Christmas or as we call it in Scandinavia, Jul, is an important holiday to most of us but not because of the religious meaning. Nowadays it’s a family holiday without religion for most people. About one-third of the population see themselves as Christian, and even fewer see themselves as religious, or true believers if you will. So it’s more a matter of family tradition.

Most people take time off from work during Christmas and New Year’s, saving some vacation days to spend more time at home. Christmas Day, the day after, and New Year’s Day are official holidays.

During this time, we have a lot of traditions. Nobody does them all but we all do some of them. Since there are so many, I decided to only include some. I’ve used some questions I got from my friend Rachel when we diskussed this.

Where there’s a link, you can click to get the recipe, a picture, or a description, if you’d like to give it a go yourself 🙂 If you need a translation of something, just ask.

When do we get into the spirit?

I’ve seen that in the US people really start to get engaged and start decorating after Thanksgiving. In the stores, it’s earlier of course but I would say people start just before the 1st Sunday of Advent. On December 1st, the largest TV-stations and radio stations start running their Christmas series for kids. That really gets the kids in the mood 🙂

When do we celebrate?

There’s often a smaller celebration on Lucia Day, December 13. Children and young people that are either in school or in a choir dress in white and sing traditional songs. They often stop by the senior center. In this village, there’s also a concert in church on the 16th where the school band and choirs perform.

There are also several bazaars before Christmas. Often arranged by sprots teams to raise money. They sell lottery tickets in the shape of wooden pieces with numbers on them, and sell coffee and cakes. They also do parties after Christmas called Yule Tree parties when they do the same. But those usually involve dancing around the tree and singing.

Companies usually have a Christmas party for their employees well before Christmas because it’s hard to book a restaurant at this time of year 🙂

There’s an older tradition called Julebukk (Christmas male goat) where youngsters (often male) walk around the neighborhood and sing songs at the doors. They’re usually rewarded with something good to eat or drink. This is almost completely gone, but some still do it.

The main family celebration with the gift exchange and a good meal is on Christmas Eve, December 24. Christmas Day is often a time when you go to relatives for dinner. People usually dress up for these dinners and families gather to celebrate and spend time together.

When does Santa arrive?

Santa usually arrives after dinner on Christmas Eve and hands out the gifts in person. Before that, the gifts are either kept under the tree or kept in the sack that the Julenisse will bring with him. Some families, like ours, don’t have a julenisse but take turns passing out the gifts.

Is it always a white Christmas?

Where I live, it is. I live in the middle of the Norwegian mountains, about 70 km or 40 miles south of Trondheim (click to see a map), and we’ve never had a Christmas without snow. There have been years when it’s come close, like this year, but the snow has always arrived. Sometimes, it’s gone away again leaving only ice but that’s not the norm. We usually have enough of the white stuff to go around 🙂 The picture is from last Christmas.

Is it called Christmas?

We call it Jul (or something similar) in the Nordic countries. It’s a modern version of the old name for the holiday at this time of year. They could never make the name Christ Mass stick here, for some reason 🙂

How do we say Merry Christmas then?

Here in Scandinavia, we say God Jul, which means Good Yule.

What do we eat and drink?

Where’s where things take off a bit 😀 We do love our Christmas food and there are many traditional dishes, baked goods, and drinks. In Norway, it’s mostly a larger dinner where you fill your plate from dishes on the table where you eat but in Sweden, it’s a buffet with a separate table where you go get your chosen dishes. I have memories from Sweden where the table was bending under the weight of all the different kinds of food in the buffet. My mother would fill the table. Swedes also have ham as the centerpiece instead of the ribs (short, thick and fatty ones).

I have memories from Sweden where the table was bending under the weight of all the different kinds of food in the buffet. My mother would fill the table. Swedes also have ham as the star of the show instead of the ribs (short, thick and fatty ones).