Fredagsmy & Lördagsgodis
Two of the traditions I miss a lot from Sweden are Fredagsmys (Friday Cozy) and Lördagsgodis (Saturday Candy) and in today’s episode, I want to introduce you to both of them.
Fredagsmys
The start of what was to become Fredagsmys happened in the late 80s when Swedish TV went from being a public-funded monopoly to allowing commercial private TV channels, which led to a bigger selection for Swedes when it came to TV watching.
In the 1990s the tradition become popular when a marketing campaign for a chips brand encouraged people to stay home on Friday night and enjoy some “junk food” after a long week of work.
The tradition is that you stay home either with a group of friends or after you have kids you stay home with your family.
When you stay home with your friends you usually have a glass of wine or a beer with some easy-to-make food, very often Tacos but occasionally a pizza, and then watching TV or maybe a movie, eating chips and dip, popcorn, or something similar.
Families do almost the same thing, maybe without those drinks but definitely most often with Tacos. Their choice of the movie might be a Disney one or they also watch TV.
Fredagsmys is still 30 years after it started, very important and many of the TV channels have programs that cater to the tradition both family-friendly and exciting.
The word Fredagsmys first appeared in Swedish media in 1994, and in 2006 it was added to the Swedish Academy’s dictionary.
Lördagsgodis
The concept of Lördagsgodis is much older. It started when the Swedish medical authorities in the 1950s started a campaign where they recommended sweets as a once-a-week treat to limit the amount of sugar consumed and the rising cases of tooth decay which both were a result of Sweden being richer.
At the same time, many kids started to get weekly to monthly allowances. According to data from 2020, 70% of Swedish children get an allowance. This money usually has to cover non-necessary items such as candy and toys. About 60% of the children have some form of agreement with their parents on what that money should cover.
Swedes are very particular with their candy, and we eat some candy that others don’t appreciate for example the salt black licorice. Nowadays most candy is bought as pick-n-mix where the candy is displayed in big plastic bins and you use a scoop and a bag and do just that, you pick and you mix your favorite between sweet, sour, and of course salt licorice candy. We call this buying loose candy. You can buy pick-n-mix candy almost anywhere in Sweden, at a grocery store, at the gas station, and of course in one of the many candy stores.
This was not how I bought my lördagsgodis when I was a kid, and I will also tell you about my experience.
Next week
In my next episode, I will talk about something very typical Swedish. Our obsession of being on time. I hope you will tune in.
As we say in Sweden, Hej Då
