Christmas Tree - once a Pagan Tree

old oak, Boller Castle/ photo GB

The tree was an important symbol to every Pagan culture. The oak in particular was venerated by the Druids. Evergreens, which in ancient Rome were thought to have special powers and were used for decoration, symbolized the promised return of life in the spring and came to symbolize eternal life for Christians. The Vikings hung fir and ash trees with war trophies for good luck.

Mistletoe, photo: stig bachmann, naturplan.dk

Holly, ivy, and mistletoe were all important plants to the Druids. It was believed that good spirits lived in the branches of holly. Christians believed that the berries had been white before they were turned red by Christ's blood when he was made to wear the crown of thorns. Ivy was associated with the Roman god Bacchus and was not allowed by the Church as decoration until later in the Middle Ages, when a superstition said that it could help recognize witches and protect against plague arose.
In the Middle Ages, the Church would decorate trees with apples on Christmas Eve, which they called "Adam and Eve Day." However, the trees remained outdoors. In sixteenth-century Germany, it was the custom for a fir tree decorated with paper flowers to be carried though the streets on Christmas Eve to the town square, where, after a great feast and celebration that included dancing around the tree, it would be ceremonially burned.

Christmas tree/ wikimedia

The Christmas tree is today mostly a Normann-fir. It's being decorated with a star in the top, plaited hearts and other Christmas decorations - an old-fashioned Christmas tree should have candle lights, but many prefer electric lights caused by the danger of fire. If people have a fine little fir tree or another pretty tree at the entrance to their house, it is often decorated with electric lights in the dark month of December.

"Yggdrasil", Silkeborg Museum

/photo GB

Before Christianity people and tribes had often sacred groves and trees, where they sacrificed to the gods. Those trees were often oak and ash like Yggdrasil's ash from the Norse mythology. They represented the connection between the heavenly and the earthly sphere. In the 15th and 16th century the German craft guild held a Christmas party where they placed a fir tree in their rooms and decorated it. The children were then allowed to take the gifts which hang on the branches.

In 1605 an unknown author from the southern Germany wrote that on Christmas evening were raised Christmas trees in the houses, upon which were placed roses, cut in coloured paper, apples, wafers, tinsel-gold and sugar. The custom spread slowly, and from the 17th century it is known that people in Strasbourg often used decorated trees in connection to the Christmas celebrations.








 

Anne Ancher by Christmas tree 1919/wikipedia

In Denmark the first Christmas tree can be traced back to 1808 where grevinde Wilhelmine from Holsteinborg Estate at Skælskør at Christmas time lit the candles on a fir tree. In Copenhagen the first Christmas tree was lit in 1811 at Frederikke Louise and Martin Lehman's house in Ny Kongensgade. Martin Lehman came from Holstein and took the custom with him to Copenhagen. At this time the custom spread to other places outside the borders of Germany. The first stories about Christmas trees in Norway are from ab. 1820.


Among the Pagan traditions that have become part of Christmas is burning the yule log. A Yule log is a large wooden log which is burned in the hearth as a part of traditional Yule or Christmas celebrations in several European cultures. In all the customs its significance seems to lie in the iul or "wheel" of the year. It can be a part of the Winter Solstice festival or the Twelve Days of Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or Twelfth Night.The Druids would bless a log and keep it burning for 12 days during the winter solstice; part of the log was kept for the following year, when it would be used to light the new yule log. For the Vikings, the yule log was an integral part of their celebration of the solstice, the julefest; on the log they would carve runes representing unwanted traits (such as ill fortune or poor honor) that they wanted the gods to take from them. The expression "Yule log" has also come to refer to log-shaped Christmas cakes, also known as "chocolate logs" or "Buche de Noël". The Yule log is related to other Christmas and Yuletide traditions such as the Ashen faggot.

                                                                photo  grethe bachmann

Common Holly/ Kristtorn

Ilex aquifolium


 















Holly with its fine darkgreen shining leaves and bright red berries is a very popular decoration item in the Christmas season.

Holly, or European holly to distinguish it from related species, is also called Christmas holly or Mexican holly. Holly is a very ancient species. It can live 500 years, but usually does not reach 100. The old trees are scarce. It originated in southern and south western Europe, from where it spread to the central and western Europe, the North Sea and Australia. Ilex aquifolium is an invasive species on the West Coast of the United States and Hawaii.

Holly has grown in Denmark for the last 7000 years, today seen mostly in east- and south Jutland in hardwoods, thriving well in the shadows of the beech forest. It is listed - it is forbidden to remove a holly in a Danish forest. The flowers in spring are white and pollinated by bees. The toxicity of the fruit necessitates care when handling. Toxins from the fruits are not harmful to birds. Thrushes like blackbird, fieldfare, mistle thrush and redwing like the berries. After the first frost of the season, the fruit becomes soft and falls to the ground serving as important food for winter birds. This evergreen tree with its thorny leaves is a popular place for smaller birds to roost in the winter. The fact that it bears fruit in winter gives this plant a very important ecological value, being a good food source for many species, especially birds, at a time of scarce resources. These same fruits are considered purgative and emetic to humans.

