In this study, we explore six preschool pedagogues’ experiences regarding the celebrations of cultural and religious festivals and traditions, and how this is noted in their respective preschool settings. The purpose of this critical study is to make educators aware of how children’s ethnic and cultural diversity is reflected in the preschool’s attention or lack of attention to different festivals and traditions.

The study is based on interviews conducted with six randomly selected preschool pedagogues from six different preschools from different parts of Sweden. Three of the preschool peda-gogues interviewed worked at “monocultural” preschools while the other three worked at what they considered as “multicultural” preschools. The results of the study are, that regardless of how the composition of the children’s group appeared, the preschool pedagogues’ reflections on their own situated experiences reveal the extent to which the festivals and traditions cele-brated are so-called Swedish and Christian. The festivals and traditions celebrated are e.g. Easter, Midsummer, Lucia and Christmas. Celebrations and traditions of a decent other than Swedish are not recognized in the same way.

Theoretically, this study is based on Sara Ahmed’s ideas surrounding ‘the hegemony of white-ness’ and the ‘phenomenology of whiteness’. For us, this important critical and theoretical re-source opens for future questions about how well established the white hegemony is in our Swedish preschool.