Samme i Norge også. I tillegg til "Tre nøtter til Askepott" og "Reisen til julestjernen". 23. desember er det "kvelden før kvelden" med "Grevinnen og hovmesteren"🎅
The Donald Duck thing is so true! I had a Swedish exchange student in 2018 and she made us look it up on TH-cam and watch it. She was also sad she had to wait until dec 25th to open presents so we let her open her stocking on the 24th
In my family in Sweden we never had christmas stockings..when I was a child my mother gave me and my siblings one christmasgift under the bed on christmaseve and then around 6 pm we got the rest of our christmas gifts 😉 Thank you for the lovely video 💗🎄 kram
We didn't have stockings either, but we didn't get any morning gifts. All gifts came with santa in the evening after Kalle Anka, julbord and porrige. My parrents and another family swapped santas with each other so one went to one house and the other went to the other. So noone was gone when santa came.
Thank you for sharing. I learned a lot from both of you and I love the stories that you're both told about Christmas and Santa and Donald Duck and porridge,...
What about the day before christmas eve, when so many swedes spends their evening preparing the ham, decorating the christmas tree, and playing Bingolotto (bingo). Well that's a part of my traditon:) Love it!
Hello! My Swedish girlfriend is trying to teach me and my British family the Swedish “snapsvisa” ‘Hej Tomtegubbar..’. She thinks it sounds hilarious but we’re learning... slowly hahaha , maybe you should try and teach Lauren in one of your videos? 😂😁 Love your content xx GOD JUL OCH GOTT NYTT ÅR!! ❤️❤️
In Norway, we make rice porridge and hide an almond in it. The whole family search for it in their bowls, and the one who finds it in their own bowl gets a prize (like a marzipan pig, or some candy like a chocolate santa, or even a small gift). Also, when it's time for presents we are really excited, but we don't just go crazy and open everything. We like to take our time and notice the stuff our family members get as well :-) When it comes to television, it's tradition to watch "Tre Nøtter til Askepott" which is an Eastern European production about a girl which is sort of Cinderella and she gets 3 wishes. It's very cute and from the 70's. We also watch Disney - Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck things. Then we might watch a Norwegian film also from the 1970's which is called "Reisen til Julestjernen" - journey to the Christmas Star in English. It's supposed to be in the Medieval ages and it's about a princess who wants to find the Christmas Star and she gets lost. It's a very nice and emotional film :-) I wish you all a merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!
I've learned that you put out the porridge for the gnomes, to be on good terms with them so they'll take care of your land. Kinda like trick or treat but with spirits and the trick is a bad year. But maybe the tradition is different in different parts of Sweden
Yeah, it was really important to stay on their good side. They helped out with the animals as well, and lots of other things. One of my favourite stories about the gnomes and Christmas is about a family that tried to play a little prank on their gnome. On the porridge you left out for them you were supposed to put a dollop of butter (Because fat=luxury back in those days), but the family for a laugh put the butter in the bottom of the bowl instead one year. Bad idea. When the gnome came for his porridge and saw no butter on it, he immediately went out to the barn and killed their best cow. Then he came back and ate his porridge. As he came to the bottom of the bowl and realized the prank they pulled, he felt bad about the whole situation. So he went out and got a new cow for the family, but left the dead one as a reminder not to mess about like that again. These gnomes were not the jolly kind, in fact they were known to be quite cranky...
I think the lore here is that the gnomes actually took care of the farm animals throughout the year (and thus why he lived in the barn). And if you did not give him a meal on Christmas eve - he would not take care of the animals or even make them sick or kill them.
There's two things I would add in our Swedish tradition: 1.The importance of light and candles. It's like pitch black from 3 pm in Stockholm and from 1 pm in the north. I think that's why we light a candle every Sunday (and not only in church). We also put up a special light in our windows, we call it "adventsljustake" (electric lights, images here: tinyurl.com/adventsljusstake). I would also guess this is a part of why the Lucia tradition is such a big thing here. Just imagine a winter landscape in a total darkness and there comes a choir, walking in white dresses with candles in their hands (and Lucia in front with a crown of candles) singing and - bringing us light -. Incredible beautiful. Another great thing with in Sweden is our classic fika, which goes to another lever during December. We have special christmas pastries that we only eat during this time of year. Lussebullar (saffron buns) and pepparkakor (ginger bread cookies) is two examples and we drink mulled wine. Very hygge ;)
I just loveee your culture. I lived there for a few years and it warms my heart when I read your words and remember those beautiful sightings. I love your food too! But I am worried about the change of this beautiful culture due to increasing numbers of migrants who just don't want to follow and accept Swedish culture... They want to keep their own and someday suppress the original one... I am just so sad when I think about that...
The idea of our "culture being changed" is not a realistic analysis of "our situation". I can maybe give you some comfort in the fact that our midsummer traditions are intact! Swedes (and migrants) still eat our pickled herring and dance around the midsummer pole pretending we are frogs without ears (but we DO have tails!). I promise, we are A-OK over here! So please, don't be sad when you think of Sweden. I would rather see you putting that energy in to thinking of all the people who suffers from war. It's a million times more sad to think of all the people and children who have two choices in life: to stay in a war zone and see everything/everyone you love get killed/destroyed or to jump in a small boat with no saftey and try to get a cross a big ocean with no certainty of knowing if you and your kids will survive it. Have a nice day! Love from a Swede (who are totally fine and don't need you to worry)
It's so cool that you have the Lucia day! It's actually my name haha and we have this holiday in Slovakia, where I come from, too. The girls get dressed in white and go from house to house and they sweep the dust from the corners of the rooms. It's for swiping away the bad luck and to bring health to the household. But nowadays it's only done in countryside.
Don't forget that in sweden the Santa often hands the gifts over, while looking the children deep in their eyes, and asking very seriously if they have been good or bad, and the children have to say yes, I've been good to get the gift, not knowing IF Santa will agree on that... 😱😜😂
Swedish and Danish Christmas traditions are quite similar. If I remember correctly, the 26. of December is a big day in the US for a lot of American football games. Christmas is called Jul in all three Scandinavian languages. It was originally a pre-Christian winter solstice tradition of celebrating the return of the sun and involved plenty of food and lots of mjød, an ancient alcoholic beverage. Since the Church fathers couldn’t get the Scandinavian Vikings to use the word Kristmesse - Mass for Christ, they just ended up with accepting the pagan solstice ritual. If you can’t beat them, then join them. 🤣
Wheel (hjul) of the seasons or the year goes around, so now we´re on our way up again to the light (ljus). And like Jesus.. it´s probably also from the middle east, like measure time
Well.. all the nordic countrys use it. And the Danes did trade with the people along the finish bay . But why copy a word from there then? people have celebratad it for centuries.
I ´m with you Caroline however i would like to know if it has anything to do with the Celts and the rock circles (before the Roman expansion) though the boats are much younger here.
In Finland santa doesn't come from North Pole. Santa come from Korvatunturi and Korvatunturi is real place in Finland. And it's funny we call santa in finnish "joulupukki" which means christmas goat in english.
It's funny, but its not wrong! Before us Scandinavians/northerners adapted the idea of Santa people dressed up as goats instead of Santa :) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule_Goat
Speaking of the Christmas goat, you should check out the Christmas goat in Gävle, it's a huge goat, and a lot of the years it has been burned down, so there is always this "Will the Christmas goat survive until Christmas?"-worry/curiousity each year. It even has it's own insta accont gavlebocken.
I remembered that we had advent calendars instead of stockings. So we got a small gift every day until Christmas and we also had chocolate calendars.. oh and when you're a kid "Julkalendern" is a must to watch, a TV show which is only around 15 minutes every morning like a countdown to christmas and it's different every year
Probably the most notable difference is that in USA Christmas starts after Halloween with absurd amounts of tacky multicolored flashy lights, and by the time you get to the 26th, the trees come down. In Norway, it's much much more subtle and it's traditional to put the tree up and decorate it on the 23rd and have it up until early January. We also don't have mingy manges everywhere.
