Are you wondering why your Norwegian neighbourhood is empty, your colleagues have disappeared and your local train has been replaced by a bus coming a few times per day with the name “Buss for tog”? Welcome to fellesferie!!! One of the many perks (or annoyances, depending on how you see it) of living in Norway.

Fellesferie is a concept that Norwegians take very seriously, and if you live in Norway or even work with Norwegians, I am afraid you’ll have to take it seriously too. Felles mean common, ferie means holidays. So the common holidays, aka summer holidays everyone takes at the same time, sometimes in the same place.

• A holiday they all take at the same time

This is not the only holiday Norwegians take at the same time, as you might have noticed. Norwegians have a tendency to really like taking holidays at the same time, such as Easter, which has very specific dates colliding with a whole set of red days and avspasering days Norwegians take all at the same time. And Christmas of course, as well as the 17th of May and for those who have kids, winter and fall break.

But fellesferie is the only holiday called by the name “common”, and the history behind it is negotiations in factories in Norway where workers negotiated to take holidays together so that the factory could close and reopen when all are back.

Few of us are now working in metallurgic factories, but it is in practice what is happening: many offices literally close down in July, and little is expected from anyone. If you do work during the month of July, good luck getting anything done if your work involves feedback from leaders and colleagues. Don’t even try calling in a meeting any day of July, until roughly the 8th of August, sometimes the 15th. People will not answer a single sms or email during their time off, and they might not even have signal at their cabins.

• Norway stops functioning for 4 to 7 weeks

Norwegians have 5 weeks of paid holidays every year, and they take time off outside of the summer holidays or fellesferie. I have therefore always wondered how they manage to leave early to pick up kids almost all year long (and not working full hours), AND take sometimes 6 to 7 weeks off during the summer. Where do these holiday days come from? Still a mystery to me.

In any case, the minimum people take is 3 weeks, often 4, in a row between end of June and mid-August but usually mostly in July. If you are from the US or Japan, this might seem like an exaggerated amount of time on holidays, but hey, welcome to Norway. And many disconnect completely from work, not answering any kind of emails, phonecalls etc. related to work (even when their office pays for their phone).

• Preparing for fellesferie in May, recovering in August

In theory, fellesferie starts on the last day of school the Friday of the third week in June every year, and lasts all of July. But in practice, the whole process of fellesferie lasts 3 months. The fellesferie mood starts as early as May and Norwegians will only recover from the holidays around the end of August.

May is a so called “red month”, meaning there are so many bank holidays and inneklemte days where long week ends are followed by more short weeks of work and usually sunny days. The month of May therefore usually goes by very fast, and by the time you get to the 1st of June, a wind of panic comes over every Norwegian. Only 3 weeks until fellesferie!! They have so many projects to finish, deadlines to meet and sommeravslutninger to attend.

Then end of June until 1st of August people are on holidays, and between this and that (days off to get your kid prepared for kindergarten, maybe some extra days off also), Norwegians are back at work 1st or 2nd week of August. And it takes a week or two to get back into working mood. So don’t expect anything to happen until the third week of August, which is already Fall by Norwegian standards.

• June: Surviving sommeravslutninger

To start with, you’ll need to prepare for fellesferie by attending numerous sommeravslutnninger during the month of June.

Sommeravslutninger are all those summer parties Norwegians are asked to attend. Every office, department, school class, kindergarten group and activity has their own summer party. They are all happening at the same time, the same week, sometimes the same day, roughly mid-June. In theory it is optional but in practice it isn’t. It is another great reason to leave the office early “I have my sons’ kindergartens sommeravslutning today, it starts at 3pm”.

You are often expected to bring something, especially to schools and extra curricular activities for kids, such as a cake, or food to share. Thus adding even more work to this already busy pre-fellesferie schedule.

• How to use fellesferie to your advantage

Fellesferie, or the upcoming event of fellesferie, is a great excuse to escape any kind of social or professional commitment. At work, you can refuse new tasks by saying you are swamped by current tasks having to be finished before the fellesferie, and therefore suggest to postpone everything. You can say that in June, and it will all be postponed to August-September. It is not unusual for Norwegians to call you in for a meeting end of August already in the end of June.

Social commitments are even easier to escape. “Snart fellesferie!” or “Snart juli” are very valid excuses to say no to just about anything. Can’t you see I am not available?

• Where do the Norwegians go?

We’ve established that Norwegians disappear during fellesferie, but where do they go? Turns out Norwegians not only take their fellesferie at the same time, they sometimes even travel to the same place.

There has been a trend to travel abroad, to Syden, which is another Norwegian holiday concept. Syden is not a specific country, it is the idea of taking a plane to a place which is very warm, has a beach, cheap or free alcohol and usually organised by a charter agency. A Syden holiday can be in a village in Turkey, on the South Coast of Spain or in Italy. Usually around the Mediterranean, Syden has now been extended to places like Thailand where all inclusive resorts exist with direct flights from Oslo.

Fellesferie is a typical holiday to travel to Syden, since it is a long holiday, and Norwegians need the sun after a long and dark winter. They’ll fry on a beach, drinking beer from 10am, and come back with little money and the feeling of a well deserved holiday. Another classic fellesferie destination is the hytte, or cabin. Some Norwegians have no hytte, some have one, some have a winter one (on a mountain, to ski) and a summer one on the coast of Norway to bathe. Very wealthy people even spend part of their fellesferie at the cabin and part abroad, to make sure they get the best of both worlds.

• How do Norwegians pay for it? Feriepenger!

Last but not least, how do Norwegians pay for their fellesferie? With feriepenger of course! The holiday money, they all receive in June, which is roughly a whole month of salary without taxes. It is the sum of all the holiday pay accumulated the year before, that the employer keeps on a separate account and pays in June next year. So Norwegians can leave for their holidays with a full bank account for beach parties and plane ticket.

• Coolcation? Kroneflation?

Recently, I have noticed more and more Norwegians don’t make great plans for fellesferie. I believe this is due to financial reasons. The Norwegian krone is very weak compared to the Euro for example, making a holiday in Europe to a financial pit. Others don’t stand the heat waves currently happening in Southern Europe, and prefer to stay in Norway, aka Coolcation.

I remember 15 years ago when I was traveling to the North of Norway for the summer, Norwegians thought I was crazy, and now it is something more and more foreign tourists but also Norwegians do. So who’s crazy now!! But don’t get too excited, even if they stay in Norway, they are still off from work, so don’t expect to get hold of anyone during that period.

Credit picture: Lorelou Desjardins. From a holiday I once took in Syden