Christmas traditions - why do we do what we do?

Writer: Helena Bergström

Updated: September 2026 | Why do we celebrate Christmas on December 24 when Christmas Day is actually the 25th? Where do Christmas presents, the Christmas tree and Santa Claus come from – and why does half of Sweden watch Donald Duck at three o'clock? Our Swedish Christmas traditions are a motley mix of old and new, Swedish and foreign, Christian and folk. Join us on a journey through the history of Christmas!

It's easy to think of Christmas traditions as something very old and unchanging. That's not really the case. Swedish Christmas celebrations have changed time and again, drawing inspiration from different times and parts of the world.

We celebrate the birth of Jesus, but use a name for the holiday that predates Christianity. We decorate a tree with roots in German-speaking areas, wait for a Santa Claus who is a mix of several different characters, and settle down to American Disney movies on Christmas Eve. So how did we end up here?

Before Christianity – Christmas was already called Christmas then

The word Christmas is older than Christianity in the Nordic countries. It comes from the Old Norse Christmas, although the origin and original meaning of the word are not entirely clear. From the Viking Age there is also information that people would "drink Christmas", that is, gather for a party with food and drink.

The Old Norse Christmas celebration has been linked to Odin, who had many names and was also called Jolnir. However, we know considerably less about how the pre-Christian Christmas celebration actually took place than one might sometimes get the impression of.

It is therefore wise to be cautious with simplified accounts of exactly when the Vikings celebrated Christmas and which gods they celebrated. One thing is certain, however: when Christianity gradually became established in the Nordic countries, the word did not disappear. Christmas. The Christian holiday was allowed to keep its old name.

4th century – why is Jesus' birth celebrated on December 25?

No one knows the date of Jesus' birth. The Bible does not give a date for his birth, and during the first centuries of Christianity, Jesus' birth was not one of the major Christian holidays.

During the 4th century, December 25 began to be established as the day to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Why this particular date was chosen is debated. A common explanation is that the date was connected to older Roman festivals and celebrations around the winter solstice. There are also other theories, and it is therefore not possible to say that the church simply replaced a certain pagan holiday with Christmas.

Gradually, the celebration of Jesus' birth on December 25 spread across large parts of the Christian world.

The Middle Ages – Christmas becomes a Christian holiday in Sweden

The Christianization of Sweden was a long process that took place over several hundred years. Gradually, Christmas became an important part of the Christian church year and the story of Jesus' birth took center stage.

But old customs rarely disappear overnight. Christmas celebrations continued to evolve through a mix of church traditions, folk beliefs, and local customs. It's a pattern that actually runs through the entire history of Christmas. New traditions have been added, old ones have changed, and some have taken on entirely new meanings.

17th and 18th centuries – the Christmas gift knocks on the door

The word Christmas present has a much funnier history than today's neatly wrapped packages under the tree suggest. An older custom involved sneaking up to someone's door, knocking or patting it, and throwing in a gift before quickly disappearing. Hence the word Christmas present.

The gift did not have to be expensive or even particularly useful. It could just as easily be a humorous gift, sometimes accompanied by a verse that teased the recipient. This is also part of the background to the tradition of Christmas gift rhymes.

Over time, Christmas presents changed from playful gifts to the gifts we associate with Christmas today. But until now, it wasn't Santa Claus who brought them.

READ MORE: Christmas gifts – Christmas gift tips and interesting facts

18th and 19th centuries – the Yule goat brings the presents

Before Santa Claus got the job of delivering packages, he could Yule goat appear. And the older Yule goat was not necessarily the cute little straw goat we put under the tree today. During the 18th and 19th centuries, Yule goat parades took place where mainly young people dressed up and walked between the farms. It could involve singing and acting, but also noise and begging for food and drink.

Gradually, the Christmas goat took on a new role. During the 19th century, there are examples of a costumed Christmas goat bringing Christmas presents to the family's children. A Swedish account of a Christmas goat handing out gifts dates back to 1807. But the Christmas goat would not keep the job forever.

READ MORE: The Yule Goat, the Yule Witch and the Yule Cat – meet Europe's Christmas creatures

17th–19th centuries – the Christmas tree moves in

The Christmas tree also came to Sweden from outside. The tradition has its roots primarily in German-speaking areas, and the first Swedish Christmas trees were found in wealthy families with contacts on the continent.