Holly is rarely used medicinally due to its toxicity, but is diuretic, relieves fevers and has a laxative action.

NB: It is important to watch that children, dogs and cats do not come into contact with holly and the berries.


Folklore
Through thousand of years Holly has played an important role in rituals and religious life. The Holly tree is a symbol of goodwill, health and happiness. Old Christmas Carols are full of allusions to holly - and its most common association is in a Christmas seasoned decoration. In many countries in of Europe the holly tree was called Christ's Thorn or Holy Tree. An old Christmas legend has it that the first holly sprang up under the footsteps of Christ, and its thorny leaves and scarlet berries were likened to drops of blood, symbolic to his suffering.

Hedge of holly trees, Linde church, Randers

As with most other trees holly was revered for its protective qualities. It was said to guard against lightning, poisoning and mischievous spirits, and when planted around the house it was protecting the inhabitants from evil sorcerers. When confronted by wild animals, throwing a stick of holly at them would make them lie down and leave you alone. Water cooked with holly was sprayed on a newborn baby for protection, and carrying a piece of holly was said to promote good luck, particularly in men, for the holly was a male plant, while the ivy was the corresponding female. After midnight on a Friday people could quietly gather nine holly leaves, put them in a white cloth and under the pillow - and their dreams would come true.

For the Romans the holly tree was sacred to Saturn, and wreaths with bright red berries were given as gifts during the holiday Saturnalia, a festival of Saturn, held around the 17th of December. It was a celebration of the winter solstice, upon which the Christmas holiday later was modeled. Christmas Holly and other evergreens were adopted by common Christians as a Christmas decoration in spite of protests from Church fathers.

In ritual uses, holly was associated with death and the rebirth symbolism of winter. It was used in mid winter festivals in the old Celtic tradition for celebrating the Sun God's birth at the winter solstice. The leaves were thought to afford magical protection for homes against witches and lightning strikes, and holly tree sprigs were brought into the dwellings during the cold weather months in the belief that they afforded shelter to fairies. The Celtic priests, the Druids, associated holly with the elements of fire, and the old Celtic smithies and weapon makers used its charcoal to forge the swords, knives and tools.

In folklore holly was associated with the spirit of vegetation and the waning forces of nature. At Christmas time a man, the Holly king, was dressed up and covered in holly branches and leaves, and a woman was likewise dressed in ivy. Together they would be paraded through the streets , hand in hand, leading the old year into the new. Today the Holly king has been stylized by the figure of Santa Claus.


In the Harry Potter Universe Harry's magic wand is the only wand made of Holly.

Sources:
Sten Porse: Plantebeskrivelser; Fred C. Galle: Hollies. The Genus Ilex, 1997; Flora of NW Europe: Ilex aquifolium



photo 2006/2011: grethe bachmann,

Danish Christmas Cookies: Klejner - Recipe

 Klejner

500 gram flour
125 gram butter
125 gram sugar
1 teaspoon cardamom
sliced peel of 1/2 lemon
3 eggs
2 table spoon cream
1/4 tea spoon carbamate

Palmin for cooking
(this is coconut fat, and I've found out that for a portion like this they use 1 kilo for cooking) .

1.
Crumble together the dry ingrediences (flour, sugar, butter, carbamate) . This gives best result if the butter is cold.

2.
Add cream and eggs, work the pastry well. Divide the pastry in five balls, cover them and let them rest for a couple of hours in the fridge. ( you may also let the pastry stay in the fridge till next day). Roll the pastry thin upon a flour-sprinkled table, cut the pastry into ruder (like diamonds in a cardplay), scratch a cut in the middle of each diamond.

3.
Wring the klejner, put them upon a dish. It is important to wring 1/2 of the klejner before start cooking. Heat the palmin, try if it is hot with a match. If it is sizzling around the match the oil is okay. You can start cooking now. Do not put too many klejner into the oil. They must not touch each other too much. Cook until they are golden on both sides. Remember to turn them.

4.
Put the klejner for draining upon fat-absorbing paper. When they are cold put them in a cake tin.
See to that the palmin has a good temperature all the time, or the klejner will become grey and dull.
 

Advice: 
If the oil is too hot the klejner are burnt outside and pasty inside, if the oil is too cold the klejner absorb fat and get heavy.  



Good luck!!

December Traditions built upon Superstition and Omens.....

December
Christ's Month/KristmånedSuperstitions and Omens



Now we are soon in the tvelwth and last month of the year, but in ancient times while the Julian calendar ruled it was the tenth month of the year. Decem means ten in Latin. The medieval Danish name was Kristmåned (Christ's Month), the month where you celebrate the birth of Christ.


Ploughed field, Fulden.

