Draft:Women's Week
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Women's Week (Swedish Fruntimmersveckan), previously also called Girl's Week[1] (Finnish Naistenviikko, Swedish Flickrveckan), is the six or seven days in Sweden and Finland that fall between July 18th or 19th and July 24th during which only women have name days. Women's Week in Sweden and among Swedish-speaking Finns has consisted of six days and begins on 19 July since 1827 and 1868, respectively. In Finland, it has been seven days long and begins on 18 July since 1929.
In both Finnish and Finland Swedish, calendars list the name days of "Women's Week" as largely the same as in Sweden, but in Finland the names have several variants. This means that in the Finnish calender, 32 women's names are celebrated during Women's Week, which are borne by a total of 32 women (2011).
In Sweden most of the alternative names for these days disappeared during the 1990s in connection with the introduction of the 2001 name day list.
| Date | Swedish Name Days[2] | Finland Swedish name days[3] | Finnish name days[4] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 July | Fredrik, Fritz | Fred, Fredrik, Fredrika | Riikka |
| 19 July | Sara | Sally, Sara | Saara, Salla, Salli, Sara, Sari, Sarita |
| 20 July | Margareta, Greta | Greta, Gretel, Margareta, Margit, Margita, Marit | Maaret, Maarit, Margareeta, Marketta, Reeta, Reetta |
| 21 July | Johanna | Hanna, Hannele, Jenna, Jenny, Joanna, Johanna, Jonna | Hanna, Hanne, Hannele, Jenna, Jenni, Joanna, Johanna, Jonna |
| 22 July | Magdalena, Madeleine | Lena, Lenita, Madeleine, Magdalena, Malena, Malin | Leena, Leeni, Lenita, Matleena |
| 23 July | Emma, Emmy | Olga | Oili, Olga |
| 24 July | Kristina, Kerstin | Kerstin, Kia, Krista, Kristel, Kristina, Stina, Tina | Kiia, Kirsi, Kirsti, Krista, Kristiina, Tiina, Tinja |
History
[edit]Background
[edit]Women's Week began to take form during the Middle Ages in both Sweden and Finland, when four female saints were celebrated from 20-24 July: Saint Margaret of Antioch (20 July), Saint Praxedes (21 July), Saint Mary Magdalene (22 July), and Saint Christina of Bolsena (24 July). In 1698, Sara (after Abraham's wife) was added on 19 July , and in 1755 Praxedes was replaced by Johanna, whose previous name day had been 15 December. The first evidence of the moniker "Women's Week", however, is from the 1800s.[5]
Finland becomes Russian
[edit]When Sweden lost Finland to Russia after the Finnish War in 1809, the Finnish name day calendar's development branched off.
Sweden
[edit]In 1827 Saint Apollinaris of Ravenna was removed from 23 July and replaced with Emma in the Swedish name day list in honour of the Swedish crown princely couple Oscar I and Josephine of Leuchtenberg's second child, who would be born that year. According to the Crown Princess, the couple's child would be named Emma if it turned out to be a girl. It turned out to be a boy, Prince Gustaf, but Emma was still introduced to the date and has remained there since, as it's one of the most popular girl's names.
Thereby, the six women's name days in a row from 19 to 24 July made it so the week was referred to as "Women's Week". According to the Swedish Academy's Dictionary, the word "fruntimmersveckan" first popped up in F. Tholander's 1870 addition to Anders Fredik Dalins Ordbok öfvet svenska språket (English Dictionary of the Swedish Language) (1850-1853), which indicates that the concept had been accepted by then.[6] According to the Swedish Institute for Language and Folklore (ISOF), evidence of the word's usage can be found from the 1840s onward.
As name days were celebrated and observed during the 1840s, the 19th century can be said to represent a peak of the name day phenomenon - in 1862, two women in Uppsala were fined during Women's Week after they plundered the gardens at a name day celebration.[7]
Finland
[edit]In Finland, Apollinaris was first removed from 23 July in 1868, but was replaced with the Russian girl's name Olga. Another change took place in the Finnish name day list in 1929, when Fredrik was replaced with the girl's name "Riika" (nickname for Fredrika) on 18 July, which was changed in 1950 to the more common form, "Riikka". However, it didn't change in the Finland Swedish name day list, so Finland Swedish Women's Week has six days, the same as Standard Swedish, while the Finnish Naistenviikko has seven days.
Rainy Days
[edit]Sweden
[edit]Women's Week has a long-standing reputation of being rather rainy, which can be explained by the fact that it takes place during one of the rainiest weeks of the year. Phrases like "Women's Week" are often linked to the Bondepraktikan (an old farmer's almanac), but the first Swedish edition of the Bondepraktikan came before the inception of the Swedish calendar.[8] Examples of years where Women's Week was completely rain-free in Sweden include 1901, 1947, 1955 and 1959.[9]
Finland
[edit]According to Finland's meterological institute statistics, Women's Week is completely rain-free once every ten years, and the same goes for many rainy Women's Weeks, during which rain falls during all six or seven days. On average, it rains three or four days of Women's Week.[10]
References
[edit]- ↑ "Svenska Akademiens ordbok: Flick-vecka(n)". Accessed 15 July 2026.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ↑ "Kalender - Årsöversikt med namnsdagar, högtider, flaggdagar m.m". www.almanacka.eu. Retrieved 2026-07-16.
- ↑ "Kalendermallar och Namnsdagar | Officiella Tjänster | Tidsexpert". almanakka.helsinki.fi (in Swedish). Retrieved 2026-07-16.
- ↑ "Calendar 2026". almanakka.helsinki.fi. Retrieved 2026-07-16.
- ↑ synpunkt, Lämna. "Fruntimmersveckan". www.isof.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2026-07-16.
- ↑ "fruntimmers-veckan | SAOB" (in Swedish). Retrieved 2026-07-16.
- ↑ synpunkt, Lämna (2023-07-18). "Fruntimmersveckan — namn och firande i äldre tider". www.isof.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2026-07-16.
- ↑ "Fruntimmersveckan". SMHI (in Swedish). Retrieved 2026-07-16.
- ↑ "Fruntimmersveckan lever upp till sitt rykte - Nyheter - www.vlt.se". vlt.se (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 2009-07-24. Retrieved 2026-07-16.
- ↑ "Fruntimmersveckan". SMHI (in Swedish). Retrieved 2026-07-16.
Category:Name days Category:Weeks Category:Sweden Category:Finland Category:Finland Swedish