Have you introduced Lauren to Sagan om Karl-Bertil Jonssons julafton? I personally didn't grow up watching it, but watching it as an adult I think it gives us a window to the swedish christmas culture and why it might differ from, for example, american christmas culture. God jul and thank you for this funny and wholesome video!
"Ska du lukta på glöggen, pojke?" 🤣 That voice! That way he tells the story! Tage Danielsson, RIP! We miss you (and Hasse Alfredsson) (I can't hear about Tage without thinking of Karl-Bertil Jonsson AND that monologue about "Sannolikt", "I dag lär vi inte våra barn att tala sanningen, nej nu lär vi dem att tala SANNOLIKT." Etc...) ("Jag har närt en kommunist vid min barm!" 🤣 🤣 🤣)
Barbie/Let's move on. ... . ohhhh man thanks for the ab workout there. I can't believe you didn't mention lutefisk! (bleeehhhhh, not my favorite invention but very christmas) glögg, peparkakor, and lussekatter! Also, christmas curtains, SOOO Swedish. For me the one huge difference style wise is how much nature is central to the Swedish celebrations. It's all about the light, (candles, advent stars/other window decor) the hyacinths, amarylis, moss, pinecones, vitmossa etc etc etc.
Don't forget the liver pate, pickled herring, princekörv, turnip casserole and plain boiled potatoes. I really don't like the Julbord much. Most things are cold, or are cold by the time you eat them. The ham and Salmon are good.
EXCELLENT VIDEO!!! My mother's parents are from Sweden and my father's parents are from Germany, so we alternate traditions each year between them with American traditions added into the mix. So, Merry Christmas, God Yul, and Fröhliche Weihnachten to you.
We never put porridge out for Santa, but I think that's because of Tjorven. I hated porridge, just like Tjorven, when I was a kid, and I never ever wanted to leave poor old Santa this bowl of cold porridge :P Also, we never had stockings, until now, when I'm an adult. One thing I think is significant here though (maybe elsewhere too..?) Is the Chokladkalender. The little calendar with 24 small chocolate pieces in, one for each day of December leading up to Christmas! Oh, and Julkalendern. Every year we have a different "TV-show" that runs from the 1st of December to the 24th, filled with Christmas Spirit and mystery and just awesomeness (it's mainly for kids, but I always watch them. It's tradition!).
in norway I heard of several thet had stockings as kids in the 80's. Leaving porridge out was mostly common here where people had farms. It was left out, not for santa, but for the little tomte/nisse/gnome that took care of the animals on the farm all year
As an ”american” living in Sweden (born in the US, lived most of my life in Sweden), I have noticed a big difference in how we celebrate Christmas Swedes versa Americans (my families). My Swedish family is more about “close family and same traditions year after year. My US family is more “open house” and not as “strict” about doing it the same year after year. This also includes the food 🤪. The Swedish Christmas Smorgasbord (smörgåsbord) is basically the same every year (and we also have it for Easter, and part of it for Midsummer). About the Christmas stockings. In Sweden this is a fairly new tradition, taken from the US and Great Britain. With that said,, I love celebrating Christmas in both countries, as long as I am with my loved ones.
Why are all our swedish traditions so weird?! Trying to explain any holiday or celebration leaves me laughing and once again realise we are just the weirdest group of people. I mean... Speaking of Lucia, the red band represent blood and death. All these little kids walking around with (symbolic) blood around their waist? Very uplifting 😂
Yes! The cutest! 😍 I love Luciafirande! Just find it funny with all the morbid stuff in our traditions. 😅 (Also, better safe than sorry: you know you should put a little bit of butter on the porridge for the house gnomes, right? There's a tale about a gnome that was so disappointed about not getting the butter that he killed the best cow in the stable. When he got back to eat the porridge he realised the butter was there, it was just melted. So he quickly replaced the cow with the neighbours best cow 💁🏻😂)
Well, we also get some inspiration from paganism and norse mythology, so our traditions are a bit darker and not as strictly religious as american traditions.
Giving Santa Claus hard liquor!? Now we know how grandma got ran over by a reindeer. Can you imagine visiting every house in Sweden and getting a shot of hard liquor and then driving. Party Santa! Shot! Shot! Shot! 😂
You all need to remember that the tradition is different, depends in region, families etc… Me and my family doesn't have stockings.. You should have talk about our food, thats ALOT of Food!
In the USA lots of more secular families that do not have little kids open presents on Christmas Eve so they can sleep in, or because we've got extended family to go visit on Christmas. We watch It's a Wonderful Life every year.
The Disney/Donald duck tradition in Sweden roots from a time (before 1985) when there hardly was any Disney broadcasted, so Swedes and their kids were starving Disney content. Thats my take on it. In later years they have changed the last bit to promote newer Disney productions. Many adults fall asleep during this as it's a break from all the Christmas work lol.
Jul is not a christian tradition in Sweden. It's an old pagan festival to celebrate Odin (father of the Norse gods), who's also called Father Yule. He used to fly above the land on his eight-legged horse Sleipnir with his two helpers (two black crows called Hugin and Munin) who told him about who'd been naughty and who'd been nice so he knew which households to bless. Odin was commonly depicted as an old man with a long white beard dressed in simple gray robes, hence the gray "santa" you're holding in this video. The Dutch then took this tradition and the image of Odin but changed his two black crows into two black human helpers. Coca Cola then took that image and made him into what we think of as the modern Santa: big white beard in a red hat and red robes, and turned his eight-legged horse into a sled pulled by eight reindeer. The reason why we eat christmas ham (julskinka) instead of turkey is because it represents a pig that lives in the halls of Valhalla named Särimner. It's a pig that you can butcher and eat every night and he'll be resurrected the morning after, which is also why food was - and is - such a big deal when celebrating christmas. Särimner represents the belief that no one ever has to go hungry in Valhalla. The straw "julbock" (christmas goat) that we have a ton of as well are representations of Thor's rams Tanngrisni ("gap-tooth") and Tanngnost ("tooth grinder") who pulled his chariot across the sky. So in conclusion, christmas in Scandinavia is called "jul" because it has nothing to do with christianity. Incidentally, it's also why the birth of christ doesn't match up with the bible. The church moved the celebration of christ's birth to coincide with the jul celebrations because they wanted to make it easier for the vikings to adopt their new religion.
In my family here in sweden we also watch when they celebrate the 200+ years of peace between Sweden and Finland. Just to 'slay' (as yo called it) just little. It's for the house gnome who you put porridge out, not santa. If you don't the gnome won't take care of your house so cattle will die, crops won't grow etc. I mean it as a friendly comment ;)
I'm an American who's totally with you on the commercializations of gift giving. I make all my gifts for my giant extended family each year. I work myself to death every year making sure they're beautiful and special for each person. Though, the youngest person in our family is 31. Children usually get really excited about store bought gifts.
underbar video, as always! ni är bäst meeen luciatraditionen det är ju mer än bara helgonet! det är ju som en blandning av gamla svenska traditioner och inslag från italienska Lucia! finns sjukt intressant läsning om det om man vill, mvh världens lucianörd hehe
So love this!I loved reading the responses.We grew up very poor.The four of us kids got to open one present on Christmas Eve.It was always new pajamas hehe.We so loved them.The new smell,the pretty colors.We wore them until they were no longer wearable haha.I carry that tradition on now with my family that now includes my grandchildren that are not growing up poor.They love it.We take a family picture of us all in our new jammies on Christmas Eve hehe.I agree that here in the US it has become very burdensome money wise and it can be very sad for many of very little means.It takes very little to create a beautiful Christmas.Love,laughter, gathering with family we don't always get to see.The little cousins playing together and stomping the hardwood floor with loud laughter.The elders looking upon the traces they will eventually leave behind as their legacy..It is the the most favorite time of my year.*raises a glass of whiskey*haha Thank you for the chat baby girls!⛄loved it!
once my uncle said “I’m going out to get the newspaper”. Everyone knew he would come back as santa but he came back before santa! We’ve had the same santa for years now and I still don’t know who he is...
That seems so sweet. Often I go to my church's prayer service on Christmas Eve, but this year (since Christmas was on a Monday), I went to church early Christmas morning through the sleet (and during the snow). It's Boston. And afterward, we did gifts and left for a family dinner at my uncle's.
