‘Waffle Day’ (Swedish: våffeldagen, Norwegian: vaffeldagen, Danish: vaffeldag) is a tradition celebrated in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, on 25 March, also the Feast of the Annunciation, upon which waffles are typically eaten. Våffeldagen or ‘Waffle Day’ is a recent name for ‘Spring Day’ (Marie Annunciation Day), a church holiday that has historically also marked the beginning of spring farming. According to the Gospels, the Virgin Mary was told on this day by the Archangel Gabriel that she was pregnant. The shift from the religious celebration to Waffle Day occurred because the Swedish Vårfrudagen, meaning “Our Lady’s Day” or “the Day of our Lady” (the Feast of the Annunciation), sounds similar to våffeldagen (“waffle day”) in faster speech, and so over time Swedes began calling it Waffle Day and celebrating by eating waffles.
There are several playful traditions associated with Spring Day, celebrated in Christian countries on March 25 at least since the 6th century, nine months before Christmas Day. In the farming community, the Spring Day began a period of intensive spring farming and marked the transition between winter and spring.
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