The farmer had to finish his ploughing in the first days of December. After this he brought liquid manure to the winter rye and fetched thorn and staves for building and repairing the fences. If the meadows and the moors were frozen, he cut willow twigs for his furlong fences -and if he had no longstraw for his roof repair, he fetched reed in the frozen meadows and marshes.
He also had to repair the watermills and the sluices. Indoor the farmer family was concentrated around the Christmas preparations, but the whole family helped each other to repair tools and make twine and ropes. There was no time for laziness in the farmer's family.

Weather omens were serious matters then, not just something to make fun about. If an omen said that a cold and snowy December promised a fertile year and a good summer, then the farmer wanted cold and snow. A mild month with rain and fog made him worried. But else the weather omens were few in December, although three unlucky days kept people inside the house - the 6th, 11th and 18th of December. The 6th of December was Sct. Nicolai's Day, and if the weather was good it would be good the rest of the month. If the 8th of December (Sct. Anna's Day) came with thaw the whole winter would be mild.

The night between 12th and 13th December (Sct. Lucia) was a dangerous night. Before people went inside in the evening the whole year's work had to be finished and all crops be under cover, or else they would be destroyed by de underjordiske/the underground people (trolls, pixies etc.) It was an exciting night for the young girls on the farm. It was possible for the girl to see her future fiancé, if she held a lit candle in each hand and looked into a mirror while she spoke a verse:

Luci du blide
skal lade mig vide:
hvis dug jeg skal brede,
hvis seng jeg skal rede,
hvis kærest' jeg skal være,
hvis barn jeg skal bære,
i hvis arm jeg skal sove.

Luci you gentle one,
let me know,
whose table cloth I shall spread,
whose bed I shall make,
whose sweetheart I shall be,
whose child I shall bear,
in whose arm I shall sleep.




The night before Christmas the stables were cleaned extra thoroughly and the livestock had plenty of clean bedding and extra fodder. The superstition said that the animals found their tongue on Christmas Eve, and if everything wasn't quite allright then they would speak evil about their master and his house.

The family also had to consider "the underground people", and it was necessary to do a lot of preparations in order to prevent their destructive power. The farmer had to put steel above the stable door, and the teeth of the cattle had to be rubbed in salt and soot, (poor cattle!) to prevent the underground people from harming the animals. Plough, harrow and other tools had to be indoor, when Jerusalems shoemaker - the Wandering Jew - was out walking that night. If he rested upon a forgotten implement, then nothing was able to grow in that field the following year.

All things made of iron had a great power, and besides the steel above the stable door the farmer had to put a solid scythe into the corn pile, an axe into the dunghill and a big knife into the eaves.
Overall were dangerous creatures at work, numerous tales were told about helhesten(a ghost horse with three legs), trolls, witches, evil minded pixies, vætter (elves) and other dangerous underground people, who were the cause of misfortune to people who did not take precautions against them.



The farmer's wife and the farm girls had to see to that all clothes had been washed and dried before Christmas Eve - all clothes had to be indoor. The saying was: Den der klæder gærder i julen skal klæde lig inden året er omme. /He who dresses the fence in clothes during Christmas must dress a dead body before the end of the year.

The Christmas dinner went on and on - and on. Many believed that he who first stopped eating would die before the end of the coming year. This must really have been a hard nut to crack. They had to stop eating at the same time!

Often people put an extra, lit candle in the window. It had to show all wayfarers where the farm was , but it also had to lead the departed of the family, when they visited their home this night. Some put an extra setting on the Christmas table.

Many of our Christmas dishes come from the pagan solstitial celebrations. The special tradition where the farmer puts porridge upon the loft for the Christmas pixy is probably even older than this - probably from bondestenalderen (4000 bc) . In this period porridge was offered to friendly gods who lived by the settlement.

The Christmas pork roast is an old tradition too, way back to the pagan sacrificial celebrations before Christ, when the biggest hog (gilded orne) was sacrificed to the fertility god Frej, (Frodi) so that he would bring "year and peace" to the farm.



Christmas Day was a very important time. The farmer was dependent on the weather like the farmer has always been and still is. He had to imagine the weather in the year to come. In the morning the farmer cut twelve grooves (for the twelve days of Christmas) in a beam in the ceiling, and around every groove he made a chalk circle. Every day he wrote signs in a circle - if it was raining he wrote dots, if it was storming he wrote stripes and so on. He marked every circle with a sign which he himself knew the meaning of and which he had learned from his father. When Christmas was over he could easily see how the weather would be in the next twelve months. Actually a long-term forecast of that time. Today our long-term forecasts on TV are somewhat more advanced, but this doesn't mean they are more reliable. When I remember my umbrella the sun starts to shine and when I forget my umbrella it rains cats and dogs.

