https://www.posetteforever.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=1830&p=27477#p27477 ----------------------------------- TdaC Monday, 19 December 2005, 02:18 PM ----------------------------------- I like baby Jesus riding on a star!! Sounds like a great christmas celebration. :dance: Here in Sweden you can say that christmas begins sort of december 1. That’s when the advent/christmas calender starts on TV/radio or homemade ones, It’s a countdown to christmas eve, and it’s for kids. I’m a christian so for me christmas starts at the first advent. Up here it’s darker during the late fall, winter and early spring. We have a much shorter period of daylight. That means that daylight comes late around 9.-10 in the morning and starts to go away around 14.30 – 15.00 . In the late spring, summer and early fall the light conditions are reversed. This means that it’s darker this time of the year. People put up special candleholders with 4 (symbolising the 4 advents) or seven (symbolises god creating everything in seven days) candles in their windows (electrical or real candles). We also put of big electric stars in the windows, that symbolises the star when jesus was born. It really lights up the dark and i love it. We also send christmas cards before christmas. The 13th december we celebrate Lucia. She was an italian saint that was killed december 13th 304. She used her dollery.. the money that came with her in marriage to buy food for the poor. This made her fiance very angry and he turned Lucia in to the prefect for being a christian. They decided that she was guilty and she was to be burned to death, but the fire didn’t touch her. This made the ppl that were to kill her angry so they took a sword and took out her eyes and then killed her with the sword. WE celebrate Lucia by performing songs for others. A group of ppl will dress up in white – symbolising Lucia’s purity. One woman/girl is selected Lucia (when this is at schools it is usually a popularity contest) she will wear a crown of candles on her head – symbolising Lucia’s saint hood and a wide red band around her waist – symbolising Lucia’s blood. She is followed by women/girls called tà¤rnor (don’t know how to translate that). They are also dressed in white, but instead of a crown of candles they have a ring of tinsle and tinsle around their waists. The group sing Luciasongs and christmassongs. The reson behind why Lucia is celebrated is that before Sweden was a christian country we had nordic gods and godesses; Tor, Oden, Loke, Freja, Idun, Siv, Brage, Njord, Frej,Hà¶der, Balder, Tyr etc. This time of year the godess Freja (godess of birth, crops, love) was riding around the earth in a wagon pulled by her cats, making sure that everything would grow in the spring again. This was a celebrated occation and to help make sweden a christian country the missionaries trew in the celebration of Lucia instead of Freja. Here the most important christmasday is christmas eve and not dec 25. People start to decorate for christmas around dec 22-23. We have a tree – pine. That we decorate with a star on top and put lights, tinsle, balls, candy, paper stuff on. We have special bonader ( images usualy on linnen) on the walls with christmas motifs, we decorate the home with candles, santas, a church playing silent night when you open the door, some have a male goat made of hey. That symbolises the male goats that the god Tor had. Swedish christmas is kind of a mix of christian and the old gods stuff. Aslo a mary, joseph, babe jesus, the whise men are put up together WE drink Glà¶gg, wich is warm wine with spices in it. It tastes sweeter that normal wine and some ppl put raisins and nuts in it. We eat ham, fish, special bread, fat cheese, a specail porridge that i love!, and christmas cookies and cakes. In old times the food and drinks were left on the table over night and ppl slept on the floor. They believed that passed away loved ones came to visit and that they were tyo eat the left over food and sleep in the beds. Now that has changed to some ppl putting out a bowl of christmas porridge for santa. Santa usualy visits on christmas eve in the evening and deliver the presents to the different family members himself. We don’t have the tradition of him flying around with raindeers or leaving presents under the tree. A lot of ppl play games and dance around the christmas tree. At midnight there’s a mass, and very early the next morning there’s another mass. A lot of ppl that usualy don’t go to church come to them. The churches here are left open and unlocked during christmas, so that ppl can come in and warm themselves, mainly homeless ppl do that. Christmas is celebrated for 3 days and 20 days after there’s a party and the tree gets thrown out and the decorations are taken down.