Våffeldagen

This past Saturday, downtown was filled with excited customers, all excited by the prospect of ordering one of America’s most popular breakfast foods, waffles. Lindsborg's annual Waffle Day, also known as the Swedish holiday, Våffeldagen, provided customers, young and old alike, with a variety of different waffles. Shops around Lindsborg offered their own waffle-based specials– such as Ol Stuga’s “waffle shot,” or a simple waffle cone from Indigo Mood, a local ice cream shop. Våffeldagen had something for everyone, and locals and students alike were excited by this prospect.

“The Blacksmith was constantly busy the whole day,” Sophie Craft, a Sophomore at Bethany College, stated. “I lost my voice the next day from yelling so much.”

Visitors of this event got to hang out with the town’s “Waffle People,” locals who are dressed up in waffle costumes, and partake in the local attractions around the downtown area. Våffeldagen is a great way to start the Spring.

(Photo by Jim Richardson)

Våffeldagen has historic ties to the Swedish holiday Vårfrudagen, or the Feast of the Annunciation, which celebrates the day the Virgin Mary was visited by the angel, Gabriel, and told that she was pregnant with the Messiah. Madison Repp, a Bethany Student, said that the waffles came from a linguistic mix up.

“Våffeldagen happened because someone mixed around the word Vårfrudagen,” she joked. Thanks to this mix around, “The Day of Our Lady” became “The Waffle Day,” though residents and students alike aren’t complaining. Although Mary and Joseph weren’t enjoying a nice plate of waffles with some of Little Sweden's famous lingonberry sauce, Våffeldagen customers sure were.