Christmas Traditions

The traditions of the period between Christmas and the New Year belong to the most interesting and beautiful in the year. Before this time this period had been known as the celebration of the winter solstice. The 25th of December had been celebrated as the day when the sun was reborn again. But then, in the 4th century, the Church ordered that this day should be the day of Jesus Christ being born. In the middle ages, the day when Jesus had been born was also considered the first day of the New Year.

The preparation for the Christmas meal included the baking of Christmas wafers. This work was usually coordinated by a teacher, because the teacher would choose those children that would give the wafers out to the families in the village. The teacher chose the children that had been the most well behaved and hard working during the whole school year. For the children it was a big honor to be chosen to perform this task. The lucky children that were chosen would go from house to house to ask for the necessary ingredients to make the wafers. The wafers were baked from the day of St. Lucia up until Christmas, and then the children took them to every house in the village. Every family would get some Christmas wafers.

Christmas Traditions (cont...) >>

- Introduction

- Traditional Calendar

- Traditional Food

- Traditional Recipes

- Traditional Crafts

- Folk Music & Dance

- Folkgroup ORAVA

- Folkgroup Kubincan