Fredagsmys turns 20

You see the signs everywhere in Sweden, for comfort food, snacks and sodas: 'fredagsmys' is the key word here  

  • In the U.S. we say "TGIF," but in Sweden the concept has been taken even further. “Fredagsmys” is a notion that seems to exist nowhere else. According to Wikipedia, “fredagsmys” is an activity where family or friends gather on Friday nights to mark the end of the workweek and prepare for the weekend. It is often celebrated at home in comfy clothes, with snacks such as popcorn, sweets and soda.

  • Congratulations to Sweden’s version of “TGIF” (Thank God It’s Friday) — “Fredagsmyset” (cozy Friday) — which turned 20 this year. It may mean dinner on the sofa in front of television, or tacos, or cheese doodles, or candy or some other props that make Friday night worth celebrating.

  • “Fredagsmys” turned 20 this year. It’s a little more than TGIF, a concept that means you are celebrating the end of the workweek, in front the television with food like tacos, chips and cheese doodles.

  • Why did Swedes begin this now-established tradition of “cozy Friday”? According to Charlotte Hagström, a researcher in ethnology at Lund University, the man behind the concept is Johan Brinkenberg in Sävedalen. In Göteborgs-Posten on June 30, 1994, Brinkenberg wrote an article in which he stated: “Fredagsmys framför tv:n är en tradition hos Familjen Brinkenberg i Sävedalen.” (Cozy Friday in front of the television is a tradition at the Brinkenberg family in Sävedalen.)

  • Aha! There’s the proof, this is the source from where all crumbled chips and emptied soda bottles come. Brinkenberg, however, though he is constantly reminded by his colleagues at work that he was the one who coined the idea, doesn’t think of himself as the originator.

  • “I don’t think we were the only ones,” he says. “There were many others who used the phrase already at the time.” No Swede seems to have gotten tired of the concept however. “Fredagsmys” is still going strong. But in the Brinkenberg household it’s different these days: “The kids are all moved out, so Friday nights aren’t as bound to the TV-sofa anymore. But I still think fredagsmys is the best way to spend a Friday. The difference today is that the chips and the candy is gone, and now we have wine and shellfish.”