Red day means a non-working day

People dancing around a may pole

When working at the university, weekends and public holidays like Midsummer, Christmas, and the Swedish National Day are always non-working days. In addition to weekends and public holidays, and depending on whether you’re teaching or administrative staff, there are a few more non-working days in the year – and they’re all listed here.

- In Sweden, public holidays are referred to as “red days” as they’re traditionally marked in red in the calendar.
- Many Swedes like to take a day off between a red day and the weekend to extend their time off. We call it klämdag or a “squeeze day”. 

Below, we’ve included the name of the Swedish holiday in italics as it appears in the calendar.

New Year’s Day
1 January (public holiday) – Nyårsdagen 

Day before Epiphany
5 January, working hours reduced by 4 – Trettondagsafton

Epiphany (Three Kings Day)
6 January (public holiday) – Trettondedag jul 

Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday)
Thursday before the Easter weekend, working hours reduced by 2 – Skärtorsdagen

Good Friday 
Friday of the Easter weekend in March or April (public holiday) – Långfredagen 

Easter Sunday 
Sunday of the Easter weekend in March or April (public holiday) – Påskdagen 

Easter Monday 
Monday of the Easter weekend in March or April (public holiday) – Annandag Påsk 

Walpurgis night
30 April, working hours reduced by 2 if on a Monday–Thursday and by 4 if on a Friday – Valborgsmässoafton

May Day (Labour Day) 
1 May (public holiday) – Första maj 

Ascension Day 
A Thursday between 30 April and 3 June, 39 days after Easter Sunday (public holiday) – Kristi himmelsfärds dag 

Whit Sunday
A Sunday in May or June, 49 days after Easter Sunday (public holiday) – Pingstdagen

National Day
6 June (public holiday) – Nationaldagen 

Midsummer’s Eve 
Friday between 19 and 25 June (non-working day) – Midsommarafton

Midsummer’s Day
Saturday between 20 and 26 June (public holiday) – Midsommardagen 

All Saints’ Eve
Friday between 30 October and 5 November, working hours reduced by 4 – Allhelgonaafton 

All Saints’ Day
Saturday between 31 October and 6 November (public holiday) – Alla helgons dag

23 December 
Working hours reduced by 4, if on a Friday.

Christmas Eve
24 December (non-working day) – Julafton 

Christmas Day
25 December (public holiday) – Juldagen