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!
Even in my 42 years the Santa figure has changed here in Finland. When I was a kid, the version from older times was still used occasionally. He was clad in grey or black wadmal and hence totally different from today's jolly fat Coca Cola Santa with red clothes. Even the word has changed in Swedish from julbocken to jultomten. One generation earlier the Santa was actually a scary figure. Kids who knew they hadn't been good all the time were afraid of him.
ReplyDeleteGod Jul!
Hi Peter! It sounds as if the nisse figure has a lot of similarities throughout Scandinavia. The North Sea seems to have been a very effective cultural barrier to its spread. I'm still in the early days of absorbing a culture so while I thought it was also called tomtenisse here, after a quick google it seems that apparently tomte is Swedish. I could be mistaken. I do love to discover more about where I live - deeper cultural beliefs and superstitions are so interesting!
ReplyDeleteHyvää Joulua!
Yes, there are many similarities between the countries. Finland is a little different, having had influences both from east and west, but the 600 years as a part of Sweden (until 1809) has brought a lot of the traditions from Sweden/Norway/Denmark here. I'm not really sure how or if the word tomtenisse is used in Norwegian, but in Swedish it refers to the Santa's helpers and not to Santa himself. The Finnish words joulupukki and tonttu are probably direct loans from the Swedish julbock and tomte.
ReplyDeleteIt's sort of shame that traditions are becoming weaker, being replaced by the commercial variants mainly originating from the US, but on the other hands traditions have always been changing.
Merry Christmas!.
I love our nisseservise! and I love how warm and cozy our home is now with all the christmas decorations - we´ll implode from koseligness for sure!
ReplyDelete