Julafton

The word jul probably comes from an Old Swedish word meaning feast or invitation. Older people did not speak of celebrating Christmas but of dricka jul, drinking Christmas. Any link to pre-Christian midwinter festivals is uncertain.

In farming society, 24 December was the most solemn day of the year. The house was cleaned, tools were put away, firewood was brought in and sometimes straw, called julglädjen or Christmas joy, was spread on the floor. From the Middle Ages, the Advent fast brought fish, above all lutfisk, and porridge to the Christmas table.

In the 18th century presents were brought by the julbock, the Yule goat. The word julklapp comes from a prank: knocking on a door, throwing the gift inside and running off. In the late 19th century the farm tomte, Saint Nicholas and the American Santa Claus merged into the jultomte, and Jenny Nyström's Christmas cards fixed his image.

The food changed too. In the early 20th century Swedes began opening the Christmas Eve meal with a smörgåsbord, followed by lutfisk and rice pudding. Christmas ham only became common in that century, helped along by Carl Larsson's painting Julaftonen from 1904. Meatballs arrived in the 1970s, and in the second half of the century everything merged into one large julbord.

In 1960 Swedish television first showed Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar God Jul, a Disney special that premiered in the United States in 1958. It has been broadcast every Christmas Eve since, and it divides the day into before and after Kalle Anka.