Prepare Ye, The Way!

The day of "Thanks" is over and now it’s time for "Giving". It begins earlier every year, but all stores were ready, stocked and open for customers on "Black Friday", the day after Thanksgiving. In ancient times, there was a festival consisting of a mid-winter sacrificial feast celebrated with bright lights marking the transition from dark winter to spring and summer. The celebratory beverage was known as jul. This has evolved into today's julmust, a soft drink that, in Sweden, outsells Coca-Cola during current Christmas seasons.

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This ancient festival became known as Christmas, a time for celebrating the harvest, fertility, birth and death. In the 900’s, King Haakon I decided that the heathen custom of drinking jul (Yule) was to be moved to December 25th, in honor of the birth of Jesus Christ, and gradually, the pagan feast was Christianized. The name Jul was retained, but the holiday was dedicated to Jesus Christ. Christmas became a mixture of ancient heathen and Christian traditions. In Sweden, and other countries, great joy comes in the preparation. The "Gettting There" becomes almost as much a joy as the real thing!

---------------------------------------------------- Advent is the Christian season marking the preparations for Christmas. In Norway, it is celebrated with advent candles. Usually four candles set in a candelabra. The first is lit on the first Sunday of Advent-four Sundays before Christmas. Another candle is lit each Sunday, making the "Countdown" to Christmas Eve, December 24th. The final, middle candle is lit December 25.

------------------------------------------------------------------ In the Scandinavian countries of Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark and Finland, there is a tradition of having a so-called Advent calendar, or Julekalender. Over the years, there have been several different kinds of julekalender marking the days to Christmas. Some are directed at adults while others are designed for the children. Many are woven into TV Shows that begin on December 1 and end on the 24th. The Julekalender was first aired on Swedish TV in 1960 with the program called Joulukalenteri.

---------------------------- These "count-down" calendars often featured 24 windows that would be opened one-a-day, featuring a biblical saying, gift, or maybe a treat. The first widespread advent calendars evolved from a collection of 24 gingerbread cookies with numbers made of melted sugar!. Today, most Swedish children get a Swedish Television Calendar based on a serialized story that they can follow as they open each window while viewing the show.

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So, the count-down to Christmas has begun. Last Sunday marked the lighting of the first Advent candle with only three more to go!

Many of us have given daily gifts counting down The Twelve Days of Christmas, while other countries enjoy doubling their fun!