During the 19th century, the Christmas tree became increasingly common in Swedish homes and gradually spread to wider groups in society. The trees could be decorated with, for example, apples, sweets, paper decorations and candles. Over time, the decoration evolved and the tree became one of the strongest symbols of Christmas.

What was once an imported novelty today feels so Swedish and obvious that a Christmas without a tree is almost difficult to imagine for many.

READ MORE: The Christmas tree through the ages

Late 19th century – Santa takes over the job of the Yule goat

Santa Claus is another good example of how different traditions can mix and eventually become something new.

The old Swedish the farmyard was a creature in folklore who watched over the farm and the animals. He was small, could be easily irritated, and needed to be treated with respect. A bowl of porridge could help keep him in a good mood. However, he had nothing to do with Christmas gift-giving.

During the 19th century, the Nordic farm gnome began to blend with other traditions, including the international development from Saint Nicholas to Santa Claus. The author Viktor Rydberg and the illustrator Jenny Nyström were of great importance for the image of the Swedish gnome. Gradually, the gnome also took over the role of Christmas gift-giver from the Christmas goat.

Today's Swedish Santa Claus is thus something of a hybrid: a bit of a farm elf, a bit of an international Santa Claus and the result of more than a hundred years of stories, images and Christmas celebrations.

READ MORE: Facts about Santa Claus – 15 things you (maybe) didn't know

19th and 20th centuries – Advent gets lights, stars and calendars

Many of our Advent traditions are also younger than you might think. In the 1870s, the deaconesses at Ersta in Stockholm took inspiration from Germany and began using a so-called Advent tree. It had 28 candles, and seven candles were lit for each Sunday of Advent.

Over time, other ways of counting down to Christmas developed. The Advent candlestick with four candles became popular, and during the 20th century, Swedish homes received both electric Advent candlesticks and Advent stars.

The electric Advent candle holder is actually a Swedish invention. In the 1930s, the Gothenburger designed Oscar Anderson a candlestick with electric lamps, and gradually it began to spread to Swedish windows.

The Advent calendar also became part of the countdown to Christmas – first in print and later through radio and television.

20th century – Donald Duck and television create new Christmas traditions

During the 20th century, Christmas traditions were helped by something completely new: mass media. In 1960, ”"Donald Duck and his friends wish you a Merry Christmas"” for the first time on Swedish television. The program remained – and eventually developed into a tradition that is so strong that many Swedes still organize Christmas Eve around three o'clock.

In the same year, Sweden's first television Christmas calendar was broadcast, ”"Title list"”. Since then, new generations of children have received their own Christmas calendars, while parents and grandparents remember the ones they themselves grew up with.

In just a few decades, television shows have become Christmas traditions in the same way that customs that have developed over hundreds of years have. Perhaps that says something important about traditions: they don't have to be very old to feel self-evident.

21st century – Christmas traditions continue to change

And so we come to our own time. What will the Christmas traditions of the future look like? They will probably continue to change, just as they always have. We travel more, encounter traditions from other countries, form families in new ways and choose for ourselves which parts of the Christmas celebration feel important.

For our own part, Christmas can look very different. When we are at home in Sweden, we like to have certain things from the Swedish Christmas table. Herring and nubbe are important to both of us, I like to have Jansson's temptation and Peter likes meatballs, potatoes and beetroot salad, among other things. And a little marzipan from Anthon Berg feels like extra Christmas luxury.

But if we are abroad over Christmas, we might as well eat something completely different. That's also perfectly fine. Traditions don't have to be followed just because they are traditions. We can keep the ones we like, skip others and create new ones.

Christmas has never stopped changing.

What we today call a traditional Swedish Christmas is thus something of a historical patchwork.

The word itself Christmas has pre-Christian roots. The story of the birth of Jesus comes with Christianity. The Christmas tree has strong roots in German-speaking areas. Santa Claus is a mix of Swedish folk beliefs and international traditions. The Advent candlestick is partly a Swedish innovation story and Donald Duck came from American Disney – via Swedish television.

Generation after generation has added something, changed something, and sometimes forgotten something else. And perhaps that is precisely what a Christmas tradition is: not something that has always looked the same, but something we choose to carry on – in our own way.