How Do You Know A Scandinavian Christmas When You See One? >

by Cathie Mayr

Editor's note: Sure you know your lefse from your lutefisk, but do you know your smultringer from your sirupssnipper or your Nisse from your Tomte? Cathie Mayr, owner of Nordic Living, knows and for six days, starting today, she'll gift us with some interesting and fun (yes, Scandinavians can have fun) tidbits about these Old Country traditions and more. So visit our website daily from now until Christmas. Your inner Viking will thank you.

Gift Trees
The Christmas tree originated in Germany in the late 1700s. It eventually arrived in Scandinavia via Denmark. The early trees functioned as "gift trees," holding edibles for children to harvest.

Traditional ornaments still in use today include Scandinavian flags for the appropriate country, usually strung vertically from the top to the bottom of the tree. Other ornaments resemble Christmas baskets - shaped like cones and hearts - to hold hard candies and raisins. Straw, bent and sewn in various configurations, become ornaments resembling animals and hearts.

Surprise Gifts
Exchanging presents originally began in Roman times to celebrate the new year. Sometime in the 1820s, it yielded to Christmas as the gift-giving holiday. While "surprise gifts," are common in America and Scandinavia today, most Scandinavian-American memoirs describe the occasion of the first time their family "bought Christmas" - exchanging store-bought gifts.

Nisse Cards
Christmas cards were invented in England in 1843. Many immigrants to the United States communicated with letters back home only at Christmas. A descendant of these Amerikabrev (letters from America), Christmas cards came into being around 1870 and were widely popular by 1910 with nisse cards (in reference to the little elves of Scandinavian lore) becoming predominant. Today, however, computer-literate Scandinavians send electronic greetings and produce computer-printed Christmas letters - just like their American relatives.

Candles
Candles came to Scandinavia with Christianity and still constitute an essential part of Christmas. In Norway alone, the population of four million people burns seventeen million candles at Christmas. A recent tradition calls for keeping a seven-armed electric candlestick burning on the windowsill around the clock from the first Sunday in Advent through the thirteenth day of Christmas (January 6). It constitutes a celebration of light in a time of darkness.

Nature
The Julenek, or Julneg, is a Scandinavian custom that survives to this day. The Julenek reflects the peasant's hospitality extended to the birds, which he invites to be his guests by placing an unthreshed sheaf of grain on a pole above the barn door. It has become a symbol of Christmas generosity and commonly appears on Scandinavian Christmas cards, wrapping paper, and gift tags.