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Christmas in the Towns

By Vera Henriksen
With the compliments of
The Royal Norwegian Consulate General, Vancouver, B.C.

In the cities and towns of today people tend to simplify the traditional celebrations. Even so, many of the time-honoured traditions are still upheld.

The gifts are still opened on Christmas Eve and carols are still sung around the tree. The traditional foods, the porridge, the "luteefisk" or ordinary codfish, the various pork dishes and the, "julekake", are still served; but the most complicated pork dishes have most probably been bought readymade, and there is a fair chance that the cakes will have come from a bakery.

However, the custom of paying visits to friends and relatives during the Holiday week is still kept up; and there is also a tradition of Christmas hospitality even to strangers, in keeping with the feeling that nobody ought to be alone and unhappy on Christmas Eve.

Moreover, the foreign visitor who knows what to look for will soon discover that there is still a distinct Norwegian flavour even in those busy preparations for the Holiday in the city streets.

There is, for one thing, the whiteness: not only the whiteness of the snow, but also the white lights used for decorations, so unlike the coloured ones used in many countries. And there are the traditional Christmas dishes and small cakes, the straw decorations and the "nisse" dolls, all prominently displayed in stores. He or she will also find that some of the shop window displays have typically Norwegian themes; the "nisse" sitting in the barn with his bowl of porridge, for instance, or the sheaf of oats full of gaily-coloured birds.

In addition there are, of course, many things that may be seen in other places: the Santa Clauses in the large department stores with their beards and red costumes, the Christmas trees and decorations, the happy and expectant people.

Moreover, if the opportunity presents itself, a visitor to a Norwegian town at Christmas should give him or herself the treat of sampling the Christmas buffet of one of the well-known restaurants. And, if something is to his or her liking, it might be appropriate, to send a grateful thought to those mediaeval ghosts who may well have been responsible for the first Christmas feast.

Christmas in the country • The oldest traditions

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