Is the Donald Duck cartoon traditional because of the Carl Barks duck comics (Scrooge, Donald, the nephews, etc.) being published nearby in Copenhagen-based Egmont?
When I grew up a long long time ago, in the 50s, in a place far away, New Orleans, we had a Christmas party on December 24th night at a friend's house where families came who were friends for generations and new families of new friends too. During the party, fathers would leave separately to do the Santa thing at their homes and come back to the party. The kids mainly played outside unless it was raining. We were also allowed to have small alcoholic beverages from small glasses about one fourth the size of a shot glass. Mainly brightly colored sweet liqueurs like Creme de Menthe, Creme de Cacao and something that was red that I can't remember. When everyone went home, way after midnight, 2 or 3am, Santa had come and our toys were under the tree. Except for the kids who lived at the party house. Santa waited until they passed out and their gifts were waiting when they woke up. Thank you girls and I hope you had a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year. You have Swedish new years?
Loved the vid. Girl with curly hair OMG. Not slatting you but neither of you said what Christmas is really about. And yes in UK its now to commercialised as well. Happy Christmas to you and yours when it comes.
Lisa you keep me laughing Button your facial expressions crack me up when Lisa makes her jokes.I agree Christmas has become so commercialized in the United States. Being born and raised here I love how my mom always kept the true meaning of Christmas alive in our family. We celebrate Advent and Boxing the holiday the day after Christmas. Many peace and blessings to you both h this holiday season and the New Year to come. * I just realized my autocorrect called your wife my bestie name Lauren 😂😂😂
Thank you for making this video. My husband is half Swedish, but grew up here in America. Now that we have kids I am looking for ways to teach them about their heritage, but he only knows American Christmas traditions. His grandmother has Swedish decorations and traditions, but it's hard to get her to talk about them. This video is very helpful!
Great video! I agree so much with your comments of the commercialization of Xmas in America. The real reason for it gets lost in all of it. And unfortunately you see the worst come out in some people when it should be there very best. I love giving to the less fortunate at this time of year. Presents for the children, groceries for the family so they can be together and have a Merry Christmas. And I hope the two of you have a very Merry Christmas and thank you for all you do. I really enjoy the letter y'all send out every week.
Hygge is also in norwegian, just saying! ;) In Norway we celebrate pretty similar to Sweeden, except not the donald part.. We watch "Tre nøtter til Askepott"! It's a story about cinderella in the Sovjet union or something, dubbed in norwegian, and it's on our main channel on TV every christmas! Is that normal in other countries?
That's definitely not a thing in Sweden, we've just got Kalle Ankas Jul and a few other movies afterwards. Also, don't you Norwegians have a play about a Christmas star?
A little late, but some small corrections: "Tre nøtter til Askepott" is not from the Sovjet union but from Czechoslovakia (made in the communist era). NRK broadcasts the same Disney-compilation as in Sweden and has done so since 1979. In 2012 NRK and Disney couldn't reach an agreement about the price and NRK decided not to send it. It sparked anger and outrage in the media. It was almost like NRK turned into the Grinch and tried to steal our christmas. Later that year under large pressure they reached an agreement and renewed the license to send it.
A few comments on Swedish Christmas: 1. The status of Donald Duck comes from the very, very socialist times we had in the 1970s and 80s. Disney was popular but banned in the state TV channels as it was "commercial" (a word that was used as an insult in those days). Normal childrens programs would show Bulgarian doll movies or things like that. The _only_ time in the whole year that anything from Disney was shown was one hour on Christmas Eve. In those days we only had 2 TV channels so everyone, starved for what they wanted to see in children's programs, watched it and it became a tradition amongst those who lived then. The younger generation today, used to a multitude of TV channels with Disney shows anytime, don't understand what the big hype is all about. 2. We celebrate on Christmas Eve as the tradition in Germanic countries was that a day ended when the church bells rang for evening service, around 6 o'clock. Then the new day started, not at midnight as we count it today. So Christmas day started on the evening of Christmas Eve and thus we, the Germans and some others in NE Europe celebrate on that day. 3. A Christmas table is certainly not only something you get at the restaurant! We make our own at home and in our family it usually consists of 4 types of herring, eggs, home made hard bread, cured salmon ("gravlax"), salmon made in the oven, a big ham (lightly smoked), a meat paté, smoked meat, e.g. mutton, a few types of sausages, hot meatballs, "Jansson's frestelse" (potatoes, onion and anchovis with just enough milk to cook the potatoes made in the oven), ribs, hot small sausages and then 3-4 types of cheese and ginger bread for dessert and probably a few more things I have forgotten. Somehow we manage to get full. It must be the beer and shots of spirits we have with it... Each family has their own version of a Christmas table, but herring, ham, meat balls and Janssons is probably in nearly all of them. You normally have 5 plates of food: First herring, then cold fish, after that cold meat followed by the hot food and last of all the dessert. Before the dessert you might want to put in an extra plate with your overall favourites! Christmas day is usually a quiet day for contemplation and Boxing day is normally when you go visit someone if you want to do that during Christmas
In my family (I'm from Sweden btw), we eat like every two hours on Christmas Eve lol. We eat breakfast, then there's lunch, then during Donald Duck, then we eat an early dinner (because it's so much food lol) and then something smaller, like cheese and fruit, on the evening. It's just a whole day for eating xP
Just sharing, 😊 Christmas season here in the Philippines starts as early as September (once "Ber" months came in) up to January 6, where we also celebrate 3 kings.. we also have 9 evening mass (Misa De gallo in Spanish) which starts every Dec 16 up to Dec 24 and carollings too (kids will sing christmas carols in front of your house every night and after you can give them any gifts, like candies or pennies).We celebrate Christmas here in a very traditional way, and it's really fun.😊 (ps* we don't have snow here too😂)
@This Colorful World, yes! It was really interesting to hear other traditions. Thank you for your video, now I know how Christmas is celebrated in American and Swedish way..😊 I hope you can visit Philippines someday, I'm sure you'll enjoy it here 😉
My dad's family opens gifts from extended family on Christmas Eve and then opens immediate family gifts and stockings on Christmas morning in a more intimate setting at home. All day we eat appetizers and then have an early supper at lunch time. Usually ham. lol I think it would be fun to go to Sweden for Christmas/Yule. I love that you celebrate similarities
This is ironic. I lost my Mother to Alzheimer’s in 2015 and my Father in 2008. And my girlfriend left me, so I’m searching for my Scandinavian heritage because I’m about to have my 1 st Christmas alone and not even in my home as it it not built yet because it’s behind schedule. I miss the 24th Christmas celebration. So I’ve been searching for a Scandinavian girlfriend to give my heritage back. I’m miss my family, I miss sharing Christmas. P.S. I'm from Danish decent and don’t know a lick of the language, but miss being immersed in it. Sorry for the downer, but you touched heart strings all over the place and I had to reach out because I like you two so much.
the thing about donald duck (which i think is something all scandinavians do), it's just become tradition, and you don't mess with that. i grew up watching these movies when i was a kid, when christmas was still incredibly magical, so it just takes you back to that time.
in Austria we don't have Santa we have the "Christkind" which is basically Jesus as a child. We also write a letter and the Christkind comes in the evening on the 24th and rings a bell when the presents are under the tree. And we also celebrate Advent
2:40 Being Lucia is basically the Swedish equivalent of being Prom Queen in schools.Then local papers will have votes on who should be the towns Lucia, and she'll be going to different locations (usually old folks homes) to sing the customary songs while the runner ups get to be the Lucia maidens (tärna), in schools, boys might be "star boys" gingerbread men or santas, the star boys are dressed in white togas same as the lucia and maids, but with a cone on his head with golden stars on it and maybe a wand with a star on the tip, the maids have a bare wreath on their heads and a candle in their hands while the lucia wear a wreath with candles in it on her head.
When my uncle dressed up as santa, when I was younger, I asked why he had a mask on. He must have thought of something quickly and said "To hide a scar."
I am an American in the US and wanted to leave pretzels and beer for santa when my son was six. My kid wasn't having any of it. So cookies it was, haha. Thanks for sharing.
