THE SCANDINAVIAN CHRISTMAS BALL

The Scandinavian Christmas Ball is the American Scandinavian Society’s evening in the weeks before Christmas, black tie, at the Metropolitan Club on East 60th Street: cocktails, a formal dinner of three courses, a procession of Lucia with the Lucia songs, a guest performance, and dancing to a live orchestra until midnight. The Society has worked since 1908 for the ties between Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the United States, and the ball has been an annual tradition since 1909.

Lucia comes in white with a crown of candles, for a night that in Scandinavia was, until the middle of the eighteenth century, the longest of the year.

Saint Lucy's Day

The American Scandinavian Society calls itself a “Pan-Scandinavian membership organization devoted to bringing educational, artistic and musical events with a Nordic character to the Greater New York Area”. Membership “is open to all who are interested in our mission”. Its office is at 317 East 52nd Street.

The Society’s own notice of 2024 called the Christmas Ball a highlight of the season. It is given at the Metropolitan Club, and that notice placed it on the last Friday of November; in 2026 it falls on 4 December.

Saint Lucy’s Day is 13 December. Under the Julian calendar, which Scandinavia kept until the middle of the eighteenth century, it was the longest night of the year. In Scandinavia Lucia is represented as a woman in a white dress with a crown or wreath of candles, and girls carry saffron buns in procession while the songs are sung.

The first modern celebration of the day in Scandinavia was held at Skansen, in Stockholm, in 1928.

The Evening

There are two ways to come. A dinner ticket runs from seven until midnight: an open bar and hors d’oeuvres, the formal three-course dinner, the Lucia procession and the Lucia songs, a guest performance, and dancing until midnight to the orchestra. An after-dinner ticket runs from nine, with the open bar, the procession, a dessert buffet and the dancing.

There is no paper ticket. Guests are on a list, and check in at the door.

The Lucia procession is seen by both, the diners and those who come after dinner.

In 2026 the ball is held on Friday 4 December, from seven in the evening to five minutes before midnight, at the Metropolitan Club, 1 East 60th Street.

What to Know

It is held on a Friday at the end of November or the start of December, through the evening: in 2026, 4 December. The 2027 date has not been announced.

In 2026 a dinner ticket costs $510 for a member of the Society and $625 for anyone else; a table of ten $5,100 or $6,250, and the Viking Table $7,500. An after-dinner ticket costs $330. The member’s rate requires membership current for 2026, and there are no refunds.

“The dress code is formal black tie.”

The Metropolitan Club is at 1 East 60th Street. The Society names no hotel.

The mistake is to buy at the member’s rate without a current membership. The membership must be current for the year, and nothing is refunded.

The Court

The Scandinavian Christmas Ball is not the Court’s own. Dinner tickets, not after-dinner, are bought on a member’s behalf, and the Court arranges the whole of it: getting there, where to stay in New York for a member coming from out of town, and the table afterward. Ballo di Savoia is the next evening.

How one becomes a member is set out under Admission.