SWEDISH CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS t is dark, cold, and snowy in
Sweden in December. The days are short and the nights long.
Families begin the Christmas season by attending church on the
first Sunday of Advent, which is the fourth Sunday before
Christmas. The children count the days from the first day of
December until Christmas with an Advent calendar. Each morning,
they open a flap in the calendar's Christmas scene to see the
charming picture behind it.
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Many families go to the Christmas market in the old medieval
section of Stockholm to buy handmade toys, ornaments, and candy.
Gift-givers like to seal the package with sealing wax and write a
special verse that will accompany the gift. SWEDISH CHRISTMAS
MARKET
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MARKET
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SANTA LUCIA But the Christmas festivities really begin on
December 13 with St. Lucia's Day, which celebrates the patron saint
of light. The eldest daughter gets up before dawn and dresses as
the "Queen of Light" in a long white dress. She wears a crown of
leaves and lighted candles. Singing "Santa Lucia," the Lucia Queen
goes to every bedroom to serve coffee and treats to each member of
the family. The younger children in the family help, too.
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GETTING THE FAMILY TREE The whole family helps to select the
Christmas tree just a day or two before Christmas. Then they use
papier-mache apples, heart- shaped paper baskets filled with
candies, gilded pinecones, small straw goats and pigs, little
Swedish flags, glass ornaments, and small figures of gnomes wearing
red hats to decorate the tree.
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FAMILY CHRISTMAS TREE Swedish Christmas celebrations have long
included a decorated tree, today one of the most obvious symbols of
a traditional Christmas. Photo: Nordiska museet / Ann Lindberg With
the ornaments stored away in boxes and the lights gone from the
corner of the room, the Christmas trees journey is not quite over.
Shortly after tjugondag Knut, local councils arrange for a
city-wide curbside collection of the trees. In Linkping, the tree
is taken to Tekniska Verken, one of several waste management
companies across Sweden, where it is chipped, mixed with other
household waste and fed into a giant furnace. The energy generated
is used to heat 90 percent of Linkpings water and central heating
systems and to drive steam turbines which produce electricity.
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The delightful smells of gingerbread cookies in the shape of
hearts, stars, or goats fill the house. Many families set out a
sheaf of grain on a pole for hungry birds. GINGERBREA D
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SWEDEN LANDMARKS The Stockholm Palace The Dala horse, or
Dalecarlian horse or Dalahst, is a traditional wooden statuette and
toy. I
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Drottningholm Palace
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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. SWEDISH
CHRISTMAS ELF In Sweden the tomtar are an important part of
Christmas. The tomtar are a kind of tiny, benevolent elf or gnome.
There are many holiday songs about them. Heres one called Tomtarnas
Julnatt The Gnomes Christmas Night in both Swedish and English
followed by a YouTube recording of the song. Tomtarnas Julnatt
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CHRISTMAS ELF The Gnomes Christmas Night Midnight reigns, Its
quiet in the houses, Quiet in the houses. Everyone sleeps, The
candles are put out, Candles put out. Tipp, tapp, tipp, tapp,
tippetippetipp tapp! Tipp, tipp, tapp. Look, there comes The gnomes
out from the corners, From the corners, Listning, watching,
Sneaking on their toes, On their toes. Tipp, tapp, tipp, tapp,
tippetippetipp tapp! Tipp, tipp, tapp. Tipp, tapp, tipp, tapp,
tippetippetipp tapp! Tipp, tipp, tapp is the sound of the tomtar
tiptoeing around on their small feet.