Christmas Season in Europe stretches well over a month, not to
extend the shopping season, however to fit in the many holy days and
festivities.
First comes advent, beginning four Sundays before Christmas Eve.
Subsequent up is the feast of St. Nicholas, celebrated more often than not in
Catholic countries on December 6.
For many Europeans, the season’s foremost event is Christmas
Eve, celebrated with nighttime Mass and a grand meal. Others focus more on
Christmas Day and present-giving. The “Twelve Days of Christmas” stretch from
December 25 until January 6, which is Epiphany, the day the 3 Kings delivered
their gifts. Then the season goes into hibernation until next year.
At the same time as there are numerous top notch European
Christmas traditions, here are a few from three countries: Norway, France, and
England.
Norway
Christmas in Norway, especially since the appearance of
electricity, is a festival of light—a promise of longer days and the return of
the sun. Norwegians want a lift all through those weeks when high noon feels
like twilight and its dark through 4 p.m.
An excessive-“light” of the season is December 13, the feast day
of Santa Lucia, the “Queen of lights”—a way of life which started in Sweden.
Lucia became a fourth-century Sicilian saint who (legend says) helped
persecuted Christians hiding in tunnels. To manual them, she wore a wreath with
candles on her head. In the Scandinavian model, a young girl born of rich and
noble parents went from one farm to the next, wearing a white robe with a
crimson sash. To mild her manner, she wore a crown of lingonberry twigs with
blazing candles and carried a torch, as she brought baked goods to every
residence.
Today Santa Lucia Day is well known in Norway and Sweden in
family gatherings, church buildings, schools, day-care centers, nursing homes,
and hospitals. It begins with a procession of women led by using one dressed
because the “Lussibrud,” carrying a white robe and a crown of lights. The girls
carry baskets of saffron buns, referred to as Lussekattor, handy out.
France
Food is at the center of existence in France, even in the dead
of winter. The most predicted culinary event of the year is Le Reveillon de
Noël, the Christmas Eve feast. Reveillon literally means an “awakening.” In a
symbolic sense, the Reveillon is a sort of spiritual and edible wake-up call.
Like most French dinners, it’s a multi-course affair lasting
hours. Every region of France proudly serves its very own unique dishes for the
Reveillon, reflecting local ingredients and delicacies. In Paris, the meal
kicks off with raw oysters. Every other popular appetizer at some point of
France—and a specialty of Alsace—is foie gras. In Brittany, locals enjoy
buckwheat desserts and sour cream. In Provence, people share special Christmas
bread; after giving half of it to a negative man or woman, they eat the
relaxation.
The Reveillon builds to the dessert, a cake known as Bûche de
Noël (xmas Log). This rolled sponge cake is covered with bark (chocolate
butter-cream frosting), mushrooms (cocoa-dusted meringue), and holly leaves
(almond paste), all sprinkled with powdered-sugar snow.
England
Despite the onslaught of american-style commercialism, the
English these days celebrate Christmas with a few of the same traditions
enjoyed by the Elizabethans and Victorians. Youngsters stay the point of
interest. They help pick and enhance the tree (frequently with ornaments
they’ve made themselves), sing heartily at church concerts, and act like
“perfect angels” in Nativity plays. A few send letters to Father Christmas (or
Santa), telling him what they need for Christmas. A few messages may go via
e-mail, but the traditional manner is to throw actual letters into the back of
the fire. The draft carries them up the chimney to Father Christmas.
On Christmas Day, children love Christmas crackers—but they’re
not something to eat. In 1846, a clever English shop-owner took a strip of
paper impregnated with chemicals which, while rubbed, created sufficient
friction to produce a pop. He tucked it inside a colored paper wrapper and
crammed the wrapper with candy, tiny toys, and love notes. His “Christmas
cracker” has become a sensation. These days, just as in Victorian times,
children break open these wrapped paper tubes, and crack! Toys, candy, and
surprises spill out.
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