On this first day of Christmas it was not allowed to walk about in the farm. Fodder for the livestock were ready for several days. The farmer had to keep away from the grindstone, his wife had to keep away from the spinning wheel. Sewing and knitting were also forbidden, both this day and the rest of the Christmas days. If people crossed this line they were almost sure to get swellen fingers the next year. On every one of the twelve Christmas days it was widely forbidden to make practical and useful things, except when it was necessary to supply the fodder for the livestock and other necessary things.



Most omens were taken the night before the festival and the farmer was very interested in the weather on the last day of the year. If it was raining on exactly this day (Sylvesterdag) the harvest would be a difficult one. Furthermore he took a slice of bred on New Year's Eve, smeared lard on and cut it in four. Those four pieces were put on the floor. The chained dog was brought into the room and held back while the farmer pointed at the bread slices one by one and told the dog: "This is my rye, this is my oat, this is my wheat and this is my barley". The dog was loosened and the bread slice he eat first told the farmer which kind of corn would bring the best yield in the following season. And the next slices the dog eat were also put in order in the farmer's mind. So if the omen later showed to be wrong it wasn't his fault. Maybe he thought it was the dog's fault!

The young farm girls played fortunetellers. One girl went outside the room, and the girl who wanted to know about her future took four little bowls. The first one was placed over a tiny bunch of soil , the other above a ring, the third above a comb and the fourth above nothing. Then the girl outside was called upon and she pointed on one of the four bowls. The soil meant death, the ring meant early betrothal, the comb was marriage - and the empty bowl meant that nothing would change in the coming year.





Shortly before twelve according to the custom people started making a terrible noise with pots and pans in order to chase away evil spirits, but at twelve there was silence for a short moment, and then everyone wished one another a Happy New Year. We still make some noise but we don't believe in evil spirits - do we? We still wish each other a Happy New Year, and I wonder how old that tradition is.

Some people back then even believed that if they on New year's night at twelve stood in the middle of a crossroad and called out three times for a dear departed, then he or she would show and answer three questions.

Whatever! A new year began, and people way back then were dependent on so many things and afraid of so many things that it is impossible to imagine for us today. But if you have ever been out in the country on a completely dark night then you might catch an ancient feeling of fear. No moon, no stars, no street lights. You cannot even see your own hand. On a Christmas holiday by my grandmother, when I was about ten years, I had to fetch milk for her on a farm nearby on such a dark night. I was terribly scared and couldn't find my way in some critical moments. And in the old days, in the Middle Ages and long before, way back in time people really believed that out in the dark were evil spirits, the ghost horse, trolls, witches, pixies, elves and many more dangerous creatures.

Source: Ruth Gunnarsen: Familiens Højtider i gamle dage.
photo/mostly from Hjerl Hede Open Air Museum, Jutland: grethe bachmann

The famous Cat Maru and a Christmas stocking

 

Maru and the Christmas stocking 





Have fun!

Poinsettia/ Julestjerne

Euphorbia pulcherrima





Poinsettia/ Julestjerne  is an ornamental plant originally from Mexico . It is  a commercially important plant and is widely used in Christmas floral displays. It derives its common English name from Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first United States Minister to Mexico, who introduced the plant to the US in 1825.

Poinsettia is a shrub or small tree, typically reaching a height of 0.6–4 metres (2–13 ft). The plant bears dark green dentate leaves that measure 7–16 centimetres (2.8–6.3 in) in length. The colored bracts—which are most often flaming red but can be orange, pale green, cream, pink, white, or marbled—are often mistaken for flower petals because of their groupings and colors, but are actually leaves. The colors of the bracts are created through photoperiodism, meaning that they require darkness (12 hours at a time for at least five days in a row) to change color. At the same time, the plants require abundant light during the day for the brightest color.

Young plants are partly succulents. The short branches are from beginning herbel-like and juicy, but they gradually turn wooden-like. The barch is first olive green, but later greyish brown with crevices. The upperside of the leaves is dark green, while the underside is light green. 
The flowers of the poinsettia are unassuming and do not attract pollinators. They are grouped within small yellow structures found in the center of each leaf bunch, and are called cyathia.

Like in other plants of the spurge family (vortemælkfamilien) the juice is latex-containing and white. People with latexallergy must avoid to get the juice on their skin. The plant iself is only vaguely poisonous .

There are over 100 cultivated varieties of poinsettia.

In areas outside its natural environment, it is commonly grown as an indoor plant where it prefers good morning sun, then shade in the hotter part of the day. Contrary to popular belief, flowering poinsettias can be kept outside, even during winter, as long as they are kept frost-free. It is widely grown and very popular in subtropical climates.

The plant requires a daily period of uninterrupted long, dark nights followed by bright sunny days for around two months in autumn in order to encourage it to develop colored bracts. Any incidental light during these nights (from a nearby television set, from under a door frame, even from passing cars or street lights) hampers bract production. Commercial production of poinsettia has been done by placing them inside a greenhouse and covering the latter completely to imitate the natural biological situation.

Poinsettias are susceptible to several diseases, mostly fungal, but also bacterial and parasitic.

