God Jul In All Its Forms

Christmas traditions, like lights strung outside or decorating a tree brought indoors, a child’s photo on Santa’s knee, cups of shared eggnog and the many other Christmas images of sugar plums that dance in our heads are absorbed over a lifetime of easy and repeated encounters.  Our absorption of Swedish Christmas traditions is, on the other hand, a rather abrupt encounter with the unknown. We, however, are doing quite well with God Jul (Merry Christmas) in its many forms here.

Last weekend we walked to nearby Gama Stan (Old Town) and mingled with a multitude of Swedish Yuletide shoppers at the Big Christmas Market on the Square (Stortorgets Julmarknad). This outdoor market fills Stockholm’s oldest town square with traditionally red painted sheds that sell homemade sausages, mustards and jams and other foods and wares to brighten a Swedish home for the holidays.  This square is located right in front of Sweden’s Nobel Museum. 

Nobel Laureates, who were to arrive shortly as part of their Oslo/Stockholm celebratory tour, typically visit the museum before settling into a banquet at Stockholm’s Stadshuset (City Hall).  Save for vans of security personnel and a helicopter whirling in fixed location above the square, these Nobel events were outside our immediate interest. We were focused on purchasing a traditional Christmas Goat.

A julbock or Christmas Goat, we have learned, is one of the oldest Scandinavian and Northern European Yule symbols. Associations with the slaughter of a goat for a Germanic pagan festival or with the pre-Christian legend of the Norse god Thor riding in his sky chariot drawn by two goats have long faded.  The Julbock is now just a Christmas decoration. Christmas goats come in various sizes usually between 6 and 14 inches high, but are universally made of straw.  

Many julbocks appear as Christmas ornaments in shop windows. However, since 1966 the people of Gävle, just north of Stockholm, have tossed proportion to the wind and have erected an enormous straw julbock on the town square. Unfortunately, vandals torching the huge straw goat is another Christmas tradition that accompanies the display. The little straw goat we purchased now stands safe from wandering arsonists on a window shelf. 

In Sweden no journey to Christmas would be complete without a celebration of Lucia.  Kinda surprised us, too.  Celebrated on 13-Dec, Lucia commemorates St. Lucia who was a 4^th century Christian martyr.  The commemoration takes the form of a procession of singers lead by a young girl in a white gown and red sash wearing a crown of lit candles on her head. The candles symbolize the fire that refused to take St. Lucia's life when she was sentenced to be burned.

We didn’t attend the largest Sweden Lucia concert at the Globe Auditorium, but partook in a ceremony sponsored in the World Trade Center building where Jay’s office is located. We sat in appreciation as lovely voices filled the large atrium.  But nothing in our past connected us to the event. Jay’s speculation that many of the Swedes who sat with us were filled with rising childhood emotions was confirmed when his native born Swedish office manager came up to us and remarked, “Oh, tears were just rolling down my cheeks.”  

We learn something new here every day.

We are now in the final preparation for a Christmas party we are hosting at our apartment.  Soon Swedes, Americans and Swedish-Americans will mingle in our home and share good cheer in wonderful traditional holiday spirit that clearly has universal appeal.  God Jul.