After a few difficult years of famine, you could finally celebrate Christmas again. I have taken a closer look at Christmas traditions and superstitions - and tell what Christmas in a small farmhouse could look like in the 1870s.
150 years ago, neither Christmas tree decorations, Advent candlesticks nor Santa Claus were known in the Swedish countryside. They fought for bread and were happy if there was food on the table. But even in the simplest crofts, Christmas was still a big holiday that was celebrated properly.
In the past, it was a disaster if the harvest went wrong. In the late 1860s, it was a period of severe crop failure when people and animals starved. That is also why many broke up and sought happiness in America. Those who remained were to work hard to survive. You did not know the kind Santa Claus in a red hat - but that there was a small strict garden gnome, you knew that.
The garden gnome would be kept happy
In the autumn, the working days were particularly long and heavy. Potatoes and beets would be harvested, firewood cut, the animals fertilized extra and the soil plowed. The threshing was finally done, and it was important that everything was finished before Christmas. On December 21, the garden gnomes contract expired and then he did not want to guard the grain anymore. Christmas was associated with a lot of magic and superstition - therefore it was important that everything was taken care of properly.
In the last weeks before Christmas, the household was in full swing. The slaughter was an important part of the Christmas preparations. They took advantage of almost everything and made sausages, press jam, lung puree, blood sausages, flatbread and much more. Light was cast from the tallow from the slaughter, and the membranes were stretched like "glass" in the lanterns. If anything from the pig was left over, it was buried under a rock so that the yard gnome would be kept happy.
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| For Christmas, you should be extra kind to the animals - otherwise the garden gnome got angry. |
Christmas beer was brewed and lye fish was soaked
Christmas beer was brewed from wort and hops. And so that the beer would not be enchanted, it was important that everyone cheered and shouted "hello funny" as loud as you could when the yeast was put in. On Anna Day on December 9, the lye fish would be soaked and the beer ready to be tasted. It was to be celebrated with a real party - "Anna with a jug" as they said. Generosity has always been associated with Christmas, and housewives gladly went with a basket of food and bavirages to the poorest in the parish.
The Christmas baking could take several days
The week before Christmas went to the big bread baking. It took several hours to light the baking oven and it was a heavy job to beat and knead the large doughs in the wooden trays. The doughs were then left to rise on the stove heat before being baked into loaves or flat cakes. The big Christmas bake could last for several days and was strenuous for the women of the house. It was not uncommon for over a hundred kilos of flour to be used, and fermented rye loaves were made from it, which could weigh six kilos each.
Depending on where in Sweden you lived, for example, everyday bread, wort loaves, sour loaves, hard bread cakes, party bread and flatbread were baked. And to make the loaves extra good, they were brushed with juniper syrup. Pretzels, wheat bread, lynx cats, almond mussels and gingerbread were a luxury that those who were a little better off could treat themselves to.
It was not only in the bakery and the barn, that the work was in full swing, also in the stable and the village house there was feverish activity so that everything would be ready for Christmas.
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| Christmas straw is spread on the floor of a cottage in 1903. |
Major cleaning on 23 December
To enter a farmhouse, you had to bend your neck in the low doorway and lift your feet over the high thresholds. Inside it was dark because the windows were small, and the walls were black with soot - only the hearth lit up. The day before Christmas Eve, the entire yard was to be cleaned. Because they burned in an open hearth, had animals indoors and did not clean as often, the dirt was hard and the smell was intrusive.
Tin plates, candlesticks, copper kettles and other fine items that were available would be polished and highlighted. Painted bonades with religious motifs were hung on the walls.
Christmas tree with apple instead of Christmas tree
The custom of having a Christmas tree indoors had not yet reached everyone in the countryside. Instead, they had Christmas trees on the table - a large wooden candlestick with sticks for apples. Outside the cottage, a spruce twig was placed, which meant that Christmas peace would prevail. Spruce needles were also scattered around the houses. It would protect against ghosts and other evil forces - it was thought that they were barefoot and that stinging spruce needles would stop them. One last remnant of this is that today you put spruce twigs to dry your feet on outside the front doors for Christmas.
