Tis the season to be jolly

 

.........tralaaalalalalaaaaa la la la laaaaaaaaaaaa......

Did you know that there are some seriously bizarre Christmas traditions out there? I did a show for radiop AF today and I decided to focus on weird and wonderful Christmas traditions.

And when I say weird I mean weird. We spoke about everything from streets being closed in Caracas, Venezuela so that people could skate (with rollerblades) to church mass on Christmas to "The defecating man" in Catalonia, Spain which is literally a nativity figure of a man taking a dump to symbolise fertilizer. Others include, stirring to the right when making pudding in Britain so as to bring about good luck; people in Norway hiding broomsticks on Christmas Eve to stop evil spirits from stealing them, single women throwing shoes in Czech Republic searching for love, and hollowing out a log putting sweets in it and trying to make it "poop". These were all incredibly fun and made me wonder a bit about some odd traditions in Sweden over Christmas time.

Turns out on Christmas Eve every year at 15:00 TV1 airs "Donald Duck and his friends wish you a Merry Christmas". Most of Sweden stops what they are doing and settles in to watch this old Disney film. This tradition has been going on since 1959 when Swedes had just started to buy their own personal televisions. It's called Kalle Anka (pronounced kah-lay ahn-kah)  in Swedish and oddly enough "Kalle" is a nickname for "Karl" and "Anka" means duck. So in their film their duck is called Karl, not Donald. Why at 15:00 you might ask? Well apparently this is the best time for a break in the day whether you had lunch before or plan to have dinner afterwards it allows you to plan your time so that you are able to stop what you are doing and sit down with your family to engage in the fun.


Tis the season to be jolly! Just a little something to get you in the mood and bring back all those warm fuzzy memories!

Another Swedish Christmas tradition emerged 40 years ago in a town called Gavle. Originally an act of vandalism every year the city Gavle erects a giant goat made of straw to mark the start of the festive season. Every year vandals do everything they can to try and destroy the goat including setting fire to it. Others try to protect the goat. And so the battle ensues. The goat has managed to make it to Christmas 10 times in its 40 year history. The vandals seem to be winning this war :)


Taken off of ottocontest.blogspot.com


It's strange how things become tradition. Something that makes that time meaningful and a little more special. A memory frozen in time!

I love these Swedish traditions they are quirky and strange but they are also fun, different and somehow totally Swedish! So if you feel like doing something Swedish this year...be sure to sit down at 15:00 on the 24th and watch some old school Disney magic! (Or burn a giant goat made of hay ;)