MERRY CHRISTMAS, ONE AND ALL
Posted on 12/24/2007 9:57:08 AM PST by Leifur
Today is Christmas Eve. Christmas in Iceland officially begins when the bells of Reykjavík Cathedral chime at 6 pm: http://dagskra.ruv.is/streaming/ras1/live/ (listen to it live) By then families will have gathered around the dinner table to have smoked pork and afterwards they open presents.
Family members of all ages dress up in their finest clothes, after a long and relaxing Christmas bath, before dinner starts.
A smoked pork roast, glazed with sugar and decorated with pineapple according to a Danish tradition, will be on many dinner tables in Iceland. Side dishes include sugar-coated potatoes, green beans, red cabbage and a salad made of whipped cream, apples, walnuts, celery and grapes. A popular first course is cream of asparagus and home made ice cream is often eaten as dessert.
Roasted ptarmigan is a traditional Icelandic Christmas dinner, originally more common among poorer families. Roasted goose is also a popular dinner at Christmas and reindeer steak is gaining popularity.
Christmas ale, a mixture of orange soda and malt, is the traditional Christmas drink in Iceland, although in recent years many adults prefer wine.
After a three-course meal, the presents that have been stacked underneath the Christmas tree, are opened. Traditionally Christmas cards are not opened until Christmas Eve.
Before Christmas Eve the whole house has to be cleaned and the bed sheets washed. Many people get books for Christmas, and after chatting and playing board games until midnight or longer, they creep in between their freshly washed sheets and browse through their new books.
Some families go to Church at 6 pm on Christmas Eve and have dinner afterwards; others might attend a midnight mass. Many go to the graveyard before dinner to place a candle on the graves of loved ones that have passed away and honor their memory.
A typical lunch on December 24 is rice pudding. An almond is hidden in the saucepan and the person who finds the almond in his or her rice pudding gets a little surprise. Other families have rice pudding with an almond for dessert.
During Dinner many listen to the Mass, now is a Holy Time, you can listen to the mass with Every Icelander nearly in the streaming url above and here:
http://dagskra.ruv.is/streaming/ras1/live/
During times like these I wonder how anyone could want to live in a multicultural country where there is nothing that binds everyone together. Homogenity is not a bad thing at least during these kind of festivals, listening to mass in the State run Radio station from the official unseparated church of Iceland.
Merry Christmas everyone, from a small nation at least still celebrating the birth of the Saviour together as one.
During times like these I wonder how anyone could want to live in a multicultural country where there is nothing that binds everyone together. Homogenity is not a bad thing at least during these kind of festivals, listening to mass in the State run Radio station from the official unseparated church of Iceland.
Merry Christmas everyone, from a small nation at least still celebrating the birth of the Saviour together as one.
>>A smoked pork roast, glazed with sugar and decorated with pineapple according to a Danish tradition, will be on many dinner tables in Iceland. <<
Isn’t this ham?
Merry Christmas! Thank you for the beautiful glimpse of Christmas in your country!
Yes, propably, my family though never has Ham/pork on Chrismas or Easter, even though we ain´t Adventists we have never been comfortable with having ham on holy days like these. We have the ham on new years day more often or old years day.
We have most often a bird on Christmas Eve. It strikes me a little that the author claims everyone has the same this night, it varies according to families. On the other hand, on Christmas Day, everyone has the same thing, smoked lamb with a white sauce and green beans.
I shouldn´t be here at the computer, my family is switching now from the main course to the after course, propably my mom´s traditional home made Ice cream. It is delicious. On days like this even the most liberal of people must be somewhat conservative in what they do, traditions are beutiful thing.
Thank you the same, we get a lot of the same from you in all the shows and the movies.
One thing has always perplexed me, what is the main difference in like traditions, what you eat and such in christmas and your like little christmas you call Thanksgiving (I am aware of the history of that day), it has always perplexed me.
And when do you like stop celebrating Christmas? Officially Christmas is here during 13 days (13 days of chrismas) and on the 13. day (somewhere around 6 or 7. of january) there is a bonfire and a little celebration in many places.
How about Easter, how do you celebrate that differently than the christmas?
Is there no like mass tradition, like listening to or going to mass on Christmas Eve, on midnight or on Christmas day for like all or most Americans? I mean this is the only day many Icelanders go to church, I understand many of you do it more often, but are there many that don´t even go on Christmas?
MERRY CHRISTMAS, ONE AND ALL
Merry Christmas, and May God Bless You!
Merry Christmas
Oops my mistake, of course the Ice Cream is tomorrow, I should have known that by now, now is of course a more like a Ris-a-la-mand or like a rice pudding or what it is called as desert. Propably there is a nut in one dish, and who gets it gets an extra present. Now I must run, the dinner is served.
Now, I'm off to Christmas Eve services.
Midnight Services are starting now in half an hour, my family is contemplating weather we should go or not. The harvest has been good gift vise ;), both for me but especially for my siblings, you can see that times are good here in Iceland, there is no surprise we are now officially (by UN) considered the best place to live. It is even too much if anything.
But yeah, going to mass to lighten yourself a little up and think about the real reason for our festivities and faith is maybe the best thing to do now, best wishes hope you have a good service. Have a jolly good the rest of Christmas, that is the next 13 days according to church calender.
Wow, how cool are Latvia´s military uniforms, are you from there? What is the predominant religion, are you protestant or catholic or maybe orthodox (I guess i could look it up). Why and when did you move to US if I am not misunderstanding.
And from what time are these cool uniforms. I wish my country had a little (actually much) more sense for history when it comes to uniforms, signs and flags, that is what happens when you don´t have a military.
go NATO go!! ;)
Ps. I wish Latvia hadn´t excaped from the monster, Soviet Union to be eaten by another monster, the EU.
Have a jolly good the rest of Christmas, that is the next 13 days according to church calender.
Thank you very much, and may the same be true for you.
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