VOL. XVI, NO. 5
DECEMBER 13, 1974
Santa plus Sauerkraut Make
Norwegian Yule
Norwegian Yule
By TOR JOHNSON
Christmas starts in Norway like most other places with December, the first snow, and the decorated city streets. There, on the day before or Christmas Eve, most families decorate their fresh Christmas tree. No one ever uses artificial trees. The most important day of the Christmas celebration in Norway is Christmas Eve when all families have a big dinner. This dinner for a lot of families is a traditional one with spare ribs, sauerkraut, and sausage. It is also common to have close relatives over for dinner on Christmas Eve while friends and others get together sometime in the week before New Year's Eve.
Christmas starts in Norway like most other places with December, the first snow, and the decorated city streets. There, on the day before or Christmas Eve, most families decorate their fresh Christmas tree. No one ever uses artificial trees. The most important day of the Christmas celebration in Norway is Christmas Eve when all families have a big dinner. This dinner for a lot of families is a traditional one with spare ribs, sauerkraut, and sausage. It is also common to have close relatives over for dinner on Christmas Eve while friends and others get together sometime in the week before New Year's Eve.
On Christmas Eve Santa Claus also comes visiting to many homes; there are no stockings to be found so he generally leaves everything in a big sack in front of the fireplace. Christmas Day is generally used for recovering and looking over your presents. Like many Norwegian families mine leaves for the mountains on Christmas Day; we stay in a cottage and go cross country skiing for a week. Even though we have to carry all the food two miles from the car, Christmas in the mountains like the town is one big meal. It will be interesting to see what an American Christmas is like.