A little thought at this time of the year.... Since in Swedish the season is called 'jul' and 'God Jul' is what you say.. and no one really feels offended by God Jul since.... it's not a religious thing per se. Let's ignore for a second the pagan thing since most people don't think it is pagan and we're not thinking about the 'blot' (sacrifice at mid winter) - and we are talking about Santa Claus all the time... although, in Sweden we are refering to 'tomten', which is different than the guy in the red suit flying all over the world.
See, we're different. We have these 'tomtar' and 'nissar' who lives under or on top of our old type houses. They take care of the house and the animals, and you want to be friends with them... and if you're not, they can make a mess of things...
All over Sweden right now you'll see these 'straw goats' (halmbockar) which also is part of tradition. You were scared of the 'julbock' before since he came to your door if you had been bad, and took you away (or beat you). So, not coal in a stocking but being abducted ^^
And since most people around me here in the States are "considerate" and say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" (since Christmas is Christian and religious and not everyone likes that), I've replied with "God Jul". They might not know the meaning, but no one can say it's inconsiderate to religious or non-religious people.
As for the rest of this holiday weekend, I am having a lot of "firsts"... I have decided though, that there will be some traditional Swedish 'julmat' a day close by since I really miss the herring, the snaps and the Jansson's temptation.
Next post, Gott Nytt År :)
2 comments:
God Jul till dig ocksa!
I am just now in Slovenia with parents and yes, we also have totally different traditions. For example, our Santa Claus is the original Nikolaus who brought presents already on the night between 5th and 6th of December. Last night it was the "Little Christmas" who brought the presents, sort of similar to your tomte. And there will be the third guy, "Grandfather cold" (copied during the communist times from Russia), who brings presents on New Years's Eve. Which is cool for the kids here, as they now get presents x 3 each December from all three characters. But I've found all this a bit difficult to explain to any English speaking people (even without the correctness as you are experiencing now, it seems), so I sympathise with you.
Hoppas du har en God Jul aven i USA och onskar dig Gott Nytt Ar 2012!
God Jul to you as well. Hope you had a great holiday!
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