в начале было слово. и слово было в творительном падеже
наконец дописала.
статья о рождественских обычаях в северных странах =)))
бахахаха!
много буков и на английскомChrist-mess in Nordic countries
Unlike many countries where the name of this winter holiday is derived from “Christ” or “birthday”, the Nordic countries call the corresponding festivity “Yule” (with some national varieties: “Jul” in Norway, Denmark and Sweden, “Joulu” in Finnish and “Jól“ in Icelandic and Faroese).
The name of the feast has long and tangled roots in Germanic languages, making the meaning of the word obscure. Did it mean “wheel” (hjul) as in the Sun-wheel of winter solstice, did it refer to the midwinter month of Ýlir, or was it, together with the aforementioned month dedicated to the god Odin, also known as Jólnir? Christian authorities, having put Christ’s birthday as the main midwinter festivity, have done their best to eradicate most of the heathen traditions connected with this holiday, leaving nowadays historians with little clue as to the origin of the name and the rituals.
However, some remnants of the heathen celebration are still intertwined with Christian motives: the Nordic notion “Yule goat” might be a reference to Thor, a Germanic god, who notoriously rode a chariot driven by two goats. Paying visits to the dead, leaving some remains of festive dinner for the house spirits and fortune-telling during Christmas are evidences that heathen beliefs are ineradicable.
The Nordic area has always been a set of communicating vessels, hence the similarity of many Christmas traditions. The mass-media from abroad have also contributed to blotting out differences. But before the Nordic countries are subjugated by the uniform Santa, let’s take a look at the national peculiarities of Yule in the North.
Norway: the cosiness of the cottage
For Norwegians, said to born with skies on their feet, a valid Christmas miracle is a thick and moist layer of snow. Many resort to the cosiness of their private cabins (hytte), preferably in the middle of Nor-where, and spend the week sandwiched between Christmas and New Year in exhausting but rewarding sessions of cross-country skiing.
Norwegian fathers have the duty of dressing up as the (heavily Americanized) Julenisse and searching for gift tips in children’s’ letters to him addressed to the city of Drøbak or Svalbard. Kids get some fun of the disguising too; however, this activity, known as “going Yule goat” has become less popular than the same activity for the Halloween.
The typical food is svinneribbe (pork ribs), pinnekjøtt (mutton ribs, cured, dried or smoked) and luttefisk (white fish, usually cod, dried and soaked in soda lye for several days before cooking). The two latter dishes demonstrate the faithfulness of the Norwegians to the ancient conservation methods, despite the availability of fridges and freezers. Children drink julebrus and adults sip the specially brewed Juleøl. A special treat is marzipan pig and the notorious ginger cookies (pepperkaker). A relatively new invention is the chocolate orange, which is only to be bought in Christmas time: it copies a real fruit to the extent that each of the 20 segments has a meticulously designed pattern on it. The tradition is linked to the times before Christmas baubles were introduced and Christmas trees were decorated with fruit, a dangerous venture.
Sweden: the goat prank
In Sweden the “Yule goat” is usually a small straw figurine, ether hanging on a Christmas tree or standing on the floor besides it. Those come in different sizes in IKEA catalogues, along with other straw decorations.
However in a little sleepy town of Gävle the idea was carried to the point of absurdity. Two rivalling teams’ annual efforts to create the biggest straw goat resulted in a Guinness record of 14.9 m (49 ft) in 1993. Since then the goat-herds have lost the spirit of struggle. However, throughout all its history the cloven-hoofed giant has attracted pyromaniacs and vandals. Despite the extreme measures – candid cameras, fireproof and watertight liquids applied on the straw and daily surveillance – the goat’s survival rate is still beyond 50%. The cameras were hacked, the goat has been thrown Molotov cocktails at by assailants (dressed as Santa Claus and gingerbread man), overrun by cars and even made love in. The webcams pointed at the goats are now reason of insomnia for many gamblers who bet on when and whether the goat is to crumble this year.
Another, less illegal, Swedish prank is placing a straw goat in a neighbor’s garden without them noticing that. Historically “going Yule goat” was similar to the Norwegian custom, but ended in symbolical sacrifice of the goat: the person dressed as a goat was “slaughtered” by the rest of the group.
Pork is seen to be the most popular Christmas dish, along with julmust – a drink based on malt, hops and spices, and gløgg – mulled wine with some spirit and spices.
