Sweden Calendar of Events

Sweden (Calendar of Events)

The dates given here may in some cases be only approximations. Be sure to check with the tourist office before you make plans to attend a specific event. For information on Walpurgis night and midsummer celebrations, call the local tourist offices in the town where you plan to stay.

April

Walpurgis Night, nationwide. Celebrations with bonfires, songs, and speeches welcoming the advent of spring. These are especially lively celebrations among university students at Uppsala, Lund, Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Umeå. April 30.

May

Drottningholm Court Theater. Some 30 opera and ballet performances, from baroque to early romantic, are presented in the unique 1766 Drottningholm Court Theater, Drottningholm, with original decorative paintings and stage mechanisms. Call tel. 08/660-82-25 for tickets. Take the T-bana to Brommaplan, then bus no. 301 or 323. A steamboat runs in the summer; call tel. 08/411-7023 for information. Late May to late September.

June

Midsummer, nationwide. Swedes celebrate Midsummer Eve all over the country. Maypole dances to the sound of the fiddle and accordion are the typical festive events of the day. Dalarna observes the most traditional celebrations. Mid-June.

July

Falun Folk Music Festival. International folk musicians gather to participate in and attend concerts, seminars, lectures, exhibitions, and films on folk music. Events are conducted at various venues; contact the Falun Folk Music Festival, S-791 13 Falun (tel. 023/233-79; www.falufolk.com), for more information. Mid-July.

Around Gotland Race, Sandhamn. The biggest and most exciting open-water Scandinavian sailing race starts and finishes at Sandhamn in the Stockholm archipelago. About 450 boats, mainly from Nordic countries, take part. Call the Stockholm tourist office for information. Two days in mid-July.

Rättviksdansen (International Festival of Folk Dance and Music), Rättvik. Every other year for some 20 years, around 1,000 folk dancers and musicians from all over the world have gathered to participate in this folkloric tradition. Last week in July.

August

Medieval Week, Gotland. Numerous events are held throughout the island of Gotland -- tours, concerts, medieval plays, festivities, and shows. For more information, contact the Office of Medieval Week, Hästgatan 4, S-621 56 Visby (tel. 0498/29-10-70; www.medeltidsveckan.com). Early August.

Stockholm Waterfestival. A tradition since 1989, this weeklong festival around the city's shores offers entertainment such as fireworks, boat races, and concerts, as well as information about the care and preservation of water. An award of $150,000 is given to an individual or organization that has made an outstanding contribution to water preservation. Call the Stockholm tourist office for information. Begins second week in August.

Minnesota Day, Utvandra Hus, Växjoü (Småland). Swedish-American relations are celebrated at the House of Emigrants with speeches, music, singing, and dancing; the climax is the election of the Swedish-American of the year. Call tel. 0470/201-20 for information. Second Sunday in August.

December

Nobel Day, Stockholm. The king, members of the royal family, and invited guests attend the Nobel Prize ceremony for literature, physics, chemistry, medicine, physiology, and economics. Attendance is by invitation only. The ceremony is held at the concert hall and followed by a banquet at City Hall. December 10.

Lucia, the Festival of Lights, nationwide. To celebrate the shortest day and longest night of the year, young girls called "Lucias" appear in restaurants, offices, schools, and factories, wearing floor-length white gowns and special headdresses, each holding a lighted candle. They are accompanied by "star boys" -- young men in white with wizard hats covered with gold stars, each holding a wand with a large golden star at the top. One of the "Lucias" is eventually crowned queen. In olden days, Lucia was known as "Little Christmas." December 13.

This celebration is observed nationwide. Actual planned events change from year to year and vary from community to community. The best place for tourists to observe this event is at the open-air museum at Skansen in Stockholm.