December 2017
Holidays Around the World
Per Jorgelin
I grew up on a pig farm in Sweden, so we normally had a lot of guests coming to us, actually. We had big parties on Easter and Christmas. We did go skiing from time to time in the mountains. And since it was a farm, it’s always active, so my father was normally home doing the farming thing, and I liked to stay with him sometimes because I liked farming. There were a lot of presents at Christmas, but we liked to hide them, so there was a lot of mysticism around that. We’d hide ‘em in our horses’ hay, for example, so that was like a big party, just jumping in there. And normally the adults came as well because that’s the funny part of life. However, it could take, 1, 2, 3 years until we actually found them. So it’s like, “oh my God, there it is!” – which is a good practice. Neighbors joined us, as well as the priests in the village, and other people always showed up, too.
Martin Macauly
My first memory of Christmas is snow, because I grew up in Scotland! We were always so excited because we knew Santa Claus was coming. There were 5 children in our family, so multiply the excitement by 5 and it was pretty crazy! Until I was 8, there was no central heating, so Christmas was always a time of wonderful, roaring fireplaces. We lived on the outskirts of Edenborough in a small village and every Christmas Eve, carol singers would come by dressed up in old medieval clothes with lanterns. I loved it. We would give them meat or mulled wine and then go to bed and wait for Christmas, of course, impossible to sleep. We’d get up in the morning (our parents didn’t let us get up TOO early!), unwrap the presents, have a relaxed breakfast, and then lunch was a serious affair. My mother made the table gorgeous with lots of decorations, special plates and silverware, so it was a real Christmas affair at lunch with roast turkey and roast potatoes. One Christmas, my parents brought a giant cracker back from London, which is a party favor you pull and there’s a little explosion with great little gifts and party favors inside – we couldn’t wait to get at it! Then 20-25 of us – aunts, uncles, cousins – would gather for a meal on New Year’s Day, so that always felt like part of Christmas, too.
Mati Fuller
In Norway, it’s all about family and food! Enormous feasts. We celebrate Christmas on the 24th, and guests spend the night or go home and return the next morning for a 3-hour breakfast. We keep celebrating until the 2nd day after Christmas (12/26), so three days of celebration, hanging out and cooking and eating. Lots of almonds! Baked and raw almond paste, almond pie, thousands of calories! For Christmas we try to get reindeer steak, that’s the best. Otherwise, it’s either wild birds, like pheasants or ptarmigans; or fish, salted or dried. And always lots of cream, butter and eggs – all the things you’re not supposed to eat! We bake elaborate cookies for weeks before Christmas, rolling into pretzels, dipping in eggs, putting sugar on top, etc. We don’t have Halloween, so for New Year’s Eve, we dress up and go trick-or-treating. It's cold and dark and we walk on icy roads knocking on doors. If they don’t give us Christmas cookies, we can do bad things! (laughing) At Christmas, before we get to open our gifts, we have to run around the tree singing songs. When we get dizzy, we go the other way! That helps the food move down a bit, because first we eat, then we run around the tree until we can’t do it anymore, then we get the gifts!
Alisa Severskaya
I grew up in Kazakhstan, Soviet Union until I was 14. New Year’s was the biggest most magical holiday and celebration. Everyone gets 2 weeks off. Religious people celebrate Christmas on the 7th, and we also celebrate New Year’s according to the old calendar, on the 14th. As a little kid, my biggest thing was cleaning the house super good because Ded Moroz (Grandpa Frost) – not Santa Claus – was coming and he’d know where all the dirty spots were, so I’d go back and clean up all the corners I’d slacked on. Grandpa Frost is never alone – he has a granddaughter, Snegurochka (from ‘sneg’ meaning snow).
Educational institutions would put up New Year’s trees and kids dressed up in costumes (forest creatures, snow fairies or icicles) and went to the event, where they received a sack with chocolate, mandarins, and walnuts, which you also get from your family, and you get a present that’s exactly what you wanted, which was proof Grandpa Frost existed! We exchanged presents at midnight on New Year’s, and we wrote a wish on a piece of paper, burned it, stuck it in champagne and had to drink the whole glass with the wish in it before the clock hit 12 for it to come true. Then New Year's day was a super happy day of new beginnings. It’s all about the mood, not presents, but coming together and celebrating. We also played lots of games! And every kid learned a poem to recite at the school function. Now that I think about it, it’s kinda like Halloween, Christmas and New Year’s all in one holiday!
AnnaLouise Stewart
I’m from Denmark where it’s a full time job all of December to celebrate Christmas, and I’m not kidding! It starts December 1st when we get up and light the calendar candle, which we light all the way through til the 24th, and we open a little gift every day, and watch Christmas TV shows throughout the month. There are numerous parties within job situations and families, and parties to make ornaments and cookies. We celebrate Christmas itself the night before Christmas Eve: little Christmas Eve. We actually have 4 Christmases in a way, the main one being the 24th. That day there is a load of things we have to do. One of them is we dance around the Christmas tree and sing. Then we have another party on first Christmas day and on second Christmas day, then that carries into New Year’s, where we have fireworks like you wouldn’t believe. Copenhagen is literally foggy from all the fireworks that night. And of course, lots of drinking! My favorite part growing up was the building up throughout December to the big night, where we cook all day and get dressed up and everyone arrives. Denmark tends to be a bit more formal, which is part of what makes it special, that everybody makes something extra out of the day and how they look. And our dinners can go on for hours. Hours!
Rick Hart
I grew up in Montreal, where my father is from. Quebec culture is mostly descended from France and there is still a strong Catholic following there. The biggest part of Christmas is Midnight Mass and many people celebrate before mass with dinner and presents on the 24th. Some families eat early and even go to bed before awaking and going to Mass. Those who don't open presents before will return home and open them in the wee hours. So I guess in Quebec, we celebrated early. Santa stops there first before visiting the other states and provinces. Quebec, like Vermont, is known for its apples in autumn so there is the unusual addition of fresh hard cider at Quebec Christmas celebrations. If you're used to your cider hot/mulled in winter, this is out of the ordinary. Anyway, enough about Christmases past – I’m looking forward to discovering new traditions in the community of Crestone! A new year's hike up to the snowline followed by a soak at Joyful Journeys sounds pretty good!
