The National Day of Sweden is celebrated on June 6 every year. The day was made into a national day by the Riksdag (Swedish parliament) in 1983, before which it was just revered as the Swedish flag day or Day of the Swedish flag.

The tradition of celebrating this date began in the 1920s, in honor of the election of King Gustav Vasa in 1523, as this was considered the foundation of modern Sweden.

Some question the validity of this as a national holiday, as it was not observed as a holiday until centuries later. However this event does signify the end of the Danish-ruled Kalmar Union, so in a sense it is a marking of Swedish independence, though the event occurred so long ago that it does not have as strong of a presence in the social consciousness as does, for example, Norway’s Syttende Mai (May 17th).

In 2005 it became an official Swedish public holiday, taking that honor from Whit Monday. This change led to fewer days off from work (more working-days) as the 6th of June will periodically fall on the weekend, unlike Whit Monday, which was always celebrated on a Monday. This has in turn led to complaints from some Swedish unions.

Most Swedes just see this day as “a possible day off” – you might get the flag up, but other than that you don’t really celebrate anything… The participation in the festivities that actually DO take place around the country this day varies from year to year. Immigrants who have become Swedish citizens during the year get a personal invitation to the respective communities’ festivities, and they then get an official welcome to Sweden…

Related events

• 1523 – Gustav Vasa is elected King of Sweden, marking the end of the Kalmar Union.
• 1654 – Charles X succeeds his cousin Christina to the Swedish throne after her abdication.
• 1809 – Sweden promulgates a new Instrument of Government, which restores political power to the Riksdag of the Estates.
• 1857 – Sophia of Nassau marries the future King Oscar II of Sweden-Norway.
• 1974 – A new Instrument of Government is promulgated, making Sweden a Constitutional Monarchy, with parliamentarism inscribed into the Constitution.

The events of 1523 and 1809 are generally regarded as the most important; the first reestablishing Sweden as an independent country after the Kalmar union, the other establishing an Instrument of Government that was used until the 1970s.

The Swedish National Anthem

Du gamla, Du fria (“Thou ancient, Thou free”) is the de facto national anthem of Sweden. Although the Swedish constitution makes no mention of a national anthem, the song enjoys universal recognition and is used, for example, at sporting events. Only the first two verses are normally sung. At international sporting events, often only the first verse is played, which is really more like playing only half a verse of “God save the Queen”, and ending before the last chorus-like strophes. Furthermore, many – if not most – instrumental recordings instead take up time by playing the repeated fourth and fifth strophe of the melody as an “intro” before playing the actual song. This is something that is never done with any other national anthem. The lyrics were written by Richard Dybeck in 1844 to a traditional melody from Västmanland, and have sometimes been wrongly thought as beginning with “Du gamla, Du friska” (Thou ancient, Thou hale). However, the original lyrics are “Du gamla, Du fria” (Thou ancient, Thou free). The song first began to be used as a national anthem in the 1890s. Despite a widespread belief that the song was adopted as the national anthem in 1866, no such recognition has ever been officially accorded. In 2000 a Riksdag committee rejected, as “unnecessary”, a proposal to give the song official status.

It should be noted that the true title of the song is SÃ¥ng till Norden (“Song to the North”). The opening words Du gamla, Du fria as the title is rather the de facto title. Mostly everything concerning this very unofficial national anthem deals with de facto singing this way, or that way. Another very common mistake is singing “Jag vet att Du är och förblir vad du var” instead of “Jag vet att Du är och Du blir vad du var” in that strophe.

Patriotic sentiment is notably absent from the text of the original two verses, which is because they were written in the spirit of Scandinavism popular at the time (Norden can also refer to the Nordic countries in Swedish).

Since the song had started getting its informal status of national anthem, Louise Ahlén wrote the verses three and four in 1910. They have, however, very seldom been published, and have remained practically unknown to the public.

Lyrics

Literal translation