I got so chocked today! I saw you guys for the very first time here on youtube yesterday. Today I was shopping in my little home town Karlskrona in Sweden. I turn around and see you two😳 are you from here or what are you doing here?😄 I love your videos and personalities!
As a Swede, my family also always gives Santa a shot as thanks. Never thought it was strange. until now... However, we've never had christmas stockings at home. Lovely video :)
I'd say I'm not American fat...I'm chunky...lol. Love the videos lady..in my family we have a friend who looks like Santa, beard and all and every Christmas Eve, our extended family get together and he hands out our gift. Since I was a young child I've always adopted a family to get them gifts as well. I feel my life is so blessed and I have all I need so I would rather give to those who can't. That makes me so incredibly happy being to help someone else who may be less fortunate. Sending love, hugs, positivity and holiday wishes to everyone!
Vet inte riktigt hur jag hittade eran kanal, men hit kom jag. Och jag måste bara säga, WOW. Ni verkar helt sagolikt underbara och härliga! Måste kolla mer videos :D
Norwegian traditions are pretty much the same as in Sweden (except for the food as we're eating pork ribs, dried sheep ribs or lutefisk) And also besides the Donald Duck part, there is two films from the 70's that "everybody" is watching christmas morning. And when the clock turns 5 in the afternoon on christmas eve, the church bells starts ringing, and "sølvguttene" (translated to the silver boys) sings traditional christmas carols on national tv. And that is also the most common time people starts eating christmas dinner. Also a tradition in Scandinavia (and maybe Finland and Iceland too) that I don't think I have seen other places, is advent calenders on TV. A TV-show (mostly for kids) that will send one episode each day counting down to christmas.
I’m in New York and last year for Christmas I went to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center with my boyfriend while my son was with his father this year we’re going to do a Christmas Eve and make it a family thing at least I’m hoping to do that ( it’s supposed to rain ) and maybe go to the Empire State Building ( what I thinking of the weather may be an issue though). Better than staying in like we have been. A friend of mine who lives in Manhattan said he always goes to see the tree every year on Christmas.
In my family it's all about getting the glögg nice and warm and the almonds skållade and all of the gingerbread and knäck and nuts and stuff placed on the soffbord before 3 pm. As long as we've got all of that done before Kalle Anka starts, it's all good.
Swedish Christmas is pretty much just like in Norway! But we don't watch Donald Duck. We watch two things... 1: We watch a really bad sketch called "Grevinnen og Hovmesteren" (Dinner for one, in English). Oh, and they tried to stop sending it once, and the whole country went in protest - so they ended up sending it later the same day! 2: We watch an old, pretty bad, Czech movie called Tři oříšky pro Popelku (Tre nøtter til askepott, in Norwegian), which is basically an old European version of Cinderella (the original fairytale, and not the Disney Version). Why do we watch a czech movie, you ask? No idea. But it has also been dubbed into Norwegian by ONE man. And he is speaking OVER the original audio. It's horrible, but such an important tradition for some reason x)
I'm 36 (I will not call me the younger generation :p ) and at least here in Norway it was common with stockings already when I was growing up in the 80's (before home alone)
In Finland we watch "Samusirkan Joulutervehdys" (Jiminy Crickets' Christmas Greeting). I think you know it by name: From All Of Us To All Of You. It has been a tradition since ever.
Another thing we do in Norway at least is the 23rd. Most people don't decorate their tree before that day. And we watch the The Butler and the Countess. (I think sweedes watches it on new years or something? ) and we eat porrige. And in the porrige we hide an almond. And whoever gets the almond wins a pig made out of marzipan. These 3 things (tree, tv-show and porrige) are very common way in Norway to spend "little christmas eve" as we call it (or even "The evening before the evening")
Yay! Danish hygge! For a minute I thought Lisa was trying to patent it as a Swedish thing, and I wasn’t going to say anything, because y’know, Swedes are so hyggelige too 😉 But now I’m really looking (even more!) forward to next week’s video. Danes are sooo proud whenever we’re noticed by other nationalities. #lowselfesteem #smallcountrycomplex 😉
Stine Rosenkilde Ohh! Is "hygge" the noun of the adjective used in the sentence: I "Vad jag tycker om Stina? Hon är väl hygglig!"/"What I think about Stina? She's nice!"? Curious Swede asking :)
I don't think so. It'll probably be better explained in the upcoming video, but I believe "Hygge" is the art of living a nice and happy life, being friendly to yourself and others. (I'm swedish, so I have probably missunderstood it completely)
You're not alone, we always gave santa a snaps in my family as well! Now we don't celebrate christmas with any children present anymore so we've decided to skip the dressing up as santa part, but the snaps is still always there :D
I’ve lived in both Southern California and Alabama in the United States. In both places, tamales are a traditional food for Christmas Day. My favorite! :)
Yep, that's right, DON'T MESS WITH THE HOLY "KALLE ANKAS JUL" :))
Emily Hericson jcgjhjjrtifkvn khy
except it has been censored to death, tomtens verkstad and the camping is also like 20% of its original length
Samme i Norge også. I tillegg til "Tre nøtter til Askepott" og "Reisen til julestjernen". 23. desember er det "kvelden før kvelden" med "Grevinnen og hovmesteren"🎅
Sometimes they try to sensor out some stuff that hasn't aged well and a good 80% of the Swedish population has a collective aneurysm 😆
I sverige sänds grevinnan och betjänten vid nyår
The Donald Duck thing is so true! I had a Swedish exchange student in 2018 and she made us look it up on TH-cam and watch it. She was also sad she had to wait until dec 25th to open presents so we let her open her stocking on the 24th
In my family in Sweden we never had christmas stockings..when I was a child my mother gave me and my siblings one christmasgift under the bed on christmaseve and then around 6 pm we got the rest of our christmas gifts 😉 Thank you for the lovely video 💗🎄 kram
Im swedish too, we got 2 gifts in the stockibgs hanging on the bed, then gifts under the tree like 2 Hours later and then the rest on the evening
We didn't have stockings either, but we didn't get any morning gifts. All gifts came with santa in the evening after Kalle Anka, julbord and porrige. My parrents and another family swapped santas with each other so one went to one house and the other went to the other. So noone was gone when santa came.
Thank you for sharing. I learned a lot from both of you and I love the stories that you're both told about Christmas and Santa and Donald Duck and porridge,...
What about the day before christmas eve, when so many swedes spends their evening preparing the ham, decorating the christmas tree, and playing Bingolotto (bingo). Well that's a part of my traditon:) Love it!
Up-staying-night... uppesittarkväll, YES
Hello!
My Swedish girlfriend is trying to teach me and my British family the Swedish “snapsvisa” ‘Hej Tomtegubbar..’. She thinks it sounds hilarious but we’re learning... slowly hahaha , maybe you should try and teach Lauren in one of your videos? 😂😁
Love your content xx
GOD JUL OCH GOTT NYTT ÅR!! ❤️❤️
In Norway, we make rice porridge and hide an almond in it. The whole family search for it in their bowls, and the one who finds it in their own bowl gets a prize (like a marzipan pig, or some candy like a chocolate santa, or even a small gift). Also, when it's time for presents we are really excited, but we don't just go crazy and open everything. We like to take our time and notice the stuff our family members get as well :-) When it comes to television, it's tradition to watch "Tre Nøtter til Askepott" which is an Eastern European production about a girl which is sort of Cinderella and she gets 3 wishes. It's very cute and from the 70's. We also watch Disney - Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck things. Then we might watch a Norwegian film also from the 1970's which is called "Reisen til Julestjernen" - journey to the Christmas Star in English. It's supposed to be in the Medieval ages and it's about a princess who wants to find the Christmas Star and she gets lost. It's a very nice and emotional film :-) I wish you all a merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!
We do the same thing in Denmark with the rice porridge and almond. Probably not surprising :) And we watch Disneys christmas show at 16 PM.
When we do the porridge thing the one who gets the almond will supposedly get married during the coming year.
We also do the porridge and almond in Finland. And the Donald Duck!
Where I live in sweden we put a cinnamon rod in the porridge to taste good but its good luck if you get it in your bowl
In Sweden if you get the almond you have to get married next year
I am a Canadian with Swedish roots and really enjoyed this video. I can relate to almost all these traditions. Thanks for sharing.