The poinsettia is native to Mexico. It is found in the wild in deciduous tropical forests at moderate elevations from southern Sinaloa down the entire Pacific coast of Mexico to Guatemala.
The species is naturalized in many other tropic districts.  

The poinsettia has been cultivated in egypt since the 1860s, when it was brought from Mexico during the Egyptian campaign. It is called bent el consul, "the consul's daughter", referring to the U.S. ambassador Joel Poinsett

The Aztecs used the plant to produce red dye and as an antipyretic medication. In Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, the plant is called Cuitlaxochitl, meaning "flower that grows in residues or soil". Today it is known in Mexico and Guatemala as Flor de Noche Buena, meaning Christmas Eve Flower. In Spain it is known as Flor de Pascua or Pascua, meaning Easter flower.

In Chile and Peru, the plant became known as Crown of the Andes.  In Turkey, it is called Atatürk's flower because Atatürk, the founder of the Republic, liked this flower and made a significant contribution to its cultivation in Turkey.  In Hungarian, it is called Santa Claus flower, and it's widely used as a Christmas decoration.
 
The plant's association with Christmas began in 16th-century Mexico, where legend tells of a girl, commonly called Pepita or Maria, who was too poor to provide a gift for the celebration of Jesus' birthday and was inspired by an angel to gather weeds from the roadside and place them in front of the church altar.  Crimson blossoms sprouted from the weeds and became poinsettias.

From the 17th century, Franciscan friars in Mexico included the plants in their Christmas celebrations.The star-shaped leaf pattern is said to symbolize the Star of Bethlehem, and the red color represents the Blood Sacrifice through the Crucifixion of Jesus.

Poinsettias are popular Christmas decorations in homes, churches, offices, and elsewhere They are available in large numbers from grocery, drug, and hardware stores. In the United States, December 12 is National Poinsettia Day.

JUL, JÓL, CHRISTMAS, WEIHNACHT, NAVIDAD................

Scandinavian Jul in the Viking period and in the early Middle Ages.
(source: Middelalderhistorie, Århus Universitet)

Candle in Vor Frue Kirke, Århus/ GB

The word Jul or the Old Norse Jól was used long before Christianity came to Denmark and Scandinavia. Jul was the term for the winter feasts when days of the year again began to grow longer - but today it is difficult to know what these ancient feasts really meant to people. 

Carl Larsson, Midvinterblót, (wikipedia)

The linguistic history of the word Jul are somewhat lost, but it has probably German roots. An early example of the use of the word is in the Gothic language spoken in Central and South Eruope in late Antiquity and in the early Middle Ages. The word Jul is first seen in the 300s. It was among others used in the form jiuleis which was the name for November or December. A few centuries later it is seen in Old English where it occurs as goiuli giulæi or youle  - as a description  of the period December-January. In Old Norse ( the language in Scandinavia in the Viking Age) the word seems to have had several meanings, but everything points to that the Old Norse Jól can be translated into feast. The word seems to have spread in Europe in Antiquity and early Middle Ages, the periods which in Denmark are named Iron Age and Viking Age. It was everywhere used about the same time of the year, but it is uncertain what the word actually covered -  also in the Nordic context.

Viking House, Fyrkat/ GB

There are no contemporary written sources which describe the before-Christian Jul. A few Nordic sources like scaldic verses and sagas, which use the word jul/jól, were written down in the Christian period, and they therefore reflect the world view of the Christian writer. In most source-cases where jul is mentioned, it is used about the Christian celebration, but a few Nordic sources indicate that the jul in Scandinavia  - also in the time before Christianity -  was a special event in December or January.

Harald Haarfager/ wikipedia

This is seen in the probably earliest Nordic source which mentions the word jul. It is a scaldic verse ( ab. year 900) by the scald Thorbjørn Hornklofi,  composed to king Harald Haarfager of Norway (king ca. 872-930). The  verse sounds like this: "the king will drink jul out ... and make Frej's play". The first words probably refer to how a ruler in the Viking Age had to move around a lot if he wanted to keep his power. It is not clear what is meant by Frej's play, but the drink sacrifice took a central role in the before-Christian religion, where the Vikings drank to honor gods like Frej and Odin. Maybe the verse refers to a sacrifice like this.

Odin, Hugin and Munin/wikipedia

Another scaldic verse pays tribute to king Harald Hardrada of Norway (king 1046-1066) for his victory at the battle field. It was said that the king prepared jul for Hugin's hird. Hugin was one of Odin's ravens, so the verse refers probably to the men killed in the battle and being food for the ravens. Maybe here is also referred to the unusual numbers of food taken in at the feasts of jul.

Hakon the Good/ wikipedia

The Icelandic Christian chronicle writer Snorri Sturlasson mentions jul in a saga about the Norwegian king Hakon the Good  (king ab.
933- 959). The saga was written down in ab. 1230. He describes that king Hakon decides to celebrate jul at the same time as the Christians. The saga also tells the story about a Viking chief, who after being a Christian, still held on to the tradition to celebrate three big feasts during each year, three yearly sacrifice feasts: one at the beginning of winter, one in midwinter and one in the start of summer.

