Kanelbullens dag, the Swedish Cinnamon Bun Day

What’s not to like in a country where pastries have their own national day? In Sweden, 4^th of October is Kanelbullens dag, when Swedes celebrate their favorite pastry, the cinnamon bun.

The modern kanelbulle was created around 1920, at a time when food products that had been rationed during the wartime period were starting to come back. But it’s not until the 1950s that the flavory bun went from the cafés to being baked at home. Better economy, cheaper raw materials and better ovens made kanelbulle Sweden’s favorite pastry.

Served with coffee, the cinnamon bun makes the perfect fika, the typical Swedish coffee break. But there is a wide variety of bullar: flavored with cardamom, vanilla, pistachio, and—my favorite—almond (toscabulle).

Other pastries and sweets are also celebrated during the year in Sweden: semla, a delicious bun filled with cream and almond paste, is eaten on Shrove Tuesday. On March 25^th, Våffeldagen, you get to eat waffles. And on November 6^th, Swedes taste a sponge cake decorated with chocolate or marzipan called Gustav Adolfs-bakelse in memory of the king who died on the battlefield on this day in 1632.