I've learned that you put out the porridge for the gnomes, to be on good terms with them so they'll take care of your land. Kinda like trick or treat but with spirits and the trick is a bad year. But maybe the tradition is different in different parts of Sweden
True.
True! :)
Yeah, it was really important to stay on their good side. They helped out with the animals as well, and lots of other things.
One of my favourite stories about the gnomes and Christmas is about a family that tried to play a little prank on their gnome. On the porridge you left out for them you were supposed to put a dollop of butter (Because fat=luxury back in those days), but the family for a laugh put the butter in the bottom of the bowl instead one year. Bad idea.
When the gnome came for his porridge and saw no butter on it, he immediately went out to the barn and killed their best cow. Then he came back and ate his porridge. As he came to the bottom of the bowl and realized the prank they pulled, he felt bad about the whole situation. So he went out and got a new cow for the family, but left the dead one as a reminder not to mess about like that again.
These gnomes were not the jolly kind, in fact they were known to be quite cranky...
I think the lore here is that the gnomes actually took care of the farm animals throughout the year (and thus why he lived in the barn). And if you did not give him a meal on Christmas eve - he would not take care of the animals or even make them sick or kill them.
The old lore was that you put it out for the house gnome, but nowadays it has migrated to be for santa instead.
There's two things I would add in our Swedish tradition:
1.The importance of light and candles. It's like pitch black from 3 pm in Stockholm and from 1 pm in the north. I think that's why we light a candle every Sunday (and not only in church). We also put up a special light in our windows, we call it "adventsljustake" (electric lights, images here: tinyurl.com/adventsljusstake).
I would also guess this is a part of why the Lucia tradition is such a big thing here. Just imagine a winter landscape in a total darkness and there comes a choir, walking in white dresses with candles in their hands (and Lucia in front with a crown of candles) singing and - bringing us light -. Incredible beautiful.
Another great thing with in Sweden is our classic fika, which goes to another lever during December. We have special christmas pastries that we only eat during this time of year. Lussebullar (saffron buns) and pepparkakor (ginger bread cookies) is two examples and we drink mulled wine. Very hygge ;)
from 3pm... you not looking high enough. I still live in sweden and i don't see the sun for like a week in december, Kiruna has even less daylight. :D
I just loveee your culture. I lived there for a few years and it warms my heart when I read your words and remember those beautiful sightings. I love your food too! But I am worried about the change of this beautiful culture due to increasing numbers of migrants who just don't want to follow and accept Swedish culture... They want to keep their own and someday suppress the original one... I am just so sad when I think about that...
The idea of our "culture being changed" is not a realistic analysis of "our situation". I can maybe give you some comfort in the fact that our midsummer traditions are intact! Swedes (and migrants) still eat our pickled herring and dance around the midsummer pole pretending we are frogs without ears (but we DO have tails!). I promise, we are A-OK over here!
So please, don't be sad when you think of Sweden. I would rather see you putting that energy in to thinking of all the people who suffers from war. It's a million times more sad to think of all the people and children who have two choices in life: to stay in a war zone and see everything/everyone you love get killed/destroyed or to jump in a small boat with no saftey and try to get a cross a big ocean with no certainty of knowing if you and your kids will survive it.
Have a nice day!
Love from a Swede (who are totally fine and don't need you to worry)
It's so cool that you have the Lucia day! It's actually my name haha and we have this holiday in Slovakia, where I come from, too. The girls get dressed in white and go from house to house and they sweep the dust from the corners of the rooms. It's for swiping away the bad luck and to bring health to the household. But nowadays it's only done in countryside.
Don't forget that in sweden the Santa often hands the gifts over, while looking the children deep in their eyes, and asking very seriously if they have been good or bad, and the children have to say yes, I've been good to get the gift, not knowing IF Santa will agree on that... 😱😜😂
Swedish and Danish Christmas traditions are quite similar. If I remember correctly, the 26. of December is a big day in the US for a lot of American football games. Christmas is called Jul in all three Scandinavian languages. It was originally a pre-Christian winter solstice tradition of celebrating the return of the sun and involved plenty of food and lots of mjød, an ancient alcoholic beverage. Since the Church fathers couldn’t get the Scandinavian Vikings to use the word Kristmesse - Mass for Christ, they just ended up with accepting the pagan solstice ritual. If you can’t beat them, then join them. 🤣
Enjoyed your Christmas Video. Warm and fun! Would love to see more from you two. Merry Christmas Dharma from Denmark
In Sweden christmas was a pagan holiday first. It didnt have anything to do with christianity or jesus. Thats why its called jul
Wheel (hjul) of the seasons or the year goes around, so now we´re on our way up again to the light (ljus). And like Jesus.. it´s probably also from the middle east, like measure time
Its a myth that the word comes from wheel. The earliest evidence is from the finnish language and means fiest.
Well.. all the nordic countrys use it. And the Danes did trade with the people along the finish bay . But why copy a word from there then? people have celebratad it for centuries.
Well I guess my historybook is wrong.
I ´m with you Caroline however i would like to know if it has anything to do with the Celts and the rock circles (before the Roman expansion) though the boats are much younger here.
In Finland santa doesn't come from North Pole. Santa come from Korvatunturi and Korvatunturi is real place in Finland. And it's funny we call santa in finnish "joulupukki" which means christmas goat in english.
It's funny, but its not wrong! Before us Scandinavians/northerners adapted the idea of Santa people dressed up as goats instead of Santa :) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule_Goat
HAHAH Christmas goat? I'm dying ahha
Speaking of the Christmas goat, you should check out the Christmas goat in Gävle, it's a huge goat, and a lot of the years it has been burned down, so there is always this "Will the Christmas goat survive until Christmas?"-worry/curiousity each year. It even has it's own insta accont gavlebocken.
I was just going to say that santa actually lives in finland :D
Yeah he does live in Finland and he has a village up in Rovaniemi where you can visit him and get a picture woth him
I remembered that we had advent calendars instead of stockings. So we got a small gift every day until Christmas and we also had chocolate calendars.. oh and when you're a kid "Julkalendern" is a must to watch, a TV show which is only around 15 minutes every morning like a countdown to christmas and it's different every year
Love to watch the children at Christmas. Getting the family all together is the best.
YOU DONT MESS WITH *KALLE ANKAS JUL* Okey
Tack för att du sa det för jag blev så upprörd
hi hi. Svensk tradition!
Kalle Anka is holy in Sweden. Tradition
We write rhymes on the presents, like a riddle, so the person who get it has to guess the gift before opening it.
Lisa brought this tradition to me and I have to say, it's one of my favorite traditions now.
Alexandra Lund "Här har du en lampa, din jävla slampa." Det är min favorit.
HAhahaaha lite för kul xD
Gör alla det? Har aldrig gjort så i min familj.
@@GhostSamaritan inte jag heller... Tror inte att så många gör det. Känner ingen som gör det 😂
Probably the most notable difference is that in USA Christmas starts after Halloween with absurd amounts of tacky multicolored flashy lights, and by the time you get to the 26th, the trees come down. In Norway, it's much much more subtle and it's traditional to put the tree up and decorate it on the 23rd and have it up until early January. We also don't have mingy manges everywhere.
Well said.
Have you introduced Lauren to Sagan om Karl-Bertil Jonssons julafton? I personally didn't grow up watching it, but watching it as an adult I think it gives us a window to the swedish christmas culture and why it might differ from, for example, american christmas culture. God jul and thank you for this funny and wholesome video!
Karl-Bertil Jonsson is the real spirit of Christmas!
That Queer Witch I watch it every christnas along with donald ducks christmas
Same here! Is pity that it wasn’t mentioned but you can’t squeeze all in.
Fredrik Lemmetty : IT is not christmas without Karl Bertil! We watch it every Christmas Eve!
"Ska du lukta på glöggen, pojke?" 🤣
That voice! That way he tells the story! Tage Danielsson, RIP! We miss you (and Hasse Alfredsson)
(I can't hear about Tage without thinking of Karl-Bertil Jonsson AND that monologue about "Sannolikt", "I dag lär vi inte våra barn att tala sanningen, nej nu lär vi dem att tala SANNOLIKT." Etc...)
