U2start.com | General Chat 16

And... it is now the 23rd. I can't believe THE day is tomorrow.

When you say "how much I drank", do you mean alcohol? Oh, I cannot wait for Christmas dinner. The amount of food that is on the table...

Not the 23rd here

What do you mean it's THE day tomorrow? I'm confused. Yes, it's Christmas Eve on the 24th, but you don't get to open presents on that day... do you?

Mr_Trek

13 years

i mean "julmust", a Swedish coke-like drink

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know you live in a retarded country that celebrates on the wrong day.

Here the 24th has the big celebrations.

KieranU2

13 years

So you get to open presents on Christmas Eve, not Day, and celebrate everything too? So what happens on the 25th? A day to recover?

Mr_Trek

13 years

Pretty much. Fooling a round with your presents, taking ut easy, being with relatives (whole family is a big part of the Christmas Eve celebrations, we're gonna be 20 people celebrating on my mothers side).

Mr_Trek

13 years

So yeah, Christmas Eve is the big day with all the fun.

Mr_Trek

13 years

I thought you'd know that... quite a lot of European countries have their main celebrations on the 24th.

Mr_Trek

13 years

Wikipedia has this to say:

"Swedish Christmas celebrations begin with the first of Advent. Saint Lucy's Day (locally known as Luciadagen) which is the first major Christmas celebration before Christmas itself. Electric candles and glowing stars are placed in almost every window in December month in Sweden. Although December 25 (juldagen) is a Swedish public holiday, December 24 is the day when Santa Clause Jultomte (or simply Tomte) brings the presents. Although not a public holiday, Christmas Eve is a de facto holiday in the sense that most workplaces are closed, and those who work, for instance in shops or care homes, get extra wages as a compensation. (See also: Public holidays in Sweden for further explanation of this concept.)

The Jultomte was originally a small invisible Christmas house gnome or dwarf from the Nordic mythology, who watched over the house and its inhabitants. An old superstition still calls for feeding the Tomte on Christmas Eve with a small bowl of porridge. If a bowl of porridge is not laid out for him somewhere in or outside the house, he will bring bad luck to everyone in the house the next year. The modern "Tomten", nowadays is a version of Santa Claus in red cloth and white beard, except that he doesn't enter the house through the chimney, but knocks on the door and asks "finns det några snälla barn här?" ("are there any nice children here?")

Christmas is, as everywhere else, an occasion celebrated with food. Almost all Swedish families celebrate on 24 December with a Christmas table, called Christmas smörgåsbord (julbord), a display of several Christmas food items. Almost all julbord has Christmas ham, (julskinka) accompanied by other Christmas dishes, such as small meatballs, pickled herring, spareribs, small hot dogs, lutfisk, pork sausage, salmon, Janssons frestelse (potato casserole with anchovy), and rice pudding. The Christmas julbord is served with julmust and beverage like mulled wine, Christmas beer or snaps. A Scandinavian speciality is the glögg (mulled and spiced wine with almonds and raisins), which is served hot in small cups. The different dishes of the julbord may vary throughout Sweden, from South to North. Businesses traditionally invite their employees to a julbord dinner or lunch the weeks before Christmas, and people go out privately to restaurants which also customarily offer julbord during December.

Examples of candies and treats associated with Christmas are marzipan, toffee, knäck (quite similar to butterscotch), nuts and fruits: figs, chocolate, dates and oranges decorated with cloves.

Television also plays a big role, many families watch the Disney Christmas special Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar God Jul (From All of Us to All of You), Karl Bertil Jonssons julafton (animated short), or a re-run of the Svensson, Svensson episode God Jul! (Merry Christmas) on the TV channel SVT1.[25]

After the julbord on December 24, the presents are distributed, either by Jultomten or a family member, and usually from a sack or from under the Christmas tree where they have been lying all day or for several days. Many Swedes still adhere to the tradition that each present should have a rhyme written on the wrapping paper, to hint at the contents without revealing them.[26] In older days a yule goat was an alternative to Jultomten, nowadays it is used as an ornament, ranging from sizes of 10 cm to huge constructions like the giant straw Christmas Gävle goat, famous for frequently being vandalised or burnt down. If one has two families to celebrate Christmas with, it is common that one of the families move their celebrations to Christmas Day or the day before Christmas Eve (commonly referred to as little Christmas Eve).

After December 24, the Christmas celebrations have more or less come to an end. Some people attend the julottan, an early morning church service on December 25. This particular service was the main service of Christmas historically—nowadays, the Midnight Mass has become increasingly popular. Others attend a simpler service called Christmas Prayer in the afternoon of Christmas Eve; however, many Swedes do not attend church at all during Christmas as the country is very secular. Even so, most families do set up a Julkrubba (Christmas Crib). On January 13 (locally known as knutdagen or tjugondag knut, English = twentiethday Christmas), 20 days after Christmas, the Christmas celebrations come to an end and all Christmas decorations are removed."

KieranU2

13 years

I didn't. Probably didn't want to hear it as I'm only really interested in when my Christmas is

Mr_Trek

13 years

Well, knowledge about other countries can come in handy, you know.

KieranU2

13 years

I know alot about other countries, of course. Now I know this, so my knowledge has increased in the last 5 minutes.

Mr_Trek

13 years

Good for you