The New Year brings an opportunity to start again, to try to ensure that conditions will be better for the next year. This book tells about the history of New Year celebrations in Sweden but also about local and regional variations and global themes. It is only according to the Western Gregorian calendar that the new year begins on 1 January. Parallel to this there are other New Year festivals at different times in the year. Some are linked to religion, others to specific countries and regions, and others to different seasons. Some are based on lunar or solar calendars and can have movable dates in the calendar, while others are fixed. In Sweden, partly as a consequence of migration, there are New Year celebrations all year round, and the book also examines these.

Lena Kättström Höök is an ethnologist and curator at the Nordic Museum in Stockholm, specializing in the study of traditions and festivals.