Swedish Christmas

From the Website ThehistoryofChristmas.com:

Sweden - Christmas traditions & customs

Christmas in Sweden begins with the Saint Lucia ceremony. Before dawn on the morning of 13 December, the youngest daughter from each family puts on a white robe with a red sash. She wears a crown of evergreens with tall-lighted candles attached to it. She wakes her parents, and serves them with coffee and Lucia buns. The other children accompany her. The boys dressed as star boys in long white shirts and pointed hats. The custom goes back to Lucia, a Christian virgin martyred for her beliefs at Syracuse in the fourth century. The Saint Lucia ceremony is fairly recent, but it represents the traditional thanksgiving for the return of the sun. Often she is followed by star boys, who wear pointed hats, and carry star wands. Candle-lit processions to Church feature Scandinavian Christmases, where, in the home, it is mother who always lights the candles on Christmas Eve. Christmas trees are usually found in Swedish homes two days before Christmas. Decoration may include candles, apples, Swedish flags, small gnomes wearing red tasseled caps, straw ornaments. The houses may filled with red tulips and smell like pepparkakor, which is a heart-star, or goat-shaped gingerbread biscuit. Swedish Julafton, or Christmas Eve dinner may be a smorgasbord, or buffet with julskinka, or Christmas ham, pickled pigs feet, lutfisk, or dried codfish, and many different kinds of sweets. Risgryngrot a special rice porridge, has hidden in it an almond which as tradition has it the person who finds the almond in his or her bowl will marry in the coming year. Christmas trees are usually brought into Swedish homes one or two days before Christmas. Decorations include: candles, apples, Swedish flags, small gnomes and tasseled caps, and straw ornaments. The house may be filled with red tulips and the smell of pepparkakor - a heart-star, or goat-shaped gingerbread biscuits. After Christmas Eve dinner, a friend or family member dresses up as tomte or Christmas gnome. The tomte, unlike Santa Claus is supposed to live under the floorboards of the house or barn and ride a straw goat. The make-believe tomte, wearing a white beard and dressed in red robes, distributes gifts from his sack. Many are given with funny rhyme that hints at the contents. Swedes eat lye-treated codfish and welcome the Christmas elves and the julbok which is the Christmas goat, who is responsible for the distributing of the presents.

Where's Freedom in Sweden Now?

Swedes, rich and poor, were almost "giddy" in their quest for freedom and upward movement in their education when they migrated to the U. S. in the 19th and 20th centuries.  They loved music...They loved forming clubs with their fellow Swedes...They went to school and learned English...They loved the class-free America!  They came with a trunk and a Bible (with the men having a little glog!)  Chicago had a population of more Swedes than Gothenburg!   They played the fiddle, the accordion and they danced!  They had children whom they adored and for whom they created a warm hearth!  We loved being Swedish!  Du Gamla du Fria!  NOW the class structure in Sweden seems to evolved into a regulatory society where parents are told how to raise their children on one hand, and an "open-door" policy towards a group of persons who proclaim "We love death as much as Jews love life!"   HUHHH?????  Where's the drive to be free even from the restrictions of the one church in the War of Reformation?  Our King was killed.  Remember history?  Where are the true Swedes?  SEE WHAT MARCUS SAMUELSSON has accomplished by immigrating to this home,life-loving culture!  SWEDEN, where have you hidden your Christian roots?

Coming in from the Cold

Merry Christmas

  The Christmas Eve meal was one of the few when we held our noses, put the lutefisk in our mouths, and washed it down with water. Of course, Mumma and Puppa relished the lutefisk, the herring, the headcheese, the pig's knuckles (one of Puppa's favorites), and the other peasant foods of our heritage. We children loved the hardtack, the Bond Ost (Swedish Cheese), the rice pudding and the katbullar (Swedish Meatballs). The boiled potatoes and carrots and Mumma's deliciious gravy went down pretty well, too.  We always had hot egg kaffe during and after the meal. Sometimes we'd have strawberry Jell-o with bananas, particularly in the years after the war.

  Going to bed around 11:00 p.m., we were tired and happy, but we had to get our sleep because Mumma took us to Julotta at the Salvation Army in the morning. The Christmas worship service, all in Swedidh, started at  6:00 a.m. I can still hear and feel the crunch of the snow under our feet as we hurried to church in the early hours of the dawn. The birthday of our Lord, a very special time.

Swedes Come Home

When we were children, mother's arms and lap were the place you'd find the sick child~it wasn't only in sickness that our home was a haven. Each of us had our share of life's usual problems. Hers was always a listening ear, a helping hand and an open heart. Even Puppa got into the act when it came to opening the house for returning married children who needed a place to stay.

Waste Not. Want Not.

Half an apple, small piece of bread.
We were cautioned all the time,
Save a little here, take a little there.
Never waste a  dime.

And grow we did.
Strong and sometimes tall,
The Waste not -Want  not - strategy
Didn't seem to hurt at all.

 We're older now, and
Times again are lean.
Looking back - we wonder how
Our mom could be so keen.

Count your pennies,
I hear her say,
Waste not - Want not -
Is the rule of the day!

Stretched Swedish Meatloaf

Serves 6

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs ground chuck
1/2 c chopped onion
1 tsp Swedish mustard
1/2 c catsup
2 tbs Milnot
2 Eggs
3 slices Limpa bread

Place ground beef in large bowl. Soak bread in water..squeeze heartily. Add w/ eggs to meat. Add remaining ingredients. Mix very well. Shape into rectangular loaf. Place in pan 1 hour at 350 degrees. Smakar gott!