Denmark: pleated hearts
Denmark, due to its proximity to Germany, was the first Nordic country to introduce one of the most common symbols of Christmas. In 1811 the quiet streets of Copenhagen became a stage of an unprecedented event: a family of Lehmans were carrying a freshly chopped spruce right inside the house. Soon the resistance of fire-safety freaks and conservatives was crushed and the tradition caught on elsewhere in Europe. Since then, Danish trees have become an expression of patriotism, boasting a national flag on top and a garland of smaller flags around it. The red and white pattern is also much used in the typically Danish pleated hearts: the rumour has it that the first one was made by H.C. Andersen, author of “The Little Mermaid” and a Christmas tree lobbyist. Hearts were often filled with goodies, designs getting more and more sophisticated with the years. The Danes were also first to introduce a special Christmas stamp (in 1904) in order to support the fight against tuberculosis among children. Nowadays such charity stamps exist in many other countries and are used for broader aims.
Foodwise, good old pork is giving way to eating fowl (geese and ducks) together with boiled and caramelized potatoes. Rice porridge, popular in other Nordic countries is eaten with an almond hidden in it: the person to find it usually receives a marzipan pig. Along with ginger cookies, smaller, tablet-shaped ginger nuts (peppernøder) are popular, a possible loan from the Neitherlands.
Finland: Christmas as a legal practice
Finland boasts to be the home country of the real Santa Claus, Joulupukki (the name gives reference to the Yule goat). Beyond the polar circle, in Lapland on the “Ear mountain” (Korvantunturi) the white-bearded gift-bearer has established himself at home, with an army of elves and gnomes exploited in toy-making industry. Going there is a Mecca for many families: expensive, crowded, with little rational basis.
In Helsinki, families swarm around the main fir-tree whose lower branches are left empty for the children to decorate. Another pastime in Helsinki is examining the Christmas display in the shop windows of Stockman, consisting of numerous mechanical moving elements, a practice which reportedly takes up to two hours.
Except the capital, the little city of Turku plays an important part in Finnish Christmas. There, on December, 24 at noon the declaration of Christmas peace takes place, a tradition dating back to the 16th century. Originally, the declaration functioned as law which came into force on Christmas Eve and lasted for 19 days. Among other things, work and merchandise were banned, along with drinking and other inadequate behaviour. Fire-hazard was one of the points as well: ironically, the text of the law was consumed by the flames at some point and restored thanks to the brilliant memory of the mayor’s secretary.
However, Christmas in Finland starts earlier than December 24. “Little Christmas” or Pikkujoulu is a name for both corporative office parties and house parties, usually organised by women and involving chat and handicraft. Himmeli – hanging straw decorations, made of polygonal segments, is the most typical item to make.
When it comes to food, lutefisk is popular, along with Kalakukko, fish baked inside a loaf of rye bread. Different salads like Rosolli (salad from boiled beetroots, carrots, potatoes, apples and pickled cucumber) and sillisalaati (same with herring) are served together with glögi, a Finnish variant of gløgg.
Iceland: the more the better
Being a kid in Iceland is especially lucrative, since gifts start coming as soon as December 12: starting from that date each evening kids are visited by one of the 13 Yule lads. Besides hurling a present (or a potato, if the kid has been naughty) into a kid’s shoe, each of them has a hobby indicated by their names: Window-peeper, Door-sniffer, Sausage-snatcher. Extremely useful are the three “Lickers” which reportedly take care of all food remnants on pottery and cutlery. Those little whims, however gruesome they might seem, are nothing compared to what their mother, ogress Grýla indulges in: she seasons her Yule stew with a selection of naughty children. Her cat gets to munch on those unfortunate little ones that didn’t get new clothes for Yule (apparently it used to be a good motivation for children to get on with making clothes).
Another Icelandic belief is that the elves move to a new place during Yule night, and if you wait long enough on the crossroads, blocking their way, they might try to bribe you with their riches. The trick is to keep silent until the cock crows; otherwise the elves get the upper hand of you. A tragicomic story illustrates the supremacy of existential items over the prestige ones: a guy who could withstand the glitter of silk and gold, was said to break the silence when a pot of gravy was introduced – and lost everything.
A special Christmas treat from Iceland is a “leaf bread” (laufabrauð
which is dough, rolled to the flatness of paper, decorated with intricate V-shaped cuts and deep-fried in fat. Flour was a delicacy in Iceland for many centuries, hence the economy. The food has similar traits to other Nordic Christmas food and the typical drink is a mix of orangeade and malt drink.
Follow the snow reports in Norway:
www.skiinfo.no
Webcam showing Gävle goat:
www.merjuligavle.se/English/VISIT-GAVLE/THE-CHR...
Danish pleated heart templates:
www.duda.dk/Grundfag/Kristendom/Jul/juleklip/ju...
Make a Finnish glögi:
www.saunalahti.fi/~marian1/gourmet/xmas11.htm
Yule in Iceland:
www.simnet.is/gardarj/yule5.htm
visitmyvatn.dev4.stefna.is/is/gallery/jolasvein...
