Here in Norway, Christmas has a different take on Father Christmas (if you're British) or Santa Claus (if you're American).
This is a somewhat dubious character really, originally a slightly scary barn elf, who, if you didn't feed him porridge then he might wreak his Blackadder style re-weng-ee on your household, letting your farm animals escape into the cold, bleak, midwinter and setting your house on fire.
It was only natural that this little character should morph into something slightly more jolly and that Norwegians would want him to accompany them at breakfast.
That's not the end of the story...
Norway isn't what I would view as an especially commercial country. We don't have chain stores of shops just for cards; it's only newsagents and book shops that tend to be repeated up and down the country. That also translates into there being a clear winner amongst what Norwegians eat off at mealtimes around the Jul celebrations: Porsgrund's Nisse Service!
There isn't the jolly, Coca Cola Santa here; we still have little fat figures, but the men are dressed in grey onesies. Each nisse has a red hat on, the men wearing conical, night-cap affairs.
One of the lovely quirks is they are all getting up to something, so the echoes of the past naughtiness come through! Some of them are dancing, some are on skis with their hands behind their back (the truism that Norwegians are born on skis perhaps!), some are running and others are piled on a sledge, complete with the traditional steering pole (I have no idea what that's called; if you do then please help me out!).
We have enough of the stuff to eat from at breakfast (pictured!); maybe in time to come these nisse will take full rule over our mealtimes around Christmas!
God Jul!
We have the Julenisse!
It was only natural that this little character should morph into something slightly more jolly and that Norwegians would want him to accompany them at breakfast.
That's not the end of the story...
Norway isn't what I would view as an especially commercial country. We don't have chain stores of shops just for cards; it's only newsagents and book shops that tend to be repeated up and down the country. That also translates into there being a clear winner amongst what Norwegians eat off at mealtimes around the Jul celebrations: Porsgrund's Nisse Service!
There isn't the jolly, Coca Cola Santa here; we still have little fat figures, but the men are dressed in grey onesies. Each nisse has a red hat on, the men wearing conical, night-cap affairs.
One of the lovely quirks is they are all getting up to something, so the echoes of the past naughtiness come through! Some of them are dancing, some are on skis with their hands behind their back (the truism that Norwegians are born on skis perhaps!), some are running and others are piled on a sledge, complete with the traditional steering pole (I have no idea what that's called; if you do then please help me out!).
God Jul!