Då i vårt mörka hus, stiger med tända ljus, Sankta Lucia... Eller? : Förskollärares tankar om och arbete med högtider i förskolan

The aim of this study was to examine preschool teacher ́s thoughts and work with celebrations in the preschool environment. Our hope was to gain insight in the preschool teacher’s daily work with celebrations by asking two main questions; 1) do preschool teachers bring attention to celebrations and how do they motivate their choices 2) If they bring attention to celebrations, how is it manifested. We have chosen a qualitative method when investigating this topic, which involved interviewing six preschool teachers in southern Stockholm. The result of our investigation was analyzed with the help of three theoretical perspectives; 1) the sociocultural perspective, 2) the educational perspective by John Dewey, and 3) the intercultural perspective. The three perspectives also gave us useful theoretical concepts to discuss the results with. From the study we conclude that the preschool teachers do bring attention to celebrations in their daily work, more specifically they include celebrations by letting the children express themselves through dressing up in costumes, dancing, singing, creation and by experiencing traditional food. The central theme used by the teachers was to enable children through activities and social interaction, to participate in the celebrations by their own will and acting