December 16, 2012
Yes, it is our second Christmas Season in Sweden. No, we are not enjoying it any more, sorry to say. We do have snow. The snow came on December 1st and pretty much snowed a few inches each day for a week, it does look very wintery and Christmas-y here.
We started the Christmas season by attending a Glögg party on December 1st. Basically glögg is just mulled wine. Some of it is good and other kinds taste like warm lemonade. You drink glögg warm with almonds and raisins in it. You serve it with pepperkaka. The Systembolaget (the liquor store) has a special glögg each year. This year it was Japanese. I thought it tasted better the other types I have tasted. One cup is enough for me.
This year on Sunday, December 2nd we did go to the town's Tree Lighting Ceremony and First Day of Advent "Celebration". On this day, the stores in town are open from 3:00pm to 7:00pm for the "Celebration". People were telling me that they change the windows for Christmas. I was thinking maybe, perhaps they would decorate them like we are used to. No, they just put festive clothes in the windows. Nothing like Macy's, Marshall Fields or Carson Pirie Scotts! The whole "Celebration" was a bit lame and mostly it was just groups selling lottery tickets for strange items.
Here in Sweden it appears that Advent is celebrated more than Christmas. You can buy candles and candle holders with the numbers 1-4 on them. However, you do not find any items with Jesus, Angels or the like on them. The Christmas cards are quite secular, not any that have the real meaning of Christmas.
This week on Thursday the 13th we celebrated St. Lucia Day. This is a very important day to the Swedish Society. The local Lions Club sponsors a contest for local girls to be selected as the town's Lucia. There are seven girls and the town is able to vote for the one they want. This is a big honor for the girls who are usually about 16 and have aspired to be Lucia since they were young. The Lucia then travels around the town on Lucia Day and sings songs about Pepperkaka and Luciabullar (ginger snaps and saffron rolls among other songs. None of them really Christmas related, at least to us. Here is an article about Lucia Day that I found.
After reading the article about Lucia then you might find this article about what happened at a school in Sweden when a child wanted to be an angel for Lucia Day. I found it quite interesting.
Another interesting thing about Swedish "Christmas" is the "Santa Claus", the one they pictured in the local newspaper was down right scary! The picture showed a man with a scary mask and they expect the kids to go up to him. Heck, I am scared of the picture, I think the kids should be scared. I will take a Santa with a fake beard over a Santa with a scary mask. (Sorry, I could not find the picture electronically).
Enough about Swedish "Christmas", we are off to Rome to celebrate Christmas in the Roman Catholic tradition. We are looking forward to our trip!
Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!
Love, Bridgette
