Christmas is coming!!!
Many people wonder how Norwegians celebrate Christmas, is there anything different from other European countries? Then we hope this post can provide some information for you to get a better look into a traditional Christmas of Norway.
From November to December, Norwegians start to prepare for their long season of juletid. Not only the adults are preparing for Christmas, but also the children have parties at school and kindergarten called nissfest. Norwegians divide Christmas into 3 parts. First is the Christmas Eve, which is only half a normal day, and it is the main day of celebration for Norwegians at Christmas.. People do their daily routines, go to work, and finish their shopping. At 16:00 the church bells ring throughout the city which means Christmas has officially started. This also starts the first Church service for Christmas. Family gather and have dinner with ribs, white Christmas sausage, lutefisk, pinnekjøtt or ham, winter vegetables, sour kraut, rich graxy and cranberry sauce. Gløgg, (mulled wine with spices, nuts and fruit) is a common Christmas drink. While dinning, there are Christmas carols playing in the background.
Coming up next is the Christmas Day, which officially marks the first day of Christmas. Following are 20 days of juletid (Christmas time) celebrations. This day is also a flag raising day in Norway. Many Norwegians have flag poles in their front yards or attached to the house for hanging the national flag on special days of the year. Christmas day is the day people pay a visit to family and friends. Churches have services and children play with their new toys or go outside in the snow. For dinner, extended family come together for a big Christmas feast
Boxing Day is known as Andre juledag (the Second Day of Christmas) and is also a public holiday to relax and enjoy family atmostphere. The time from Boxing Day until New Years Eve is called Romjul (Christmas Space) which is the ‘space’ between Christmas and New Years. It is the quiet time of Christmas where the streets are bare and the shops have limited hours as Norwegians spend this time with family. The local sledding hills and parks are filled with families skiing and sledding, and having bonfires and BBQs in the snow.
Christmas is the most beautiful time of the year, when people stop working for a while, get away the busy life and spend more time with friend and family!!! It is not what’s under the tree that matters, it is who’s gathered around with.
Have yourself a merry little Christmas XD
For more information and sources: http://mylittlenorway.com/2009/12/a-norwegian-christmas/
sahand