There are lot of bizarre aspects of Norwegian culture, and a lot of them have me shaking my head in frustration with this country. But luckily I’m happy to jump on board with most of Norway’s peculiarities. Tinned fish for breakfast? Yes please! Toddlers on skis? That’s some forward thinking.
And another favorite? The importance of holiday time here. Like how this secular country where less than half the population believes in God has the longest Easter holiday in the world. No, it doesn’t entirely make sense to me, but wow is it lovely.
This is the first Easter I’ve spent in Norway since I was six years old, so I had a lot to catch up on. But I think I got the basic gist of Easter in Norway: celebrate with a week at a cabin in the mountains filled with skiing, cozy time with loved ones, lots of sweets and hot dogs, and as much time as possible outside in the snowy landscape that is finally starting to get sunny and warm after a cold, dark winter. That way when everyone returns to work they can praise each other’s Easter tans (no but really).
I think I did pretty well.
Cabin in the mountains? Check.
Skiing? Check.
Sunny warm weather? Check.
Well, at least for the start of Easter. Right now it’s full on blizzarding outside.
P.S. Can you spot the deer in this photo? I posted this on Visit Rauland’s Instagram account and didn’t even notice the deer until someone pointed it out to me, ha!
Easter sweets? Mmmm check.
I feel like I should probably mention that I make waffles at least once a week here. Norwegian waffles are just so yummy! The secret ingredient is cardamom (but shhhh, don’t tell).
And I should maybe also confess that that’s a photo of Dan’s waffle, as I’m afraid I’m not yet quite Norwegian enough to enjoy brown cheese.
Instead of Easter baskets Norwegians go for pretty cardboard eggs filled with candy, which I think is just the cutest. I told Dan that you have to hunt for them on skis, because that seemed even more Norwegian to me, but there’s a chance I just made that up.
Easter in Norway
So by yesterday afternoon I was pretty confident that I had shown Dan the best, most Norwegian Easter ever. And then I Skyped with my mother and she was all “Did you eat lots of Kvikk Lunsj? And oranges? And drink Solo?”
Because that’s what Easter in Norway is really all about.
The supermarket did sell an absurd amount of Kvikk Lunsj (which is just like a Kit Kat bar, except don’t try to tell any Norwegians that), Solo (orange soda), and oranges (which are apparently “the sun of Easter,” unless a girl at work was just lying to the gullible American girl, ha).
We also sold out of eggs every day last week. These Norwegians take their Easter traditions very seriously!
Do you have any special Easter traditions?
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Visiting Myken, Norway’s Friendliest Island
Megan says
im a big fan of norway (no secret there) but i hated the easter holidays there. but then again, im not a fan of religious holidays and europe tends to celebrate them all (and all in may which makes the rest of the year soooo long). i used that week to travel abroad though somewhere, so it never turned out too bad 🙂 i think if i had been brought up skiing and doing some cabin stuff i would have felt different about easter there, but it was too slow and chill for me. im not good at just chilling out 🙂 hope you had a nice long week!
Silvia says
Hahaha Norwegians are the best at doing slow and chill, it definitely used to drive me insane as a kid! Now I guess I’ve embraced it, ha. It is a little strange that it was a religious holiday but no one I spoke to said they were going to church, but hey if it’s a reason to get off work I’ll take it!
Kaelene Spence says
The Easter holiday in Iceland is so long, I remember the first time I was here for Easter and I was told we needed to head to the store since everything was closed for like four days it just blew my mind. Now I absolutely love it!
Silvia says
It is really crazy how everything can shut down for so many days. People were seriously stocking up at the supermarket in the days before Easter!
Bea @ Our Wanders says
Oh, Norwegian Easter seems a lot of fun!
If I think of Easter in Hungary, the first thing coming to my mind is ‘Oh, no, sprinkling!’ I don’t know if any other nation have this tradition, but in Hungary boys sprinkle girls on Easter Monday and girls are supposed to give them painted eggs or chocolate eggs or invite them for a coffee/desert (or give them money which is sadly more and more common). In the old times, boys sprinkled with a bucket of ice cold water, today they sprinkle with cologne – I can’t really decide which is worse, just try to imagine how you smell after you are sprinkled with the 3rd, 4th,… kind of (cheap and smelly) cologne… 😀
Usually, it’s a full day program for men to tour the town and visit all their female friends and relatives. And well, this is the reason why I never spend Easter Monday at home, but escape somewhere (preferably) abroad. 😀 Usually I see the beauty in old traditions (okay, usually doesn’t mean always), but I just can’t stand this one. 😀
Silvia says
Haha I heard they do something similar in Slovakia and was almost there for Easter last year, but just missed it by a couple of days, phew. It sounds stressful!
Wildworldvibes says
Your pictures are all beautiful!
Happy Easter
Silvia says
Thanks!
Suze - LuxuryColumnist says
I didn’t realize that oranges were such a thing at Easter in Norway! Sounds like you had a great time anyway. Here in the UK we tend to eat a lot of lamb and chocolate eggs
Silvia says
Mmmm lamb. And I’m way more about the chocolate eggs on Easter than oranges – these healthy Norwegians!
Emma @ Adventures of a London Kiwi says
The Norwegians just seem to have such great ideas about the quality of living – and I’ll enjoy your brown cheese for you 😉
Silvia says
Haha I wish I could enjoy the brown cheese!