Christmas Eve in Norway is the big kick-off celebration to the Christmas season. Christmas Day is the official First Day of Christmas. Norwegians think Americans are crazy to try and celebrate Christmas the whole month of December with parties and gatherings, since it’s also the same time we are preparing for it. Norwegians prepare the whole month, then don’t start the festivities until Christmas Eve. The celebrations go right on through the Twelve Days of Christmas, so that by January 6th, the party is over and life is back to normal. Personally, I like their system much better.
Often, on the First Day of Christmas, people just eat leftovers from the big dinner the night before and “slappe av” (relax). Everyone thinks the food tastes better the second day (except me – who didn’t like it much the first day, either.) Families enjoy just hanging out at home and sometime during the day it’s certain they will take a leisurely walk in the neighborhood or up in the mountains.
The Second Day of Christmas is an official holiday also, so no one has to work and all the stores are closed. For those families with more than one location to visit, having many days called “Christmas” takes a lot of stress out of this time of year. Most businesses are closed completely during Christmas week, but if they are open, it’s just for a few hours (including grocery stores.)
Norwegians have certain traditions around New Year’s Eve (The Sixth Day of Christmas) as much as they do for Christmas Eve. The exact same food is served because it’s only available that time of year, so they eat it as often as they can. It’s also another day to dress formally, even if they are just staying home. And at the stroke of midnight, fireworks go off. It’s the only time of year they are allowed.
The King gives a speech on New Year’s Eve and everyone anxiously gathers around the TV to watch it. On New Year’s Day, the Prime Minister delivers a speech. Not as many people care about that one, so the government allowed a gambling scheme to be set up to get people more interested. Any adult citizen can go on-line and place wagers on exactly which words might be included in the Prime Minister’s speech. The year we lived there, the obvious words like “crisis” or “America” had very low odds, but some out of the blue words, if predicted, then used in the speech, could pay huge dividends. It certainly makes listening to politicians more exciting. Why didn’t we think of that?
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