("Jag har närt en kommunist vid min barm!" 🤣 🤣 🤣)
Barbie/Let's move on. ... . ohhhh man thanks for the ab workout there. I can't believe you didn't mention lutefisk! (bleeehhhhh, not my favorite invention but very christmas) glögg, peparkakor, and lussekatter! Also, christmas curtains, SOOO Swedish. For me the one huge difference style wise is how much nature is central to the Swedish celebrations. It's all about the light, (candles, advent stars/other window decor) the hyacinths, amarylis, moss, pinecones, vitmossa etc etc etc.
Yes, and decorations made of straw!
Don't forget the liver pate, pickled herring, princekörv, turnip casserole and plain boiled potatoes. I really don't like the Julbord much. Most things are cold, or are cold by the time you eat them. The ham and Salmon are good.
I like lutfisk alot! We eat it here in Finland too. Most of the christmas food in finland is the same as Sweden.
EXCELLENT VIDEO!!! My mother's parents are from Sweden and my father's parents are from Germany, so we alternate traditions each year between them with American traditions added into the mix. So, Merry Christmas, God Yul, and Fröhliche Weihnachten to you.
Love this couple. Greetings from Izmir in Turkey.
We never put porridge out for Santa, but I think that's because of Tjorven. I hated porridge, just like Tjorven, when I was a kid, and I never ever wanted to leave poor old Santa this bowl of cold porridge :P Also, we never had stockings, until now, when I'm an adult. One thing I think is significant here though (maybe elsewhere too..?) Is the Chokladkalender. The little calendar with 24 small chocolate pieces in, one for each day of December leading up to Christmas! Oh, and Julkalendern. Every year we have a different "TV-show" that runs from the 1st of December to the 24th, filled with Christmas Spirit and mystery and just awesomeness (it's mainly for kids, but I always watch them. It's tradition!).
in norway I heard of several thet had stockings as kids in the 80's. Leaving porridge out was mostly common here where people had farms. It was left out, not for santa, but for the little tomte/nisse/gnome that took care of the animals on the farm all year
A video from you guys always puts a smile on my face! Thanks!
Thank you for all the knowledge!
As an ”american” living in Sweden (born in the US, lived most of my life in Sweden), I have noticed a big difference in how we celebrate Christmas Swedes versa Americans (my families). My Swedish family is more about “close family and same traditions year after year. My US family is more “open house” and not as “strict” about doing it the same year after year. This also includes the food 🤪. The Swedish Christmas Smorgasbord (smörgåsbord) is basically the same every year (and we also have it for Easter, and part of it for Midsummer).
About the Christmas stockings. In Sweden this is a fairly new tradition, taken from the US and Great Britain.
With that said,, I love celebrating Christmas in both countries, as long as I am with my loved ones.
Why are all our swedish traditions so weird?! Trying to explain any holiday or celebration leaves me laughing and once again realise we are just the weirdest group of people.
I mean... Speaking of Lucia, the red band represent blood and death. All these little kids walking around with (symbolic) blood around their waist? Very uplifting 😂
HAHAHAH but it's soooo pretty tho.... hahahh
Yes! The cutest! 😍 I love Luciafirande! Just find it funny with all the morbid stuff in our traditions. 😅
(Also, better safe than sorry: you know you should put a little bit of butter on the porridge for the house gnomes, right? There's a tale about a gnome that was so disappointed about not getting the butter that he killed the best cow in the stable. When he got back to eat the porridge he realised the butter was there, it was just melted. So he quickly replaced the cow with the neighbours best cow 💁🏻😂)
Well, christianity and other religions in general are pretty morbid.
Well, we also get some inspiration from paganism and norse mythology, so our traditions are a bit darker and not as strictly religious as american traditions.
in Norway we do have the same as in sweden
Giving Santa Claus hard liquor!?
Now we know how grandma got ran over by a reindeer.
Can you imagine visiting every house in Sweden and getting a shot of hard liquor and then driving. Party Santa! Shot! Shot! Shot! 😂
Growing up always after Christmas Eve dinner and dessert and what not we wait till midnight to open presents.
You all need to remember that the tradition is different, depends in region, families etc…
Me and my family doesn't have stockings..
You should have talk about our food, thats ALOT of Food!
Forgot about "Dagen före dopparedagen" when you dip bread in the ham broth on the 23d.
In the USA lots of more secular families that do not have little kids open presents on Christmas Eve so they can sleep in, or because we've got extended family to go visit on Christmas. We watch It's a Wonderful Life every year.
The Disney/Donald duck tradition in Sweden roots from a time (before 1985) when there hardly was any Disney broadcasted, so Swedes and their kids were starving Disney content. Thats my take on it. In later years they have changed the last bit to promote newer Disney productions. Many adults fall asleep during this as it's a break from all the Christmas work lol.
Before cable-TV in Sweden
Jul is not a christian tradition in Sweden. It's an old pagan festival to celebrate Odin (father of the Norse gods), who's also called Father Yule. He used to fly above the land on his eight-legged horse Sleipnir with his two helpers (two black crows called Hugin and Munin) who told him about who'd been naughty and who'd been nice so he knew which households to bless. Odin was commonly depicted as an old man with a long white beard dressed in simple gray robes, hence the gray "santa" you're holding in this video.
The Dutch then took this tradition and the image of Odin but changed his two black crows into two black human helpers. Coca Cola then took that image and made him into what we think of as the modern Santa: big white beard in a red hat and red robes, and turned his eight-legged horse into a sled pulled by eight reindeer.
The reason why we eat christmas ham (julskinka) instead of turkey is because it represents a pig that lives in the halls of Valhalla named Särimner. It's a pig that you can butcher and eat every night and he'll be resurrected the morning after, which is also why food was - and is - such a big deal when celebrating christmas. Särimner represents the belief that no one ever has to go hungry in Valhalla.
The straw "julbock" (christmas goat) that we have a ton of as well are representations of Thor's rams Tanngrisni ("gap-tooth") and Tanngnost ("tooth grinder") who pulled his chariot across the sky.
So in conclusion, christmas in Scandinavia is called "jul" because it has nothing to do with christianity. Incidentally, it's also why the birth of christ doesn't match up with the bible. The church moved the celebration of christ's birth to coincide with the jul celebrations because they wanted to make it easier for the vikings to adopt their new religion.
In my family here in sweden we also watch when they celebrate the 200+ years of peace between Sweden and Finland.
Just to 'slay' (as yo called it) just little. It's for the house gnome who you put porridge out, not santa. If you don't the gnome won't take care of your house so cattle will die, crops won't grow etc. I mean it as a friendly comment ;)
Sweet Lisa and Lauren .. Merry Christmas and happy new year
I like the vodka/schnapps vs milk difference lol! Great video
We (in Utah) watch A Christmas Story every year :)
I'm an American who's totally with you on the commercializations of gift giving. I make all my gifts for my giant extended family each year. I work myself to death every year making sure they're beautiful and special for each person. Though, the youngest person in our family is 31. Children usually get really excited about store bought gifts.
I agree with you ladies, merry Xmas.
underbar video, as always! ni är bäst
meeen luciatraditionen det är ju mer än bara helgonet! det är ju som en blandning av gamla svenska traditioner och inslag från italienska Lucia! finns sjukt intressant läsning om det om man vill,
mvh världens lucianörd hehe
HYGGE!! Yes! :-) It warms my Danish heart
Its a differens between Sweden and Denmark
So love this!I loved reading the responses.We grew up very poor.The four of us kids got to open one present on Christmas Eve.It was always new pajamas hehe.We so loved them.The new smell,the pretty colors.We wore them until they were no longer wearable haha.I carry that tradition on now with my family that now includes my grandchildren that are not growing up poor.They love it.We take a family picture of us all in our new jammies on Christmas Eve hehe.I agree that here in the US it has become very burdensome money wise and it can be very sad for many of very little means.It takes very little to create a beautiful Christmas.Love,laughter, gathering with family we don't always get to see.The little cousins playing together and stomping the hardwood floor with loud laughter.The elders looking upon the traces they will eventually leave behind as their legacy..It is the the most favorite time of my year.*raises a glass of whiskey*haha Thank you for the chat baby girls!⛄loved it!
once my uncle said “I’m going out to get the newspaper”. Everyone knew he would come back as santa but he came back before santa! We’ve had the same santa for years now and I still don’t know who he is...
