Julkalendern

Julkalendern or Adventskalendern is a Christmas calendar TV series for children, broadcast by Sveriges Television since 1960 and has developed into a living part of contemporary Swedish yuletide tradition. Every series consists of 24 episodes, broadcast daily 1–24 December. The theme for most series have some connection to Christmas. Prior to 1971 it was called Adventskalendern. Sveriges Radio also has a tradition of broadcasting a similar series in radio each year and prior to 1973, it was always the same series in radio and on TV, but since then, it has been a different series in radio and on TV. In the beginning, the series began on Advent Sunday, but nowadays, it always starts on 1 December; it has always ended on Christmas Eve. Thus, for instance, the 1967 series Gumman som blev liten som en tesked had only 22 episodes, since Advent Sunday of that year was 3 December. Along with each series, there is always the possibility to buy a paper calendar with a window to open each day. These are available in most Swedish retails, shops, supermarkets etc. and the windows usually contain images of something to do with the plot of that day's episode.