Snorri Sturlasson,C.Krogh/ Wikipedia

When he became a Christian he continued celebrating three feasts each year, which were now named gæstebud (banquets): one in autumn, a jul-feast in winter and one at Easter. How the feasts were celebrated is told by Snorri: "the Christian king Hakon was invited to a jul-feast by some heathen farmers, who according to tradition wanted the king to take part in the sacrifice. (blót) The Christian king would not take part in this, but he needed to have the support of the farmers, so he found a compromise: he eat a little horse liver and drank some memorial cheers without crossing his drinking cup. Making the sign of the cross was a Christian custom which the farmers would never accept.

Jolagjafir/ wikipedia

The sagas holds also the first example e of the word julegave (Christmas gift). It is seen in a description of Norway's king Hakon (king 1093-1095). He was supported by a part of the Norwegian population if he refrained from filing the traditional taxes which the Norwegian people had to give the king, including julegaver/jolagjafir. In other parts of the sagas are examples of julegaver which remind of the phenomenon, known today. Scandinavian Viking chiefs gave gifts to their families around the turn of the year, and thus he followed a custom which had spread in the European courts. Princes also used gifts traditionally to attract important people and thereby establish or hold on to their social status. In time these gifts were connected to the jule feast.

Jul in Lejre, Zealand/ wikipedia

The German history writer Thietmar of Merseburg wrote in the beginning of the 1000s about a sacrifice feast which was held each year at Lejre in the Danish isle Zealand. Archeologists have here found a very important place, which probably functioned as the royal court of the Danes. According to Thietmar the Danes sacrificed humans and  animals in Lejre at a time where Christians celebrated the Holy three kings on 6 January, these sacrifices were held in order to please the underground people. Thietmar's descriptions reflects a Christian's negative view upon a heathen society -  and it is not certain if his description can be connected to the before-Christian jul, but it indicates that people of Scandinavia in December or January celebrated ritual blót-feasts.

Sacrifice place, reconstruction, DK/ wikipedia

After the introduction of Christianity in Denmark several sources mention how Danish kings kept magnificent feasts in order to celebrate the Christian jul. German history writers like Arnold of Lübeck describe in the 1100s how Danish kings had great drinking feasts. Similar descriptions are also seen in the Danish chronicles. The history writer Saxo wrote ab.year 1200 about a jule feast at the Danish court. The king invited the greatest men of the kingdom to magnificent feasts where they eat and drak for several days.

Sacrifice of food,reconstruction, DK/ wikipedia

Some are of the opinion that the before-Christian jul was at winter solstice, 21 or 22 December, others that it was at midwinter night between 19-20 January. Both suggestions could be true. There were probably several ritual feasts, which were held on various times in December or January. The feasts have varied from district to district, maybe even from family to family in some cases. There was probably a summer solstice feasts,  a feast at midwinter, and in other cases a fertility feast. The jól of winter was regarded as one of the intersection points of the year.

Feast in Middle Ages/ wikipedia

The jul was a ritual event, connected to the middle of winter. It seems that great men from the social elite often were the focal point of important feasts. Like the king the powerful men of the kingdom were often central in the ceremonies which were connected to the practice of the before-Christian religion - and they played undoubtedly an important role in marking the Jul. They drank, eat and sacrificed, and the sacrifice was probably held in one of the great halls where the elite resided. The jul-feast contributed to hold on to and to develop the social and religious structures of society.

Earliest Danish cross, Vor Frue kirke, Århus/ GB

In Scandinavia the word jul survived the introduction of Christianity, while other parts of Europe began to use words, which came from Christianity, like the English Christmas, the German Weihnacht and the Spanish Navidad etc. Likewise the considerable intake of food and drink seemed to live on in new forms. People did not cheer in the honor of Odin and Frej, but celebrated the birth of Christ. Although it immediately looks as if central parts of the before-Christian jul continued after the introduction of Christianity, it is important to say that the informations were written down by later Christian writers. They saw the past through a Christian lens and might therefore have transferred a part of their contemporary jul-celebration to their description of the past.





Source: Middelalderhistorie.dk, Århus Universitet.

The Sun always shines above the Clouds..............

Sunset, Gilleleje, Zealand

It is late November - and it is soon midwinter, the sun sets early in the afternoon. The earth in my garden is wet, wet, wet -  and the sun has no power in the short time it shows its face during the day hours. But from December 21 at winter solstice the sun will slowly return to its usual power in spring and summertime. And then we can sing "Here comes the sun......"