I just loooove your videos. So much fun!
Never really thought about the differences regarding advent for example :)
Thanks for your video... I would love to see how you make all the Swedish Christmas foods from scratch for the Christmas Buffet.
We in Norway watch Greveinnen og hovmesteren on the 23. And an old Cinderella movie on the 24.
That seems so sweet. Often I go to my church's prayer service on Christmas Eve, but this year (since Christmas was on a Monday), I went to church early Christmas morning through the sleet (and during the snow). It's Boston.
And afterward, we did gifts and left for a family dinner at my uncle's.
Is the Donald Duck cartoon traditional because of the Carl Barks duck comics (Scrooge, Donald, the nephews, etc.) being published nearby in Copenhagen-based Egmont?
When I grew up a long long time ago, in the 50s, in a place far away, New Orleans, we had a Christmas party on December 24th night at a friend's house where families came who were friends for generations and new families of new friends too. During the party, fathers would leave separately to do the Santa thing at their homes and come back to the party. The kids mainly played outside unless it was raining. We were also allowed to have small alcoholic beverages from small glasses about one fourth the size of a shot glass. Mainly brightly colored sweet liqueurs like Creme de Menthe, Creme de Cacao and something that was red that I can't remember. When everyone went home, way after midnight, 2 or 3am, Santa had come and our toys were under the tree. Except for the kids who lived at the party house. Santa waited until they passed out and their gifts were waiting when they woke up. Thank you girls and I hope you had a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year. You have Swedish new years?
Your videos always put a smile on my face! God jul!
Loved the vid. Girl with curly hair OMG. Not slatting you but neither of you said what Christmas is really about. And yes in UK its now to commercialised as well. Happy Christmas to you and yours when it comes.
Lisa you keep me laughing Button your facial expressions crack me up when Lisa makes her jokes.I agree Christmas has become so commercialized in the United States. Being born and raised here I love how my mom always kept the true meaning of Christmas alive in our family. We celebrate Advent and Boxing the holiday the day after Christmas.
Many peace and blessings to you both h this holiday season and the New Year to come.
* I just realized my autocorrect called your wife my bestie name Lauren 😂😂😂
wow you have amazing hair!
Thank you for making this video. My husband is half Swedish, but grew up here in America. Now that we have kids I am looking for ways to teach them about their heritage, but he only knows American Christmas traditions. His grandmother has Swedish decorations and traditions, but it's hard to get her to talk about them. This video is very helpful!
When my sister and I were kids, she got wax drip on her hair during Lucia. She kept on walking even though it was painful. Ouch!!
hahaha that OI came very natural XD ;)
Great video! I agree so much with your comments of the commercialization of Xmas in America. The real reason for it gets lost in all of it. And unfortunately you see the worst come out in some people when it should be there very best. I love giving to the less fortunate at this time of year. Presents for the children, groceries for the family so they can be together and have a Merry Christmas. And I hope the two of you have a very Merry Christmas and thank you for all you do. I really enjoy the letter y'all send out every week.
A beautiful way to celebrate
Hygge is also in norwegian, just saying! ;) In Norway we celebrate pretty similar to Sweeden, except not the donald part.. We watch "Tre nøtter til Askepott"! It's a story about cinderella in the Sovjet union or something, dubbed in norwegian, and it's on our main channel on TV every christmas! Is that normal in other countries?
That's definitely not a thing in Sweden, we've just got Kalle Ankas Jul and a few other movies afterwards. Also, don't you Norwegians have a play about a Christmas star?
A little late, but some small corrections: "Tre nøtter til Askepott" is not from the Sovjet union but from Czechoslovakia (made in the communist era). NRK broadcasts the same Disney-compilation as in Sweden and has done so since 1979. In 2012 NRK and Disney couldn't reach an agreement about the price and NRK decided not to send it. It sparked anger and outrage in the media. It was almost like NRK turned into the Grinch and tried to steal our christmas. Later that year under large pressure they reached an agreement and renewed the license to send it.
@@MadSwedishGamer Yep! It's "Reisen til Julestjernen"!
A few comments on Swedish Christmas:
1. The status of Donald Duck comes from the very, very socialist times we had in the 1970s and 80s. Disney was popular but banned in the state TV channels as it was "commercial" (a word that was used as an insult in those days). Normal childrens programs would show Bulgarian doll movies or things like that. The _only_ time in the whole year that anything from Disney was shown was one hour on Christmas Eve. In those days we only had 2 TV channels so everyone, starved for what they wanted to see in children's programs, watched it and it became a tradition amongst those who lived then. The younger generation today, used to a multitude of TV channels with Disney shows anytime, don't understand what the big hype is all about.
2. We celebrate on Christmas Eve as the tradition in Germanic countries was that a day ended when the church bells rang for evening service, around 6 o'clock. Then the new day started, not at midnight as we count it today. So Christmas day started on the evening of Christmas Eve and thus we, the Germans and some others in NE Europe celebrate on that day.
3. A Christmas table is certainly not only something you get at the restaurant! We make our own at home and in our family it usually consists of 4 types of herring, eggs, home made hard bread, cured salmon ("gravlax"), salmon made in the oven, a big ham (lightly smoked), a meat paté, smoked meat, e.g. mutton, a few types of sausages, hot meatballs, "Jansson's frestelse" (potatoes, onion and anchovis with just enough milk to cook the potatoes made in the oven), ribs, hot small sausages and then 3-4 types of cheese and ginger bread for dessert and probably a few more things I have forgotten. Somehow we manage to get full. It must be the beer and shots of spirits we have with it... Each family has their own version of a Christmas table, but herring, ham, meat balls and Janssons is probably in nearly all of them. You normally have 5 plates of food: First herring, then cold fish, after that cold meat followed by the hot food and last of all the dessert. Before the dessert you might want to put in an extra plate with your overall favourites!
Christmas day is usually a quiet day for contemplation and Boxing day is normally when you go visit someone if you want to do that during Christmas
In my family (I'm from Sweden btw), we eat like every two hours on Christmas Eve lol. We eat breakfast, then there's lunch, then during Donald Duck, then we eat an early dinner (because it's so much food lol) and then something smaller, like cheese and fruit, on the evening. It's just a whole day for eating xP
Always beutiful. And Nice. I love you both
Thank you Love the Vlog
Just sharing, 😊 Christmas season here in the Philippines starts as early as September (once "Ber" months came in) up to January 6, where we also celebrate 3 kings.. we also have 9 evening mass (Misa De gallo in Spanish) which starts every Dec 16 up to Dec 24 and carollings too (kids will sing christmas carols in front of your house every night and after you can give them any gifts, like candies or pennies).We celebrate Christmas here in a very traditional way, and it's really fun.😊 (ps* we don't have snow here too😂)
Really? It's so interesting to hear other traditions!
@This Colorful World, yes! It was really interesting to hear other traditions. Thank you for your video, now I know how Christmas is celebrated in American and Swedish way..😊
I hope you can visit Philippines someday, I'm sure you'll enjoy it here 😉
My dad's family opens gifts from extended family on Christmas Eve and then opens immediate family gifts and stockings on Christmas morning in a more intimate setting at home. All day we eat appetizers and then have an early supper at lunch time. Usually ham. lol
I think it would be fun to go to Sweden for Christmas/Yule. I love that you celebrate similarities
This is ironic. I lost my Mother to Alzheimer’s in 2015 and my Father in 2008. And my girlfriend left me, so I’m searching for my Scandinavian heritage because I’m about to have my 1 st Christmas alone and not even in my home as it it not built yet because it’s behind schedule.
