Våfflor

The story

March 25 is våffeldagen, Waffle Day, in Sweden. Its real name is Vårfrudagen, Our Lady's Day, the feast of the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel told Mary she would bear a child. The Swedish business site Dagens PS explains that the feast falls nine months before Christmas and has been kept in Christian countries since the 600s. In some dialects Vårfrudagen came out as "vafferdagen," close to the German word Waffel, and most accounts call the switch to våffeldagen a simple mix-up. Waffles themselves had been made in Sweden since the 1600s, on irons developed from the ones used to bake communion wafers, but they were tied to the day's name only in the 1800s. Toppings came later still: sugar, cream and jam were luxuries, and the sweet version became usual toward the end of that century. The date also marked spring. Until the mid-1700s it coincided with the spring equinox, and farm households took it as the start of spring work, with more milk and eggs after winter. It was a public holiday in Sweden until 1953. In 2027 Waffle Day falls on Thursday, March 25, which is also Maundy Thursday. Set out whipped cream and jam and keep the iron going at the table, so each waffle is eaten hot.