                                                                                
We do not worship and sacrifice to the sun like the ancient people did. The sun's power over mankind was always great, especially in the countries to the North, where the sun at midwinter is like a far disc,  pale, golden and cold as the moon  -   and in some places like in The Land of the Midnight Sun it disappears for a period. No wonder the ancient people tried to recreate the sun above the southern horizon, the warmth  had to come back to bring life over nature after a dark winter -  and when the sun appeared again, its return was celebrated with cheers throughout the settlements.

Trundholm Sun Chariot

Petroglyphs with sun sign

During Stone Age and Bronze Age the sun was one of the lifegiving powers which people feared the most, but it was also the power which was mostly worshipped. It was the first of the heavenly powers which was brought to the North with the first farmers and cattle breeders about 5000 years ago. When the sun chariot from Trundholm was found,  it was a proof that the sun was worshipped in ancient times. The sun chariot was the costiest thing people had, with a golden disc and a magnificent horse, and they always sacrificed their most valuable item to the sun god.

The horse was in Bronze Age a sacred animal, it was only used in religious celebrations, stallion fights and in the first sacred ploughing of the New Year. The chariot and the horse is an unambiguously witness that the sun was worshipped in early Bronze Age - or else the sun is in ancient times most often reproduced by a sign: a wheel cross, a circle, a spiral or a fully carved disc which is seen on some petroglyphs. It is known that in the near Orient and in North India the wheel was in ancient times a commonly used image of the sun. The circle or the ring is the simplest reproduction of the sun, and together with the spiral those signs decorated the disc of the Trundholm chariot.

Midsummer celebration, Sweden, 1969.

Although people was still worshipping the sun it lost some prominence during Bronze Age. The sign of the sun did not disappear. through the times and up till present, it was still there, seen mostly as a wheel with four or more spokes . A weak reflection has been kept in the sundance on Pentecost morning . Especially in spring and midsummer many places in the North and bordering areas to the south continued the fertility-belief, which was linked to the sun and the power of the sun. They rolled burning wheels and discs down over hillsides or threw them up in the air. A sign of the sun like plaited wreaths are still put on new buildings as a celebration or at a midsummer pole -  and no one wonder why or know that this is a continuation of a fertility cult.

Sami family in spring celebration.

A special source of information about the sun cult from Prehistoric time is probably the Sami people's worshipping of gods, which continued up till the 17th  and 18th  century. It was written down by officious Swedish priests and Norwegian missionaries,  who fought a destruction-war against this worshipping. This part of the Sami religion might be due to the contact they had with the Norse people in a very distant period.
 When the Sames got lost in the mountains because of bad weather and fog, they placed as a sacrifice to the sun a holed wooden disc : a wheel. On Christmas morning they saluted the sun and drank its tribute and took omens about good or bad luck in the year to come from the sunshine upon a brass ring in water. After the homecoming they drank a tribute to the fertility gods and brought sacrifices to the sun, the bones of the sacrificed animals were placed in a circle upon a sacred table - or meat hung up in a circle-bend wicker twig. The sun would then recognize its sacrifice through the sun signs. At midsummer wreaths of leaves and grass were hung up in honour of the sun.

Swedish Christmas cakes 16th century.

A link between midwinter's solstice, old ancient sun-belief  and the fertility of the next year,  were up till present time kept in the Swedish Christmas bread,which was decorated with the signs of the sun, the wheel and the spiral. The Christmas bread was stored in winter - and in spring it was crumbled and given in small bites to both humans and animals in the farm on the first day of the spring-sowing in order to secure a good harvest.
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Archaeological magazine SKALK nr. 4, 1961: P.V.Glob, "Solens Tegn".
photo Gilleleje: grethe bachmann
other photos: wikipedia. 

Childbirth in Scandinavia in the 16th century

Dagligt Liv i Norden i det 16 århundrede 
Fødsel og Daab

The mother gets a drink

Superstition was still alive in the 16th century's Scandinavia , much  like in the dark Middle Ages,  but it was more spread among people, and more common in the countryside than in the city. It might also have something to do with people being afraid of the dark at night. The city streets were relatively lighted up by the lit windows in the houses, but in the country the night was really black, especially in the winter season, and Christmas was a special dangerous time. No one went out after dark. The cattle had been taken care of - there was no need to go out in the stable. The household stayed inside in safe surroundings. Outside ruled the trolls and the elf-people

The situation around the birth of a child was filled with dangers. "The mother to be" was assisted by a group of women who had to help her with everything possible, but their most important job was to watch that the newborn child became a * changeling - a a troll came and changed it with a troll-baby. Whatever the group of women were many or few,  they all stayed in the same room at nightfall - the delivery room. In common or poor homes the assisting women were usually a group of wives, who also had to go home and take care of their own house and children, only two or three could stay all the time, but in the nobility the women were family and friends, often from far away. They were invited to witness the important family event and they stayed in the house for some time.

the baby is being wrapped.

It might not seem a good idea to disturb the mother's nightrest, but the precaution  around the newborn child was one of the most important according to the contemporary concepts. The most difficult fight was in charge and many were needed to assist against the evil trolls.  All night through the women had to protect the two heathens, the mother and the baby, against the powers of the dark.

