Jul!!!!

This is a very exciting time in Norway with so many traditions of what to eat, drink and to do. It all begins with advent which is celebrated four sundays before Christmas. The christians celebrate advent by lighting a candle(adventsstaken) for every sunday which is a symbolic action signifying joy, hope, longing and peace respectively. Decorations of shops and public places begin around this time. Its amazing to see how Norwegians are crazy about candles which goes beyond the christmas season. I hear that before Norway became a christian country the people celebrated light at midwinters. Therefore use of candles at Christmas is a blending of traditional and christian culture.

The homes also begin to decorate on the first Sunday of December. The common way is to decorate pine trees in the compound. Putting a set of candles at the window and a star. Am not sure of the meaning of these. There is a pine tree right outside our compound. Its typical in Stord where people have big compounds and pine trees to decorate and its so bright and beautiful

I have to mention the rice porridge which is so popular at the advent period. Then there is this tradition where a nut is put in the rice porridge and the person who finds the nut in his or her plate gets a gift. The gift is always masipan and in the area i live its always a pig as shown in the picture below. The rice porridge is not so bad, i did not like it the first time but with several attempts i did not mind it so much.

There is a drink as well called glog and its spicy and drank when hot. This normally accompanies the rice porridge as well as jul brus.

There are numerous products with jul infront of them. Meaning that are specially ment for the Christmas season only. This includes jule brus, jule tea, jule cake, etc. Types of dishes ment for this period in Norway include Lamb, pork and fish. They have local names and the culture is quite strict on what an individual should eat depending on the part of the country they live or come from. In the west coast where i live we eat lamb(pinekjøtt). Unfortunately i did not have the pleasure of eating this because i spent my Christmas with a family that is half Kenyan and half Norwegian so we had a cultural mix. I have to mention the exchange of gifts in Christmas which is a must in eveery home. Norwegians spend millions of kroners on gifts.

I had the pleasure of making paper cake hus(house made from paper cake paper). They are coated with numerous candy and the children are ment to bring the house down after Christmas by eating the house and candy away. It was a great experience getting in touch with the kid within as we made the house and later ate away the candy. Then there is the cookies, ginger bread men that are baked and eaten at this time. Its so many things to eat at this season. The cakes are of so many types that i cannot tell about all of them. Some are with fruits and others with spices. Its amazing to know you can only eat this at Christmas.