My Swedish Christmas

To clarify, the altar was not at the altar. Or maybe it was. That was all about changes, and as an old congregant from the fifties, I was stunned.

The 7th
Making decorations of straw has been and still is very popular. One thing which belongs in every home is a julbock. I have four - two big ones and two small.
The Yule goat is a Scandinavian and Northern European Yule and Christmas symbol and tradition. Its origin may be Germanic pagan, and has existed in many variants during Scandinavian history.

Modern representations of the Yule goat are typically made of straw.

Then came a time when it was popular to dress up as goat and come with the gifts.

Also the sledge was pulled by a goat. Our Santa Claus is called Tomte

This a straw goat

And there's a German Market in Southampton that's been going strong for the past five years. (It's also quite French.)

The 8th
prepare for Lucia celebration and bake Lussekatter, which really means Lucefiers cats

Ingredients
St. Lucia Saffron Buns Recipe

Prep time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Cook time: 12 minutes
Yield: Makes 12 to 14 buns.

This recipe makes 12 to 14 good sized buns. You can easily double the recipe. Note the cardamom is optional. I've made these buns with and without a little cardamom and I prefer them with. I'm guessing it's more traditional without.
3/4 cup milk (175 ml)
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
1 teaspoon plus 1/4 cup (50 g) white, granulated sugar
One 1/4-ounce packet active dry yeast (check the expiration date on the package to make sure it's still good!)
3 1/2 to 4 cups (490 g to 570 g) all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
The seeds from 3 cardamom pods, ground (optional)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick, 4 Tbsp, 56 g) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup of sour cream (or quark if available)
2 large eggs
Raisins

Glaze

Hi Saab

I'm really enjoying this. It's all so different from our customs here, which involve beaches and mangoes and all other good things.

Despite an excursion to northern hemisphere Christmas 2 years ago, this cold Christmas business still seems odd.

On St. Nicholas (December 6) we get similar here: a "Stutenkerl"

It is a pastry made of Stuten, sweet leavened dough, in the form of a man (Kerl is German for 'lad' or 'fellow'), with raisins and a clay pipe.

The 9th Annadagen
Anna´s nameday. Anna was the mother of Mary or Jesu grandmother,
On this day in old days it was time to test the yulebeer.
To drink beer at yule is the oldest yuletradition we know about.
The expression to drink jul was used long before Christianity came to Sweden.
The tradition is that the jul beer is rather sweet but now they start to produce beer with more bitter taste

Just adding that only in Sweden today is Anna´s nameday.

The 10th
Lutfisk Lutefisk (Norwegian) or lutfisk (Swedish) (pronounced in Sweden- in Finland and Norway is traditionally part of the Christmas food.

It is made from aged stockfish (air-dried whitefish) or dried/salted whitefish (klippfisk) and lye (lut). It is gelatinous in texture. Its name literally means


"lye fish".
Here is more about it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutefisk

In Minnesota and Wisconsin, you can find lutefisk in local food stores and even at some restaurants. It is a food that you either love or hate, and, as some people say, "Once a year is probably enough!"

During the fall in Wisconsin, people watch their local newspapers for announcements of lutefisk suppers, which are usually held in Norwegian churches. Usually every Norwegian church will host at least one lutefisk supper between October and the end of the year. The dinners have become so popular that lovers of this special cod dish drive great distances, and these are not just people of Scandinavian descent.

Norwegian communities in Minnesota (i don't know about the case in Wisconsin) have remained rather insular until quite recently. When i was in the army in the 1970s, i met several Minnesotans of Norwegian descent, and all of them had spoken Norwegian in the home before going off to public school. Two of them still spoke English with a very striking accent. I never inquired about their taste in fish.

The same for the Swedes.
The Finns are the ones that have intergrated slowest as far as I have been told and the Danes the fastest.

Today the 10th of December is also the Nobel Prize Fest in Sweden.
It will be on TV and it is very interesting to watch

When I lived in Sweden ( with Swedish College Students) I was under the impression that most Swedes ( younger generation) didn't believe in God, nor did they belong to any specific religion.

I have know idea how long ago it is since you were in Sweden.
Fact is 66% of the Swedes belong to the Swedish Lutheran Church
and about 20% to other denominations.
A Swede hardly ever would talk about their religious feelings.
Noone would say they are religious as the word has a rather negative touch.
We do not say we believe in God as a rule.
On the other hand I have never experienced the nastyness like in USA between
different believes.
People can be member of a Christian church and still admire Buddhism or some Guru or reincarnation, they can be member because they really feel they are Christians, or they feel Christianity is part of being a Swede or that the church does more good than the sttate or to support the culture with in the church - like all the very old beautiful churches we have with their treasures.

It was Anna's nameday in the Greek tradition yesterday as well.

The 11th
Tapestry is vey popular in Sweden whatever for Christmas, Easter or Midsommer.
They can be woven, embroyederdor printed on paper

The Swedish college students, much like American kids today, didn't believe in wedlock.

Students talk about everything when they're away from home and living in a dorm or even in their own apartment.

Relative to your comment about church vs Swedes, Boston, Mass has the largest Catholic population among major US cities rated at 45% of Boston residents. I doubt that 100% of this specific group either go to Church services or are members of a specific Catholic Church. They have been baptized, however and call themselves Catholics.

What kind of crap is that?
And what on earth does this statement have to do with that you said they do not believe
There are about 50 000 marriages per year and a lot do live together as not married but take the same responsibilities for children and house as married .people, Some of those not married people do have their children baptized.

Even if you are not member in any Christian church whatsoever but was baptized as a child you are considered a Catholic or a Lutheran or something else.You can become an atheist you still remain a baptized Chrisitan.