people.
Ritual?
Over the past 150 years, research perspectives and concepts have also changed. A key fundamental concept is that of ritual. This refers to the practical observance – what people do in connection with a festival, tradition, specific day, time of year or event. Such as eating semlor, hiding Easter eggs, lighting candles in cemeteries or going ‘trick-or-treating’.
Rituals often involve symbols, such as the Christmas tree, the Midsummer maypole, waffles and semlor, or, for that matter, the crisps and dip enjoyed during Friday nights for the ultimate “fredagsmys”.
Tradition?
You could say that a ritual becomes a tradition when people attach particular value to the ritual and the celebration, without these necessarily having to be particularly old or widespread.
This definition, too, reflects the perspective of academic research. However, in everyday speech, the terms ‘ritual’, ‘tradition’, ‘festival’ and ‘custom’ are often used interchangeably. When we talk about traditions here, we are generally referring to rituals that are particularly valued; Christmas celebrations are one example.
Religious festivals
Another important term is ‘festival’ (högtid), which refers to rituals that are more closely linked to religious calendars. In the Nordic countries, the Christian calendar has dominated, but other religious calendars play an important role as well.
The boundary between religious calendar rituals and secular rituals appears to be becoming increasingly blurred, reflecting the secularisation of society. Most people in Sweden celebrate religious festivals without paying attention to their religious connection.
Annual festivals and life-cycle celebrations
In addition to the church calendar, festivals have historically been shaped by the rhythm of the farming year and agriculture. These are known as annual festivals or calendar rites.
Many festivals are linked to the human life cycle, where church rites have been, and remain, of great significance.
However, as society changes, so does the significance of these rituals. Although many people are still baptised today, it is not uncommon for this to take place through non-church naming ceremonies.
Ever-changing and dynamic
One of the most important insights into rituals and traditions to emerge from research is that they change. Certain particularly transformative social changes have left a clear mark on both everyday life and on rituals and festivals.
Perhaps the most significant from a cultural-historical perspective are the role of the church, as well as urbanisation, democratisation, the welfare state and the pursuit of social justice.
Contemporary life and tradition
As the Nordic countries became increasingly urbanised, economic conditions changed. People were no longer producing goods simply to provide for themselves. The family was transformed into a unit of consumption, able to purchase all the goods marketed in connection with festive occasions.
Traditions and festivals follow people’s movements between communities. Some are upheld, others fade away, and some take on a different meaning.
