Våffeldagen or waffle day is a day on which the Swedes, real sweet tooths, bake waffles for their family.
The funny thing is that the day actually originated from a corruption of the word “Vårfrudagen” or Maiden’s Day, the day on which Mary received the message that she would give birth to the baby Jesus. The day that in the Christian religion is called the Annunciation to Mary or Mary’s message. Until the Middle Ages it was even the beginning of the new year in various countries. In England even until 1752.
In many Swedish dialects “Vårfrudagen” was corrupted to Vaffeldag and that is an old form of Våffla or waffle. And so Mary’s message became waffle day …. You can read the above in the nice book by Jan-Öjvind Swahn: “Svenska Traditioner” in Swedish, but now also in English (and German).
Another explanation is that the Swedes celebrate the beginning of spring on March 25. After a long winter, there is plenty of milk and fresh eggs again. And with the last bit of flour, they bake waffles and thus herald the spring. In addition to the waffles, there is of course delicious sylt och vispgrädde or jam and whipped cream.
If you visit the Bolmen island near us and you take the ferry on the way to that really nice loppis on the island, you will pass a place where they bake delicious waffles in the summer. You can’t miss it because there is only one main road on the island.