статья о рождественских обычаях в северных странах =)))
бахахаха!
много буков и на английскомChrist-mess in Nordic countries
Unlike many countries where the name of this winter holiday is derived from “Christ” or “birthday”, the Nordic countries call the corresponding festivity “Yule” (with some national varieties: “Jul” in Norway, Denmark and Sweden, “Joulu” in Finnish and “Jól“ in Icelandic and Faroese).
The name of the feast has long and tangled roots in Germanic languages, making the meaning of the word obscure. Did it mean “wheel” (hjul) as in the Sun-wheel of winter solstice, did it refer to the midwinter month of Ýlir, or was it, together with the aforementioned month dedicated to the god Odin, also known as Jólnir? Christian authorities, having put Christ’s birthday as the main midwinter festivity, have done their best to eradicate most of the heathen traditions connected with this holiday, leaving nowadays historians with little clue as to the origin of the name and the rituals.
However, some remnants of the heathen celebration are still intertwined with Christian motives: the Nordic notion “Yule goat” might be a reference to Thor, a Germanic god, who notoriously rode a chariot driven by two goats. Paying visits to the dead, leaving some remains of festive dinner for the house spirits and fortune-telling during Christmas are evidences that heathen beliefs are ineradicable.
The Nordic area has always been a set of communicating vessels, hence the similarity of many Christmas traditions. The mass-media from abroad have also contributed to blotting out differences. But before the Nordic countries are subjugated by the uniform Santa, let’s take a look at the national peculiarities of Yule in the North.
Norway: the cosiness of the cottage
For Norwegians, said to born with skies on their feet, a valid Christmas miracle is a thick and moist layer of snow. Many resort to the cosiness of their private cabins (hytte), preferably in the middle of Nor-where, and spend the week sandwiched between Christmas and New Year in exhausting but rewarding sessions of cross-country skiing.
Norwegian fathers have the duty of dressing up as the (heavily Americanized) Julenisse and searching for gift tips in children’s’ letters to him addressed to the city of Drøbak or Svalbard. Kids get some fun of the disguising too; however, this activity, known as “going Yule goat” has become less popular than the same activity for the Halloween.
The typical food is svinneribbe (pork ribs), pinnekjøtt (mutton ribs, cured, dried or smoked) and luttefisk (white fish, usually cod, dried and soaked in soda lye for several days before cooking). The two latter dishes demonstrate the faithfulness of the Norwegians to the ancient conservation methods, despite the availability of fridges and freezers. Children drink julebrus and adults sip the specially brewed Juleøl. A special treat is marzipan pig and the notorious ginger cookies (pepperkaker). A relatively new invention is the chocolate orange, which is only to be bought in Christmas time: it copies a real fruit to the extent that each of the 20 segments has a meticulously designed pattern on it. The tradition is linked to the times before Christmas baubles were introduced and Christmas trees were decorated with fruit, a dangerous venture.
Sweden: the goat prank
In Sweden the “Yule goat” is usually a small straw figurine, ether hanging on a Christmas tree or standing on the floor besides it. Those come in different sizes in IKEA catalogues, along with other straw decorations.
However in a little sleepy town of Gävle the idea was carried to the point of absurdity. Two rivalling teams’ annual efforts to create the biggest straw goat resulted in a Guinness record of 14.9 m (49 ft) in 1993. Since then the goat-herds have lost the spirit of struggle. However, throughout all its history the cloven-hoofed giant has attracted pyromaniacs and vandals. Despite the extreme measures – candid cameras, fireproof and watertight liquids applied on the straw and daily surveillance – the goat’s survival rate is still beyond 50%. The cameras were hacked, the goat has been thrown Molotov cocktails at by assailants (dressed as Santa Claus and gingerbread man), overrun by cars and even made love in. The webcams pointed at the goats are now reason of insomnia for many gamblers who bet on when and whether the goat is to crumble this year.
Another, less illegal, Swedish prank is placing a straw goat in a neighbor’s garden without them noticing that. Historically “going Yule goat” was similar to the Norwegian custom, but ended in symbolical sacrifice of the goat: the person dressed as a goat was “slaughtered” by the rest of the group.
Pork is seen to be the most popular Christmas dish, along with julmust – a drink based on malt, hops and spices, and gløgg – mulled wine with some spirit and spices.
