How To Survive Swedish Winter - 4 Tips From A Swedish Expert

Swedish winter is dark, cold, and seemingly never ending, when you barely see the sun for what feels like half a year. So it is no wonder that us Swedes have many coping methods for dealing with the darkest part of the year.

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How To Survive Swedish Winter - 4 Tips From A Swedish Expert
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Light, light, and more light

I am fully convinced that our love for lamps and candles stem from our need to keep our spirits up during the dark winter months.

Something I have only ever heard of in Sweden is the idea that every room of your home should have at least 5-10 different sources of light. This way your home can feel cozy and bright, even during the darkest winter days.

Embrace Christmas

A big part of Swedish Christmas traditions are lights! In cities you can see the traditional Swedish Advent Candle holder (these days as a lamp) in all office buildings and apartment windows. We also often hang big star-shaped lamps in our windows, that further light up the dark.

Cold swim

Cold swimming is seemingly becoming more and more popular each year, and for good reason. There is nothing as confidence-boosting as a cold swim in the middle of Swedish winter, and I think we all feel better for successfully defying the temperature.

Usually the cold swim comes with the reward of a sauna, and this helps to warm you up during the endless cold.

Fika and coziness

There is no surprise that Swedes loves all things cozy. We have fika (coffee or tea with a treat), fredagsmys (cozy Friday’s) and coziness as one of our life mottos. No Swedish home is complete without cozy blankets, cozy pillows, cozy candles and cozy activities.

Upping the coziness level in your home is the perfect Swedish way to survive being stuck inside during the long and dark months of winter.

Author

Saga V. BohinenS
By Saga V. BohinenFeature Writer & Columnist

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