Don't ask me about our current traditions (but there sure is a lot of drinking going on)....
But a hundred years ago or a little more, the most important thing in a young person's life was a ceremony called 'konfirmation'. It was a religious ceremony, where youngsters, about fourteen, had to study the Bible and learn quite a bit about its teachings. On the big day, when the youngsters (called 'konfirmander') had studied and been instructed by a minister for a certain time, they were asked in church about what the Bible teaches, and then they'd better know the answers! But I don't really know what happened if they didn't. I guess they had to come back and try again next year, because as far as I know you only got one chance every year.
Anyway, if they were successful and if they passed their 'konfirmation', they counted as adults, more or less. No, they were not allowed to get married, not if they were fourteen. But in fact they were not allowed to get married later in life either, if they hadn't passed their 'konfirmation'! So getting 'konfirmerad' was really extremely important.
Anyway, after they had successfully passed their 'konfirmation', the youngsters counted as adults in several ways. Youngsters with low-income parents were expected to leave school, if they hadn't done so already, and start working full time, often as farm hands. And on their big day, the young boys, fourteen years old, were given their first drink of hard liquor. Now they were men!
Successful 'konfirmander'. Freshly-baked adults.
Ann