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CHRISTMAS

Is ‘Little Christmas Eve’ dying out in Norway?

December 23rd, or 'Little Christmas Eve', is the day when Norwegians put up their Christmas trees but the custom of waiting until the last day before bringing the juletre inside is in danger of disappearing.

Is 'Little Christmas Eve' dying out in Norway?
Photo: foolfillment/Flickr

The tradition of bringing trees into homes and decorating them, which originated in Germany and came to Norway at the beginning of the 19th century, has originally been carried out on December 23rd – the day before Christmas Eve, the day on which Christmas is celebrated in the Scandinavian country.

But the custom has become more relaxed as the generations have come and gone.

“These days, people make their own Christmas traditions. Some people even put trees up in November,” Kirsti Krekling, a former curator at Oslo’s Maihaugen open-air museum, told NRK.

The Christmas tree ritual, initially confined to teachers, evolved over the years, according to Krekling.

“Year by year the tradition spread. They were transported around the country in trucks and ferries. Eventually, most people began to have Christmas trees in their front rooms,” she said.

But until recently, decorating Christmas trees was not high on the list of priorities until ‘Little Christmas Eve’ or Christmas Eve itself, said Krekling.

“Now, people decorate their tree whenever they want to, or in whatever way makes them happy. So Christmas trees have become more of an individual than an old-fashioned Christmas tradition.”

In addition to living rooms from Kristiansand to Tromsø, a Norwegian Christmas tree can also be seen every year in London’s Trafalgar Square.

The city of Oslo has famously donated a Christmas tree to the British capital every year since 1947, when it received a tree as a gesture of thanks for the UK’s support for the Norwegian resistance movement during World War II.

The Trafalgar Square tree is, of course, installed and decorated some time before Little Christmas Eve – even though the Brits don’t celebrate Christmas until the 25th, a day after Norwegians finish unwrapping their gifts.

 

 

 

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CHRISTMAS

Thousands more families in Denmark seek Christmas charity

A significant increase in families have sought Christmas help from the Danish Red Cross compared to last winter.

Thousands more families in Denmark seek Christmas charity

Higher process for food, electricity, gas and fuel are being felt by vulnerable families in Denmark, driving more to apply for Christmas packages offered by the Red Cross, broadcaster DR writes.

The NGO said in a statement that more people than ever before have applied for its Christmas help or julehjælp assistance for vulnerable families.

While 15,000 people applied for the charity last year, the number has already reached 20,000 in 2022.

“We are in an extraordinary situation this year where a lot more people have to account for every single krone to make their finances work,” Danish Red Cross general secretary Anders Ladekarl said in the press statement.

“For many more, their finances no longer work, and this is unfortunately reflected by these numbers,” he said.

The Red Cross Christmas assistance consists of a voucher worth 900 kroner redeemable at Coop stores or, in some stores, a hamper consisting of products.

READ ALSO: These are Denmark’s deadlines for sending international mail in time for Christmas

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