Becky Waterton

3 weeks ago | thelocal.se | Becky Waterton

Hej and welcome to the latest instalment of The Local’s Fika Calendar, where we guide you through the most important cake, pastry and other food-related days in the Swedish year. Today is June 6th, Sweden’s National Day, where Swedish municipalities up and down the country hold events to welcome new citizens. READ ALSO: What's open and what's closed in Sweden on National Day? There is – of course – also a special cake eaten on National Day.

3 weeks ago | thelocal.se | Becky Waterton

On November 29th, the three governing parties of Sweden's right-wing coalition and the Sweden Democrats published an opinion piece in the Dagens Nyheter newspaper titled “It should be harder to become a Swedish citizen”. The parties pledged in the article to “as much as possible, take measures to stop more Swedish citizenships from being granted until new rules are in place”, hinting that they would take steps to get the Migration Agency to slow down the processing of citizenship applications.

3 weeks ago | thelocal.se | Becky Waterton

The Swedish government and its allies, the Sweden Democrats, are currently in the process of tightening up the rules for citizenship and permanent residency, with an inquiry in January this year proposing extending the residency requirement for citizenship from five to eight years, introducing a self-sufficiency requirement and requiring that applicants pass language and civics tests.

3 weeks ago | thelocal.se | Becky Waterton

Stockholm The most well-known National Day event – which may even be the event where the whole celebration originated – is at the Skansen open-air museum in Stockholm. READ ALSO: Why does Sweden celebrate National Day on June 6th? This is a very family-friendly event, with crafts, traditional folk dance and music and a national day market. The evening is rounded off with a national day concert on the Solliden stage, which is attended by the Swedish royals.

3 weeks ago | thelocal.se | Becky Waterton

There is no blanket legal requirement on most shops to close on June 6th for Sweden's National Day and when it comes to supermarkets and grocery shops, the chances are that they will be open as usual, particularly if you live in a city, although possibly with slightly reduced opening hours. Smaller shops may be closed, especially this year as the holiday falls on a Friday, offering a chance for a long weekend.