Denmark: pleated hearts
Denmark, due to its proximity to Germany, was the first Nordic country to introduce one of the most common symbols of Christmas. In 1811 the quiet streets of Copenhagen became a stage of an unprecedented event: a family of Lehmans were carrying a freshly chopped spruce right inside the house. Soon the resistance of fire-safety freaks and conservatives was crushed and the tradition caught on elsewhere in Europe. Since then, Danish trees have become an expression of patriotism, boasting a national flag on top and a garland of smaller flags around it. The red and white pattern is also much used in the typically Danish pleated hearts: the rumour has it that the first one was made by H.C. Andersen, author of “The Little Mermaid” and a Christmas tree lobbyist. Hearts were often filled with goodies, designs getting more and more sophisticated with the years. The Danes were also first to introduce a special Christmas stamp (in 1904) in order to support the fight against tuberculosis among children. Nowadays such charity stamps exist in many other countries and are used for broader aims.
Foodwise, good old pork is giving way to eating fowl (geese and ducks) together with boiled and caramelized potatoes. Rice porridge, popular in other Nordic countries is eaten with an almond hidden in it: the person to find it usually receives a marzipan pig. Along with ginger cookies, smaller, tablet-shaped ginger nuts (peppernøder) are popular, a possible loan from the Neitherlands.
Finland: Christmas as a legal practice
Finland boasts to be the home country of the real Santa Claus, Joulupukki (the name gives reference to the Yule goat). Beyond the polar circle, in Lapland on the “Ear mountain” (Korvantunturi) the white-bearded gift-bearer has established himself at home, with an army of elves and gnomes exploited in toy-making industry. Going there is a Mecca for many families: expensive, crowded, with little rational basis.
In Helsinki, families swarm around the main fir-tree whose lower branches are left empty for the children to decorate. Another pastime in Helsinki is examining the Christmas display in the shop windows of Stockman, consisting of numerous mechanical moving elements, a practice which reportedly takes up to two hours.
Except the capital, the little city of Turku plays an important part in Finnish Christmas. There, on December, 24 at noon the declaration of Christmas peace takes place, a tradition dating back to the 16th century. Originally, the declaration functioned as law which came into force on Christmas Eve and lasted for 19 days. Among other things, work and merchandise were banned, along with drinking and other inadequate behaviour. Fire-hazard was one of the points as well: ironically, the text of the law was consumed by the flames at some point and restored thanks to the brilliant memory of the mayor’s secretary.
However, Christmas in Finland starts earlier than December 24. “Little Christmas” or Pikkujoulu is a name for both corporative office parties and house parties, usually organised by women and involving chat and handicraft. Himmeli – hanging straw decorations, made of polygonal segments, is the most typical item to make.
When it comes to food, lutefisk is popular, along with Kalakukko, fish baked inside a loaf of rye bread. Different salads like Rosolli (salad from boiled beetroots, carrots, potatoes, apples and pickled cucumber) and sillisalaati (same with herring) are served together with glögi, a Finnish variant of gløgg.
Iceland: the more the better
Being a kid in Iceland is especially lucrative, since gifts start coming as soon as December 12: starting from that date each evening kids are visited by one of the 13 Yule lads. Besides hurling a present (or a potato, if the kid has been naughty) into a kid’s shoe, each of them has a hobby indicated by their names: Window-peeper, Door-sniffer, Sausage-snatcher. Extremely useful are the three “Lickers” which reportedly take care of all food remnants on pottery and cutlery. Those little whims, however gruesome they might seem, are nothing compared to what their mother, ogress Grýla indulges in: she seasons her Yule stew with a selection of naughty children. Her cat gets to munch on those unfortunate little ones that didn’t get new clothes for Yule (apparently it used to be a good motivation for children to get on with making clothes).
Another Icelandic belief is that the elves move to a new place during Yule night, and if you wait long enough on the crossroads, blocking their way, they might try to bribe you with their riches. The trick is to keep silent until the cock crows; otherwise the elves get the upper hand of you. A tragicomic story illustrates the supremacy of existential items over the prestige ones: a guy who could withstand the glitter of silk and gold, was said to break the silence when a pot of gravy was introduced – and lost everything.
A special Christmas treat from Iceland is a “leaf bread” (laufabrauð
which is dough, rolled to the flatness of paper, decorated with intricate V-shaped cuts and deep-fried in fat. Flour was a delicacy in Iceland for many centuries, hence the economy. The food has similar traits to other Nordic Christmas food and the typical drink is a mix of orangeade and malt drink. Follow the snow reports in Norway:
www.skiinfo.no
Webcam showing Gävle goat:
www.merjuligavle.se/English/VISIT-GAVLE/THE-CHR...
Danish pleated heart templates:
www.duda.dk/Grundfag/Kristendom/Jul/juleklip/ju...
Make a Finnish glögi:
www.saunalahti.fi/~marian1/gourmet/xmas11.htm
Yule in Iceland:
www.simnet.is/gardarj/yule5.htm
visitmyvatn.dev4.stefna.is/is/gallery/jolasvein...