Flag days in Sweden

By Swedish law a number of days of the calendar year are designated as official flag days. This means that the Flag of Sweden is flown on all public flag poles and buildings. Hoisting of the Swedish flag on private flag poles on these days is also strongly encouraged, however omitting to do so is no longer a punishable offence.

Flying of the flag is permissable from sunrise to sunset. In general this means from 8 AM to 8 PM. During winter the time from sunrise to sunset is often less than 12 hours in the whole of Sweden and during this time the actual daylight hours should be observed. In the parts of Sweden north of the polar circle the sun doesn't rise at all for some weeks during December. One example of handling this is the practice of the Infantry Regiment in Kiruna, which during this period flies the flag for one hour each day starting at noon.

May 9 is not an official Swedish flag day. It receives its status from being a European Union flag day, and the fact that Sweden is a member country of the European Union. In Sweden this is observed by flying the Swedish flag side by side with the European Union flag on public flag poles and buildings.

Official flag days

Date	English Name	Local Name	Remarks
January 1	New Year's Day	Nyårsdagen
January 28	Namesday of the King	Konungens namnsdag	H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf
March 12	Namesday of the Heir Apparent	Kronprinsessans namnsdag	H.R.H. Princess Victoria
Moveable Sunday	Easter Sunday	Påskdagen
April 30	Birthday of the King	Konungens födelsedag	H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf
May 1	May Day	Första maj
May 9	Europe Day	Europadagen	European Union flag day
Moveable Sunday	Pentecost	Pingstdagen	50 days after Easter
June 6	National Day of Sweden	Sveriges Nationaldag	Flag day but not an official holliday
Third Saturday of June	Midsummer Day	Midsommardagen
July 14	Birthday of the Heir Apparent	Kronprinsessans födelsedag	H.R.H. Princess Victoria
August 8	Namesday of the Queen	Drottningens namnsdag	H.M. Queen Silvia
Third Sunday of September	Election Day	Dag för val till riksdagen	Elections held every four years
October 24	Day of the United Nations	FN-dagen
November 6	Day of Gustavus Adolpus	Gustav Adolfsdagen	Battle of Lützen 1632
December 10	Alfred Nobel Day	Nobeldagen	The Nobel Awards Ceremony
December 23	Birthday of the Queen	Drottningens födelsedag	H.M. Queen Silvia
December 25	Christmas Day	Juldagen

See also: Holidays in Sweden, Namesdays in Sweden, National anthem of Sweden