Fettisdagen in Sweden: dates 2026–2027, traditions and words
| Day | 2026 | 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Fettisdagen | Tuesday, 17 February 2026 | Tuesday, 9 February 2027 |
- The date
- The Tuesday seven weeks before Easter Sunday (47 days before), so it moves every year, between early February and early March.
- Day off?
- Not a public holiday. It is a normal working day, just with more cream.
Fettisdagen means fat Tuesday: the last day to eat well before the old Christian fast (fastan) before Easter. The fast is long gone, but the bun remains. On fettisdagen Swedes buy, bake and eat millions of semlor.
A semla is a soft wheat bun flavoured with cardamom. The top is cut off, some of the inside is scooped out and mixed with almond paste, and the bun is filled with that and a thick layer of whipped cream, with the top put back as a lid and dusted with icing sugar.
What Swedes do
- Eating semlor at work, at home or in a café, often at fika. Many bakeries sell them from soon after New Year until Easter, though some purists only eat them on the day itself.
- Arguing about how to eat one: lid first, with a spoon, or straight in.
- Some people eat a hetvägg: a semla in a bowl of hot milk, the old way.
- A popular story says King Adolf Fredrik died in 1771 after a huge meal that ended with semlor. Swedes like to mention it while taking a second one.
Food and drink
| Swedish | English | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| semla | cream bun | Cardamom bun with almond paste and whipped cream. Plural: semlor. |
| hetvägg | semla in hot milk | The older way of eating it, served in a bowl. |
| fastlagsbulle | Shrovetide bun | Another name for semla, used in southern Sweden and Finland. |
| kaffe | coffee | Semla is fika food, so coffee is the usual partner. |
Words for Fettisdagen
Nouns are given with en or ett where you would use them that way. Words in our dictionary are linked, with their forms and pronunciation.
| Swedish | English |
|---|---|
| fettisdagen | Shrove Tuesday |
| en semla | a semla (cream bun) |
| semlor | semlas (plural) |
| en bulle | a bun |
| mandelmassa | almond paste |
| grädde | cream |
| vispgrädde | whipping cream |
| vispa | to whip |
| kardemumma | cardamom |
| florsocker | icing sugar |
| ett lock | a lid |
| gröpa ur | to hollow out |
| en hetvägg | a semla in hot milk |
| ett bageri | a bakery |
| ett konditori | a pâtisserie, café-bakery |
| fastan | Lent |
| fika | coffee break |
Phrases you will hear
- Ska vi köpa semlor till fikat?Shall we buy semlas for the coffee break?
- En semla och en kopp kaffe, tack.A semla and a cup of coffee, please.
- Äter du locket först?Do you eat the lid first?
- Det här är min tredje semla i dag.This is my third semla today.
Learn more Swedish
See every holiday and the full list of red days in the Swedish holiday calendar, and pick up one new word a day with the Swedish word of the day. Dates and weekdays are easier with our guide to days and months in Swedish and the Swedish numbers tool.
Sources
- Lag (1989:253) om allmänna helgdagar, Riksdagen: which days are public holidays.
Dates are calculated from the rules above and were checked against the law and published calendars. Last checked 7 October 2026. Customs vary between regions and families; this page describes the common ones.