Did your family or friends also celebrate other traditions during the holidays such as Hanukkah or Kwanzaa? Did your immigrant ancestors have holiday traditions from their native country which they retained or perhaps abandoned?
My family hasn't celebrated anything but Christmas this time of year, and I don't recall any stories about the holiday traditions of our ancestors. Nobody really talks about the ancestors, holidays or no.
But today's writing prompt reminded me of my Norwegian cousin Johnny's comment earlier this week. (Johnny is my 5th cousin once removed--and you geneablog readers are the only people who will read that sentence and think "Hmmm, yes, of course, your 5th cousin once removed, naturally!") I had posted pictures on Facebook of my husband and daughter decorating the Christmas tree, but Johnny teased me, saying that the tree shouldn't be decorated until "lillejulaften" (Little Christmas Eve, the 23rd of December). They leave the tree up until January 13, he says, while I almost always pack up our Christmas decorations on New Year's Eve. I wonder if my ancestors did the same.
As much as I love Norway, I'm all-American in this case. I like to have time to enjoy the Christmas tree before Christmas, because it puts me in the spirit!
2 comments:
I'm with you on getting that tree up - we do it as early as possible after Thanksgiving. However, we don't take it down until after 7 January (our daughter's birthday and Orthodox Christmas).
My father is from Norway, and we have always done the Norwegian Christmas (from his part of Norway, anyway). In Norway, presents are always opened on Christmas eve. We always have a pork roast, potatoes, sour krout, ligonberries. For dessert we have cloudberries on whipped cream with rice in it. Cloudberries grow wild in Scandinavia and can't be cultivated. They are hand-picked, so they can be pricey if you find them. Look in a gourmet store. They are super-sweet. Oh, and you HAVE to have a Kringler or Julekake, too, or else it isn't Christmas. It's cardamon bread with raisins and sometimes with candied pieces. Hmmm, maybe I should post some of this on my blog. I do have a Kringler recipe on there-- I think I posted it last month. Well, Merry Christmas! Astrid.
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