A little cultural treat

I'm actually salivating.

Miss Letty, I lived in Finnish communities in Northern Ontario for several years. The Christmas there was much like the one I knew as a German Lutheran, though some of the desserts were new to me. There are some marvellous Finnish breads, which are especially designed for dipping into coffee or hot cocoa.

This site has some good info.

traditional finnish christmas

Rumtopf is good - but dangerous if you're a novice.

Beth, hope I haven't duplicated, but this site is awesome.

http://virtual.finland.fi/xmas/santa/santa.htm

I have learned so very much about the legends and history of Christmas.

ehBeth,
do you remember Knecht Ruprecht?
He was the dark figure and came with St. Nikolaus to carry away the naughty children- which were always saved by Nikolaus.
In other parts of Germany Ruprecht was Christkind's helper, the old figure already transformed to a nice old man.

In Austria there is Krampus, dressed in fur, with a mask either made out of wood or leather, a long red tongue, carrying chains and a bundle of twigs to beat girls.

Today we have a Krampus party- you " have" to wear black and red. Mulled wine, gingerbread and games.

Another nice custom is to cut cherry tree branches ( or similar) on 12/4 and bring them into the house- when they bloom on Christmas some wishes will become reality. Barbara twigs.

Of course the Stollen has been baked on First Advent. Now it has to rest until Christmas.

Ul, Dasha has spoken of a Krampus type event, but it was the towns' boy-men who would come to beat the singe girl-women with the sticks. Lovely.

Yes, the guys dress up and look for the singles under the girls/women .
Of course this dates back to pagan times- a fertility ritual.

http://www.culture.tirol.at/detail.html?hmp=90403&ump=91914&id=190310&_woff=1

http://www2.salzburg.info/newsletter_887.htm

That sounds like a bit of an odd variant, l'k.

Ya got anything on Italian Advent/Winter/Christmas tradtions?



Letty, I really love the music that goes with "Christmas Long Ago" on the site you linked.

I love all the website Christmas links, and thanks for the Advent calendar ehbeth

Gots to get off now. NYT crossword calls.

Hi, colorbook. Nice to see you here!

I'm going to have to find some of those webcams hamburger sent me last year, of the German ChristKindl markets.

webcam munich

Thanks ehbeth. I buy my granddaughter an advent calendar filled with chocolate, every December. Year before last (she was 3 years old) she got a hold of it and ate almost every single chocolate inside. :wink:

It's St. Nicholas Day today.


I hope everybody got treats instead of coal in their shoes and boots.

Gee whiz... step out for a few minutes and the thread triples in size.

Our parish church is called St. Nicholas and there's a big deal tonight for the faithful. St. Nicholas is, among other things, the patron saint of fishermen.



I think it is sweet that all those carrots get left for the horse.

Jane -- those munchkins are funny... I hope the kids enjoyed 'em. Seems to me, most kids don't care much for dried fruits and are happy to put them on sticks (or wire). I, on the other hand, think whoever invented dried fruit was a genius. And that RumTopf sounds devine. There used to be a recipe going around for "Friendship cake" that had a similar sugared fruit in alcohol, but without the seasonal slant. I've copied that recipe to my home files. You never know, maybe next summer....

Ul - nice to see you here! Great links, as always. I like gingerbread... is there a special recipe for that? (You might be interested to know, Jeanne de Seattle was visiting yesterday and today. She's happy and doing well.)

Thank you for the webcam shot ehbeth - Munich is my
birthtown

Ul - Knecht Ruprecht made me pee on my fathers lap
when I was small. He and "Nikolaus" came to our house
and just the mere sight of him, frightened me to no end.
Sitting on my fathers lap didn't help much either, as he
found out when it got quite wet all of a sudden

Piffka - you've got to try Rum Topf next year, it is truly
worth while waiting for it until christmas. I would not
choose strawberries however, as they get muchy and
fall apart. Better are pears, apricots, apples and other
solid fruits - no bananas either. We've always used
somewhat expensive very potent Rum and no sugar,
as the fruits itself are sweet enough, or one can pour
sugar over the individual plates when serving.

Cost Plus, an import store sells every year an abundance
of German chrismas cookies, gingerbreads and stollen,
and the prices are reasonable too.

I'm glad I picked Munich as well, C. Jane. Best of all, I love that the webcam posted above is constantly updating. I didn't realize the link would work like that.

I hope the parade yesterday went well, C. Jane. My parents, hamburger and mrs. hamburger, are in California (San Diego) for the next half hour - when I called them last night, they commented on the unexpected coolness and rain.

One of the best things about this time of year is the availability of all the wonderful spice cookies. mmmmmmmmm. I'd much rather have a spice cookie than a sweet cookie. Part of the reason for that is that it makes me think of hamburger and mrs. hamburger's grandfathers, who worked in harbours and on ships bringing those spices to Germany.

Do you suppose that the rum topf would work with cranberries?

ehbeth,
we got soaked at the parade, but the kids had such
a good time regardless and all parents joined in as well.
I hope your parents will have nicer weather soon.

Apropos spiced cookies: Do you know Spekulatius?
These are the best spiced cookied there are. Together
with a good cup of tea, they're even more tasty.

No littlek, cranberries are too tardy and contain natural
Pectin that makes it unnecessary thick.