MELINDA BEA
Not every country begins their Christmas celebrations following the settling of their Thanksgiving dinner. Not every country's Santa Claus is wearing a red suit and drives a sleigh. In fact, not every country's big day is Christmas Day.
'Christmas Day is the most boring day in my country,' said Karen Beate Wasa, a freshman with an open major from Norway.
While children all over the United States are just beginning their unwrapping frenzies, children in the Scandinavian countries are sleeping in.
But why are they sleeping in on such an eventful day? Because their exciting holiday was the night before, Christmas Eve.
Unlike the United States, the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Norway and Denmark, hold off on their Christmas celebrations until the first day, or the first Sunday of December.
'That is when we begin our advent calendar,' said Elinor Fondell, a freshman from Sweden with an open major.
The advent calendar is the official countdown to Christmas Eve. One of the more traditional calendars is a wreath made with straw and ribbons, with four candles. A candle is burned for each of the Sundays preceding Christmas Eve.
'For 24 days we prepare by decorating with lilacs and candles,' Wasa said.
They also begin baking cakes and at least seven different kinds of cookies. Wasa said that in Norway they brew a non-alcoholic beer that they drink only at Christmas time.
All this preparation is for the big arrival of Santa Claus or in Danish, Nisse. But there are a number of reasons that would make their Santa Claus unrecognizable to us.
'For one thing,' Wasa said, 'Santa Claus there is not as commercial as he is here.'
Although he varies slightly from country to country, he is not the portly old man with a long, white beard that we are used to greeting us in the shopping malls. Their St. Nick usually is wearing tights and a typical Scandinavian sweater, although he does have the same red hat.
He is also not as secretive as our Santa. Instead of coming into the house through a chimney and leaving gifts, the Scandinavian Santa hands them to the children. He also does not live at the North Pole with elves, but in a barn with animals. Wasa said that a long time ago in Norway the children were actually afraid of Santa because they thought he was an evil gnome.
When the advent calendar marks the final arrival of Christmas Eve, the holiday celebrations begin. Although most Scandinavian celebrations are traditional, they have adopted some new ones.
'At 3 p.m. everyone in Sweden watches 'Donald Duck Christmas' on television,' Fondell said.
Christmas trees are not even bought until Christmas Eve, and then the traditional 'Juletrefest' is held. That is where friends and family hold hands and sing around the newly decorated tree.
That evening, before presents are opened, there is a large family meal of roast or pork, vegetables and a rice pudding desert. The rice pudding is made with almonds and somewhere in the pudding is a whole almond. The person who gets the almond wins a prize. In Norway the prize is a marzipan-shaped pig and in Sweden, it is the promise of marriage the following year.