I miss the 24th Christmas celebration. So I’ve been searching for a Scandinavian girlfriend to give my heritage back. I’m miss my family, I miss sharing Christmas. P.S. I'm from Danish decent and don’t know a lick of the language, but miss being immersed in it. Sorry for the downer, but you touched heart strings all over the place and I had to reach out because I like you two so much.
the thing about donald duck (which i think is something all scandinavians do), it's just become tradition, and you don't mess with that. i grew up watching these movies when i was a kid, when christmas was still incredibly magical, so it just takes you back to that time.
Yep, before sweden became libtarded and run over by islam.
Cute! Merry Christmas!
in Austria we don't have Santa we have the "Christkind" which is basically Jesus as a child. We also write a letter and the Christkind comes in the evening on the 24th and rings a bell when the presents are under the tree. And we also celebrate Advent
Karen R Do you celebrate St Nicholaus? My grandmother was from Germany (I’m from Sweden) and so we always got gifts on the sixth of December as well.
yeah we do celebrate St. Nicholaus as well :) we usually get a bag full of sweets, peanuts and Mandarins
I thought you guys also have Krampus
@@thelongslowgoodbye yes we have him too they normaly appear togheter or just the nikolaus
Love that better
Norwegian and Swedish are quite similar and I love it 😊
You forgot "Karl-Bertil Jonssons jul!" The best!!
2:40 Being Lucia is basically the Swedish equivalent of being Prom Queen in schools.Then local papers will have votes on who should be the towns Lucia, and she'll be going to different locations (usually old folks homes) to sing the customary songs while the runner ups get to be the Lucia maidens (tärna), in schools, boys might be "star boys" gingerbread men or santas, the star boys are dressed in white togas same as the lucia and maids, but with a cone on his head with golden stars on it and maybe a wand with a star on the tip, the maids have a bare wreath on their heads and a candle in their hands while the lucia wear a wreath with candles in it on her head.
When my uncle dressed up as santa, when I was younger, I asked why he had a mask on. He must have thought of something quickly and said "To hide a scar."
I am an American in the US and wanted to leave pretzels and beer for santa when my son was six. My kid wasn't having any of it. So cookies it was, haha. Thanks for sharing.
I got so chocked today! I saw you guys for the very first time here on youtube yesterday. Today I was shopping in my little home town Karlskrona in Sweden. I turn around and see you two😳 are you from here or what are you doing here?😄 I love your videos and personalities!
Adorable!
As a Swede, my family also always gives Santa a shot as thanks. Never thought it was strange. until now... However, we've never had christmas stockings at home. Lovely video :)
Really? lisa wasn't sure if her family was alone in this tradition. Fun to know they are not!
I'd say I'm not American fat...I'm chunky...lol. Love the videos lady..in my family we have a friend who looks like Santa, beard and all and every Christmas Eve, our extended family get together and he hands out our gift. Since I was a young child I've always adopted a family to get them gifts as well. I feel my life is so blessed and I have all I need so I would rather give to those who can't. That makes me so incredibly happy being to help someone else who may be less fortunate. Sending love, hugs, positivity and holiday wishes to everyone!
That's really lovely. Toy drives are great. Holiday wishes to you as well!
Hello!!! Don’t forget the ”Uppersittarkväll” you have to look at bingo lotto the day before Christmas with your family!!!😻
I remember then I was a child and watched the Jul kalendern 1997. Do they have that in us too????
Italians have a fest of 7 fish's/ we have that Christmas eve. my family only has 2
Calamari and shrimp. I also like to say you two are very Beautiful
I'm Swedish and the first time I met santa I cried and now I have a little panic attack as soon as I see santa...
Oh no! I have a feeling you are not alone.
Same here!!! And I hate Santa decorations as well. I always have to turn them around since their eyes are freaking me out 😅
hahahaha....inte växt upp ?
@@kickicat628 that is what I do to Nutcrackers they scare the crap out of me!
@@ThisColorfulWorld Scary Santa
Vet inte riktigt hur jag hittade eran kanal, men hit kom jag. Och jag måste bara säga, WOW. Ni verkar helt sagolikt underbara och härliga! Måste kolla mer videos :D
Norwegian traditions are pretty much the same as in Sweden (except for the food as we're eating pork ribs, dried sheep ribs or lutefisk)
And also besides the Donald Duck part, there is two films from the 70's that "everybody" is watching christmas morning.
And when the clock turns 5 in the afternoon on christmas eve, the church bells starts ringing, and "sølvguttene" (translated to the silver boys) sings traditional christmas carols on national tv. And that is also the most common time people starts eating christmas dinner.
Also a tradition in Scandinavia (and maybe Finland and Iceland too) that I don't think I have seen other places, is advent calenders on TV. A TV-show (mostly for kids) that will send one episode each day counting down to christmas.
Lågt ljud i inspelnngen ? =P
I’m in New York and last year for Christmas I went to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center with my boyfriend while my son was with his father this year we’re going to do a Christmas Eve and make it a family thing at least I’m hoping to do that ( it’s supposed to rain ) and maybe go to the Empire State Building ( what I thinking of the weather may be an issue though). Better than staying in like we have been. A friend of mine who lives in Manhattan said he always goes to see the tree every year on Christmas.
In my family it's all about getting the glögg nice and warm and the almonds skållade and all of the gingerbread and knäck and nuts and stuff placed on the soffbord before 3 pm. As long as we've got all of that done before Kalle Anka starts, it's all good.
Wow I really got the christmas feeling from hearing the Lucia song.
Spot on
Swedish Christmas is pretty much just like in Norway! But we don't watch Donald Duck. We watch two things...
1: We watch a really bad sketch called "Grevinnen og Hovmesteren" (Dinner for one, in English). Oh, and they tried to stop sending it once, and the whole country went in protest - so they ended up sending it later the same day!
2: We watch an old, pretty bad, Czech movie called Tři oříšky pro Popelku (Tre nøtter til askepott, in Norwegian), which is basically an old European version of Cinderella (the original fairytale, and not the Disney Version). Why do we watch a czech movie, you ask? No idea. But it has also been dubbed into Norwegian by ONE man. And he is speaking OVER the original audio. It's horrible, but such an important tradition for some reason x)
Stockings in Sweden? No that's only the younger generation that has watched Home Alone too many times..
I'm 36 (I will not call me the younger generation :p ) and at least here in Norway it was common with stockings already when I was growing up in the 80's (before home alone)
ITS NORMAL TO HAVE SOCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have nerver watch home alone and i have a sock
In Finland we watch "Samusirkan Joulutervehdys" (Jiminy Crickets' Christmas Greeting). I think you know it by name: From All Of Us To All Of You. It has been a tradition since ever.
Another thing we do in Norway at least is the 23rd. Most people don't decorate their tree before that day. And we watch the The Butler and the Countess. (I think sweedes watches it on new years or something? ) and we eat porrige. And in the porrige we hide an almond. And whoever gets the almond wins a pig made out of marzipan. These 3 things (tree, tv-show and porrige) are very common way in Norway to spend "little christmas eve" as we call it (or even "The evening before the evening")
Yay! Danish hygge! For a minute I thought Lisa was trying to patent it as a Swedish thing, and I wasn’t going to say anything, because y’know, Swedes are so hyggelige too 😉 But now I’m really looking (even more!) forward to next week’s video. Danes are sooo proud whenever we’re noticed by other nationalities. #lowselfesteem #smallcountrycomplex 😉
Stine Rosenkilde Ohh! Is "hygge" the noun of the adjective used in the sentence: I "Vad jag tycker om Stina? Hon är väl hygglig!"/"What I think about Stina? She's nice!"?
Curious Swede asking :)
Aw cute
The Norwegian over here feels left out 😂 God jul alle sammen!
I don't think so. It'll probably be better explained in the upcoming video, but I believe "Hygge" is the art of living a nice and happy life, being friendly to yourself and others. (I'm swedish, so I have probably missunderstood it completely)
Hygge is better translated to Swedish as "mysigt", so it's probably better used to describe a situation more than a person. :-)
You're not alone, we always gave santa a snaps in my family as well! Now we don't celebrate christmas with any children present anymore so we've decided to skip the dressing up as santa part, but the snaps is still always there :D
I’ve lived in both Southern California and Alabama in the United States. In both places, tamales are a traditional food for Christmas Day. My favorite! :)
your hair is incredible