About: Fössta tossdan i mass

Fössta tossdan i mass ('First Thursday in March') is an unofficial and somewhat tongue-in-cheek national day for the landskap (traditional province) of Småland in south-central Sweden. The basis of the celebration is the characteristic tendency of the Småland dialect to omit the sound /r/ when it comes at the beginning of a consonant cluster; as the phrase 'first Thursday in March', första torsdagen i mars in Swedish, has three such instances in quick succession, it makes this tic particularly conspicuous, sounding like fössta tossdan i mass when pronounced in a broad Småland accent. The holiday is celebrated with a marzipan cake (marsipantårta, pronounced massipantååta in the Småland accent), ideally decorated with the text Fössta tossdan i mass.