In Swedish calendars, public holidays are printed in red, hence röda dagar. Most people are off work on them. Here is how they work, why half of them move each year, and what a klämdag actually is.
Six holidays fall on the same date every year:
Being fixed has a catch: a fixed holiday can land on a Saturday or Sunday, and when it does, it simply disappears as time off. Sweden does not move holidays to the nearest weekday the way the UK and the US do. Some years are therefore markedly better than others, and 6 June falling on a weekend is a reliably sore subject.
National Day is the newest of them. It only became a public holiday in 2005, and it was not added to the calendar so much as swapped in: Whit Monday was removed to pay for it, so the total number of holidays stayed the same.
Five holidays move each year because they depend on Easter:
Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after 21 March. It follows the moon, not the calendar, which is why it wanders between 22 March and 25 April and takes the entire cluster with it.
Ascension Day is the reason Sweden has a famous long weekend. Because it always falls on a Thursday, the Friday after it is left stranded, and a great deal of the country takes that Friday off.
Both once had fixed dates, and both were moved to Saturdays by the same reform in 1953. The practical effect is that neither of them ever gives an extra weekday off, though Midsummer Eve on the Friday very much does in practice.
This is the part that confuses newcomers most. Midsummer Eve, Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are not public holidays in Swedish law. They are ordinary working days on paper.
In practice they are nothing of the sort. Christmas Eve is the main day of Swedish Christmas, Midsummer Eve is when midsummer is actually celebrated, and most collective agreements treat all three as days off or half days. Shops keep short hours, offices empty out, and public transport runs a holiday timetable. If you work in a role covered by an agreement, check it rather than the law.
Easter Eve and Whitsun Eve fall on Saturdays anyway, so the question rarely comes up.
A klämdag, literally a "squeeze day", is a normal working day that gets stuck between a public holiday and a weekend. The classic case is the Friday after Ascension Day: Thursday is red, Saturday and Sunday are weekend, and the lone Friday is squeezed in the middle.
Taking a single vacation day then buys four days off. Many employers hand the day out for free, particularly in offices, but there is no legal right to it. It is a matter of custom and of what your agreement says.
The same logic applies to the Monday before a Tuesday holiday, and to the gaps around Christmas and New Year, where two or three well-placed vacation days can produce a very long break.
Two rules matter in everyday life. First, a public holiday does not consume a vacation day. Vacation is counted in working days, and a red day is not one, so a booked week containing a holiday costs you four days rather than five.
Second, red days affect when money moves. Banks do not process payments on holidays, so a salary due on a red day is normally paid on the preceding banking day, and the same applies to bills and transfers. It is worth knowing in December, when several holidays cluster together.
If you need to know exactly when your salary lands, we go through the banking day rules in payday and banking days.
Nollan.se marks Swedish holidays with a themed banner, alongside the date, week number and name day.
Thirteen in a normal year: six with fixed dates, five tied to Easter, and two tied to a Saturday. How many of them actually give you a day off varies, because some fall on a weekend in some years.
No. Under the Swedish holiday act, vacation is counted in working days, and a public holiday is not one. If you book a week off that contains a red day, that day is not deducted from your allowance.
Formally no, and this surprises people every year. Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve and Midsummer Eve are not public holidays in law. In practice nearly everyone is off, most collective agreements treat them as free, and shops and offices close early or entirely.
Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after 21 March. Because it follows the moon rather than the calendar, it can land anywhere from late March to late April, and it drags Good Friday, Easter Monday, Ascension Day and Whitsun along with it.
An ordinary working day caught between a public holiday and a weekend, most often a lone Friday after a Thursday holiday. Many people take it as vacation to turn four days off into a long weekend. Some employers give it for free, but there is no legal right to it.