Christmas bath and straw on the floor
For Christmas, it was a tradition for everyone on the farm to take a bath indoors in a tub. Then you warmed yourself in front of the fireplace before putting on your finest clothes. The men were to be cut and shaved before they were ready to celebrate Christmas. A Christmas sheaf of oats was to be set up for the birds before twelve o'clock on Christmas Eve.
In the simpler homes, it was still common to spread Christmas straw on the floors indoors. It was a special ceremony with the men of the farm carrying in sheaves of straw. The father of the house took the lead, he greeted and asked if his entourage could stay over Christmas. Mother in the house replied that it was going well, and offered them Scandinavian vodka and a sandwich.
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| Before Santa Claus took over the Christmas gift distribution, it was various Christmas games and pranks with disguised goats and other things that mattered. |
The Christmas goat came with the presents
Both children and adults played in the straw, and overnight guests could sleep comfortably on the floor. They also took the opportunity to braid wreaths, trestles, stars, chandeliers and other nice things. In the straw, chickens, piglets and other small animals that were allowed to stay inside in the cabin heat in the winter also thrived. On Christmas Eve, everyone gathered for the most solemn meal of the year. They also set the table for friends and relatives who died during the year.
When there was a loud knock on the door, everyone knew that it was the Christmas goat who wanted to enter. He was dressed in fur and handed out Christmas presents to those who had been kind during the year. He had big horns, a bushy beard and a cane - no wonder the children were scared!
Fresh food on the Christmas table
The Christmas food was just as long-awaited whether you lived in a castle or a hut. When the Christmas food was served, bread and pork were the most important. But along the coasts there was also smoked eel, butter-fried perch or boiled pike on the Christmas table. A pigs head, ham, body cakes, kale, lye fish, liver pate, pork sausage, jam, palt, porridge, cheese and herring were other common delicacies. The unusual thing was that it was fresh food as a change to the salted, smoked or dried food that was eaten everyday.
Both family members and servants received a "Christmas pile" consisting of bread, and sometimes also cheese, butter, gingerbread and apple that would last all Christmas. The good Christmas food was swallowed with beer and Scandinavian vodka.
It was also important to share. Those who had the opportunity traditionally gave meat, soup, bread and candles to those in need in the parish. The farm animals also got a little extra food and care. The Christmas table ended with eating porridge from a large common bowl. No one was allowed to taste until they had made up a rhyme, and the spoon wandered around.
Shooting in Christmas to scare away trolls
After the porridge, everyone gathered for a Christmas act where the Christmas gospel was read out. They then sat for a long time and played cards, talked and told ghost stories. When dusk fell, it was time to "shoot in Christmas". Then the men went from farm to farm and fired shots outside the cottages. They were then drawn and given vodka before walking on. The custom was to scare away trolls and other evil beings.
You couldn't get to bed too late - on Christmas morning it was time for Christmas Mass. Each house had left home-made candles for the church, which was fully lit at six in the morning. People rode sleighs pulled by snorting horses in the cold winter morning. The snow creaked, the Christmas flare shone, the bell wreaths rang and the servants of the drivers shouted. The journey was also surrounded by magical rites to keep the trolls away. It was certainly an exciting experience for both adults and children.
Pretzels and vodka on the road
Some had a much longer journey than others and pretzels and vodka were sometimes brought as travel food. The heated church shone with light and was filled to the last seat. In the houses along the road from the church, the candles were lit in all the windows.
After the Christmas party, dinner was served at home and then Christmas peace reigned without any work. You were not even allowed to shovel snow or suede in the barn - it would bring misfortune. I believe that many took the opportunity to stretch out in the straw on the floor to braid Christmas goats and play with the children!
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very happy new year!
//Daniel
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