It is no secret that the Vancouver Canucks have a long tradition of Swedes in the organization.
From the Hall of Fame Sedins to current general manager Patrik Allvin and everything in between. In Sweden, Christmas is a big celebration that brings families together for fine dining and fun times. It is not much different from a North American Christmas – aside from the amount of fish...
We got together with Nils Höglander, Linus Karlsson and Erik Brännström to chat about some of their favourite Swedish Christmas traditions and began with the famous movie: Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar God Jul.
At 3:05 p.m. on Christmas Eve, nearly 50% of Swedes will gather around the television to watch the Swedish movie that translates to ‘Donald Duck and His Friends Wish You a Merry Christmas’.
“We always watch Kalle Anka and open presents right after,” said Höglander. “Then you have dinner, and you do all of this on Christmas Eve.”
Brännström said a well-known meal around the holidays was Rödbetssallad. It is a Swedish beet salad that Brännström described as creamy and kind of sweet.
“It’s not really a salad,” said Brännström with a laugh. “It is beets with sour cream or mayonnaise, then you whip it around. We always had meatballs too and you get fish like raw salmon.”
Linus Karlsson chimed in and mentioned ribs along with small sausages being something he liked back home for the holidays.
Following Kalle Anka and some tasty treats, some Swedes like watching another well-known Swedish Christmas movie called: Tomten är Far till Alla Barnen.
This movie was too confusing to understand but the three Swedes laughed and then said it's just a chaotic movie around Christmas time. It’s hard to explain but there’s something involving Santa being romantically involved with some people’s wives and girlfriends. I guess that’s why the English translation is, ‘Santa is the father of all the children.’
Though all families are different, each of Karlsson, Höglander and Brännström said that they opened their presents on Christmas Eve.
“In my family, we would do one gift in the morning, and then you would open the rest after Kalle Anka,” said Brännström. “That’s just how we did it though, everyone kind of does their own thing.”
Höglander believes that the biggest Swedish Christmas tradition is Kalle Anka, and Karlsson and Brännström both agreed.
In terms of memorable gifts, all three Swedes agreed that hockey gear was the best thing you could receive. Shocker, I know...
Brännström reminisced about how his family would all get hockey gear on Christmas and the next day; they would have a big family game where many friends would join.
“It was always right in the morning after Christmas,” said Brännström of his family’s hockey game. “It was so much fun. It’s my favourite memory. We would have the whole family come on the ice and it was just such a fun tradition. We would all be out there and we always wanted to play kids against grown-ups.”
So, from our Canucks family to yours, enjoy a wonderful holiday break and we will be back on the ice on December 28th with a matchup against the Seattle Kraken.
