In ancient times, Christmas was a mid-winter sacrificial feast – a festival of lights marking the transition from the dark winter to spring and summer. Christmas was a time for celebrating the harvest, fertility, birth and death. In the 900s King Haakon I decided that the heathen custom of drinking Jul (Yule) was to be moved to December 25th, in honour of the birth of Jesus Christ.
Gradually, the pagan feast was Christianized. The name Jul was retained, but the holiday was dedicated to Jesus Christ. Christmas is thus a mixture of ancient heathen and Christian traditions. Today, Christmas is the most popular celebration of the year in the Christian church, and for families and friends.
Some Norwegians begin Christmas preparations the first day of Advent. Advent is a season of the Christian church, the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus. It comprises the four Sundays before Christmas Day. The celebration of Advent includes lighting a candle (adventslys) in an Advent candelabrum (adventsstake), one for each of the 4 Sundays, which triggers the Christmas spirit (julestemming).
Some children get an Advent calendar where there are flaps for them to open daily from the 1st of Dec up to Christmas Day. They are rewarded with a picture and more often than not, a chocolate or a sweet. Some families stick 24 cloves into an orange and count down to Christmas by removing a clove each day.
Day-care centers, schools and families spend time preparing for the Christmas holiday. They have Christmas workshops (juleverksted) where they make decorations and gifts. Around the country, a number of Christmas arts and crafts fairs are held.
Christmas baking (julebakst) also begins in advance and is usually of seven kinds of sweet biscuits:
- ginger cookies (pepperkaker)
- doughnuts (smultringer)
- wafer cones (krumkaker)
- shortbread patties (sandkaker)
- syrup snaps
- almond butter biscuits (serina)
- Christmas wafers (goro)
Shops sell the traditional seven as well as a wide selection of cakes and biscuits for those who (like me!) do not bake.
Sales of evergreen Christmas trees begin weeks in advance, and some families decorate their trees the moment they get them while others decorate their tree the day before Christmas Eve (Lillejulaften).
Concerts are held in churches and concert halls and Christmas carols are sung up and down the country.
The main event for Norwegians is on Christmas Eve 24th Dec (julaften), the evening when the main feast is served and gifts are exchanged. All work ends by 1600 (usually earlier). At 1700 on Christmas Eve all the churches begin to ring in Christmas. The churches are never as full as they are on this day.
To some, julaften dinner begins with rice pudding which contains a single nut(usually an almond). Whoever gets the almond wins a prize. More commonly, rice porridge is served for lunch on julaften, where the remains of the course will be used for the most popular dessert, rice cream (riskrem). Rice cream is always served with the optional dessert sauce consisting of raspberry juice. Another popular dessert is kransekake (a series of concentric rings of cake, layered on top of each other in order to form a steep-sloped pyramid. It is made with almonds, sugar, and egg whites (marzipan)).
Dinner on Christmas Eve may be the traditional pork ribs (ribbe), steamed, salted mutton ribs (pinnekjøtt), mutton head (smalahove) or dried codfish (lutefisk) (although this seems to be losing its popularity) with mashed rutabaga, gravy and boiled potatoes but turkey, goose and other international Christmas meals are becoming popular.
Nearly all Norwegian breweries produce a traditional beer (juleøl), which is darker, stronger and has more flavour than the common Norwegian lagers. Breweries also produce a special soda, julebrus, in some parts of the country is a red raspberry soft drink, or orange with orange flavour. Gløgg (a warm drink with cinnamon, raisins and almonds. May or may not be alcoholic) is a popular drink at this time.
Akvavit is also common and traditionally drunk as an digestif to deaden the large consumption of fatty foods.
In families with small children, Father Christmas/Santa Claus (julenissen) comes after dinner, carrying gifts (julegaver) in a sack. Families without children usually place gifts under the tree, to be opened after dinner. Before Father Christmas arrives or adults open their gifts, in traditional gatherings of larger families everyone will join hands and circle the Christmas tree, singing Christmas songs.
It is pretty common that everyone takes turns to open their presents and the rest of the family watches on. (Of course, I doubt this happens in a HUGE family gathering, otherwise everyone would still be opening presents at 6am in the morning!)
On Christmas Day (25th Dec) and Boxing Day (26th Dec), it feels like everything is over and people usually chill and relax. However, there may be more Christmas meals for couples who have to celebrate Christmas in turn with their parents and their in-laws, and for children of separated parents who have to celebrate Christmas on different days.
As in many other countries, shops start Christmas trade (julehandel) by decorating streets and pedestrian precincts (julegata) weeks in advance, often in mid-November. In December, most shops, particularly those in centres and malls, stay open longer than usual, often on Sundays and until midday on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day and the day after are public holidays and most shops are closed, though petrol stations and some convenience shops will be open. Most shops reopen on the 27th (if it is not a Sunday) and keep ordinary business hours through to midday on New Year’s Eve (romjulen), the 31st. However, some shops, as well as many offices, remain closed from Christmas to New Year’s Eve.
Children may write to Santa at: Santa Claus of Norway, Savalen, N-2500 Tynset.
Hope the information above gave you some insight on the general Christmas Traditions and happenings in Norway!
Ha en riktig God Jul og Godt Nyttår!
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About Cynthia Myrnes
Cynthia is a Singaporean who has been living in Stavanger since Feb 2008 with her Norwegian husband. She works as a physiotherapist here and also owns her own petsitting service, Stavanger Petsitter, for the residents of Stavanger. In addition, she manages the Stavanger International Moms group. She loves hanging out with friends, spending time with animals, travelling and watersports such as scuba diving and wake boarding. Most of all, she is enjoying the experience of being a first time mom!
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