Påskris–Swedish Easter Tree

 

 

When I was younger when we celebrated the holiday’s around our family’s heritage.  Especially Christmas Eve we celebrated with Swedish Traditions.  My Dad’s father was born in Sweden and came over to the United States so my Grandmother kept that tradition alive for many years.  I still as an adult make sure we have some of the traditional Swedish smorgasbord items.  Personally, I was never a fan of the fish especially the pickled herring.  It might be good but I’ve never really liked fish, so I avoid that completely! I remember the Swedish traditions that were centered around Christmas holiday but never heard about the Påskris–Swedish Easter Tree or do I remember my grandma having one? 

 

I first saw the Påskris–Swedish Easter Tree image on Pinterest.  At first, I just thought it was a pretty centerpiece so I clicked on the image and to my surprise I learned it was a Påskris–Swedish Easter Tree!  So with a  little more research about the tree I decided that we would start this tradition and make our first Påskris.  We still have some work and additions to make for next year but here’s our tree to start! 

 

 

Some items we are missing from the tree are Swedish Easter witches and roosters.  So this next year I will be keeping my eyes out for a few of them and or making some for next year. 

Eggs we decorated – well Lilly painted and decorated all of the eggs for the tree. 

 

 

So what is the Påskris? It’s a tree made from birch twigs and it is a tradition that is part of Sweden's’ Easter celebrations.   The twigs were used for whipping each other, and was the symbol for suffering Jesus did on Easter Friday.  The whippings are said to date by to the 1600’s. I read that the whippings no longer take place but they bring the twigs in and decorate the branches with colorful eggs, feathers and Swedish Easter witches. 

 

I think we need to get back to celebrating our family heritage's so I plan on making sure we do this to include my Swedish and Welsh family traditions along with my husbands German heritage.  I feel like today, we get away from who we really where are families came from and how we all ended up in the United States of America. 

 

As they say in Sweden ….. Glad Påsk

Which means…

 

Happy Easter!

 

Amy