First of all the room had to be continously illuminated. Poor people - who daily used some special sticks which could not be kept lit all night - had  to keep the fire burning in the hearth day and night as long as a heathen child was in the house. This was still a custom around 1900 in some districts in Norway and Sweden. The prosperous and rich people in the Catholic period had consecrated lights. They also sprinkled the room with holy water, and smoked it with consecrated herbs. But after the reformation people just used common lights and crossed themselves and put a book of psalms upon the baby's chest. Still on the time of the writer Ludvig Holberg (1684-1754)  this custom was used. The lights had to be as oldfashioned as possible, the waxlights were not as effective as the old tallow candles. (Ludvig Holberg wrote a comedy Barselstuen (The Delivery Room)

Trolls, fresco Voldby kirke

By using these precautions and still being two or three watching-women in the room they were able to secure the two "heathens" -  ( as they were considered to be until the baptismal) . But the women were sometimes in doubt if they - while they were in a hurry - had done one of some fatal errors. They  might have been drying the child's clothes out in the air,  or they might have borrowed something out from the house, or they might have been rotating the grinder etc. - there was no end on all those dangerous things they might have done. And this could be fatal in a house with a little heathen child. Especially the Christmas period was dangerous for the child.

A son for the knight's wife.

In such circumstances the women could do nothing else but try to have the damage fixed. The baby  was the weakest of the two heathens, it had to be cured first of all. It might be cured by a lead coin, best if it was cast of church lead and with a carved cross, hung around  the baby's neck in the name of Christ. A stronger cure was a ring, cast in silver, collected from nine various women, whose first born was a boy. The most effective cure was to bear the child again by putting it naked through a priest's collar, or through the hole of a together-grown tree, or through an opening in a grass turf from the church yard -  or through the fence by a cross road. And all the time while saying Lords Prayer.


If none of those cures were good enough,  it really seemed that the child in spite of the care of the women had been confused with a troll's child. The women had been overwhelmed with fatigue and the woman, who had to do the watch had unfortunately fallen a little asleep. But even though they were all awake the cunning troll might sneak into the room anyway, while the tallow lights burnt drowsily. The troll might sneak along the deep shadows, remove the book of psalms from the baby's chest and change the baby with his own troll-baby without anyone noticing it.

A changeling is whipped.

If the women had a reason to believe that this had happened, there was nothing else left but having this little monster sent back to its home and get back the right child. But first they had to be sure that the child really was a changeling. A changeling-baby might be recognized by its big head and excessive appetite, but since human babies might be alike, the women had to do two tests. One was to hold the naked baby towards the sun in the morning - especially on Easter morning. If the child was a changeling it would crack at once. The other milder test was to lure the changeling to talk and thereby reveal its real age. For although it looked like a baby and lay in a cradle it was really an old guy. It was all foul play from the troll's side when the baby pretended not to be able to talk or understand but only knew how to eat.

Many tricks were done to lure the troll-baby to reveal itself. A Jutland woman was brewing some beer and did it in a special odd way, and the baby suddenly said. "I have lived for many years and have never seen it done in this way!". Another woman used another trick. She promised to give the child some sausage but served roast pork and the baby said. "I have never seen such a sausage in all my life," And such the women tried to make the troll-child reveal its true nature.

It was more difficult if it was impossible to see if the baby was a changeling. But if suddenly there were two babies in the cradle then there was really panic among the women. Which one was a changeling? Such cases are told in both Scandinavia and Germany. There was an advice to find out which child was a changeling. A wild foal was fetched. The two babies were laid upon the ground, shrouded in a cloth and the foal sniffed to them. The foal sniffed to one child and wanted to lick it, but when it sniffed to the other child, it became quite wild and crazy and wanted to kick it. There was no doubt who was the changeling! But before anyone could do anything a tall woman came along, took the changeling and disappeared.

Delivery room, 16th century.

If the watch-women and the parents had found out that the baby was a changeling, they had to mistreat it so forcefully that the true parents, the trolls, had pity and took it back. So the women whipped the little monster, they spit on it and swept it out of the house with the dust rubbish , they pretended they wanted to burn it in the hot oven -  but sometimes the changeling in the shape of a little guy, run off himself, he curled up and roll along up hills and down valley - or else it might happen that an old man or woman showed up, took the changeling and put the human baby in the cradle instead. Such strange stories are told from Germany, England, Scotland and Ireland.


With all these terrible dangers it was no wonder that the parents wanted to baptize their baby as soon as possible, and it was usual at that time that a baptismal came soon after the birth.  People considered the baptismal like a new life where the child was dressed in some kind of armour. The child was hardened they said. This expression was still used in the 19th century.



* changeling, Danish word: skifting. 


Source
Dagligt liv i Norden i det 16 århundrede, Troels fr. Troels-Lund, 1914-1915, Tema: Danish Literature, Middle Ages. .