Okay, here are the answers to my Swedish Easter quiz, then! You did very well, though I noticed that some Nordic non-Swedes sneaked in answers that may have raised the average
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Having just returned from a Scandanavian country, I got to experience some of the Easter Traditions. In Iceland apparently most people take off holy week and go on vacation. Reykjavik was relatively quite.
We ran into a lot of confusion about what would be open and what would be closed on Thursday and Friday. Most people thought that most things didn't close down completely any more on Thursdays. It was sort of true. The information center, museums and tours were running. The shops in the center of town were all closed down, but the mall was closed in the morning and open in the afternoon -- which still boggles us Americans. If you're going to close all day Friday and part of Thursday, it seemed to us that you'd be open Thursday morning and close up Thursday afternoon. It seemed to me that there must be a vestigial reason to close on Thurday morning.
We were told everything would be open on Saturday, and that Easter Monday was a day off. Basically the postcards I mailed on Thursday afternoon weren't going anywhere until Tuesday.
Easter eggs really didn't hit Iceland until the 20th century but are the *big* thing in chocolate form. The local chocolate factory makes hollow eggs in various sizes. The small hand held ones were like fortune chocolate with a proverb inside - I got A penny saved is a penny earned. The larger eggs that got to be about the size of an ostrich egg contained toys and proverbs and I think, other candy. I saw people on Friday walking around with eggs for people they worked with and at Duty Free, they were passing out the smaller eggs to every one that came in.
No one mentioned traditional foods to eat on Easter other than the chocolate eggs. We had herring for breakfast, lunch and dinner while we were there, so I'm not sure if it's a special food for Easter in Iceland. Likewise, lamb is the everyday food there along with any kind of seafood.
In Iceland apparently most people take off holy week and go on vacation.
Around here, it depends. The schools are out. I took the week off, but I had to do it on my own (they're not all holidays). Shops are usually open Monday-Wednesday, a bit shorter on Thursday - though you're right about that, it should be an earlier closing time, not closed mornings. Thursday service is usually in the evening anyway. And Friday service in the afternoon. Not that I went to either, this year.
Easter eggs here are mostly made of cardboard with candy or some other fun stuff inside. There's often chocolate-shaped candy but that can't be opened. Well, except for Kinder Eggs, but they're a round-the-year treat.
We had herring for breakfast, lunch and dinner while we were there, so I'm not sure if it's a special food for Easter in Iceland.
Ha! Yeah, I can imagine. I think Icelanders are even more nuts about herring than Swedes.
Likewise, lamb is the everyday food there along with any kind of seafood.
Lamb is pretty rare and expensive in Sweden. We're more pork people. :-) ETA: By "pretty rare", I mean it's not eaten every week, but it's not rare food. You can find it in most grocery stores.
Having just returned from a Scandanavian country, I got to experience some of the Easter Traditions. In Iceland apparently most people take off holy week and go on vacation. Reykjavik was relatively quite.
We ran into a lot of confusion about what would be open and what would be closed on Thursday and Friday. Most people thought that most things didn't close down completely any more on Thursdays. It was sort of true. The information center, museums and tours were running. The shops in the center of town were all closed down, but the mall was closed in the morning and open in the afternoon -- which still boggles us Americans. If you're going to close all day Friday and part of Thursday, it seemed to us that you'd be open Thursday morning and close up Thursday afternoon. It seemed to me that there must be a vestigial reason to close on Thurday morning.
We were told everything would be open on Saturday, and that Easter Monday was a day off. Basically the postcards I mailed on Thursday afternoon weren't going anywhere until Tuesday.
Easter eggs really didn't hit Iceland until the 20th century but are the *big* thing in chocolate form. The local chocolate factory makes hollow eggs in various sizes. The small hand held ones were like fortune chocolate with a proverb inside - I got A penny saved is a penny earned. The larger eggs that got to be about the size of an ostrich egg contained toys and proverbs and I think, other candy. I saw people on Friday walking around with eggs for people they worked with and at Duty Free, they were passing out the smaller eggs to every one that came in.
No one mentioned traditional foods to eat on Easter other than the chocolate eggs. We had herring for breakfast, lunch and dinner while we were there, so I'm not sure if it's a special food for Easter in Iceland. Likewise, lamb is the everyday food there along with any kind of seafood.
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Around here, it depends. The schools are out. I took the week off, but I had to do it on my own (they're not all holidays). Shops are usually open Monday-Wednesday, a bit shorter on Thursday - though you're right about that, it should be an earlier closing time, not closed mornings. Thursday service is usually in the evening anyway. And Friday service in the afternoon. Not that I went to either, this year.
Easter eggs here are mostly made of cardboard with candy or some other fun stuff inside. There's often chocolate-shaped candy but that can't be opened. Well, except for Kinder Eggs, but they're a round-the-year treat.
We had herring for breakfast, lunch and dinner while we were there, so I'm not sure if it's a special food for Easter in Iceland.
Ha! Yeah, I can imagine. I think Icelanders are even more nuts about herring than Swedes.
Likewise, lamb is the everyday food there along with any kind of seafood.
Lamb is pretty rare and expensive in Sweden. We're more pork people. :-) ETA: By "pretty rare", I mean it's not eaten every week, but it's not rare food. You can find it in most grocery stores.
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