As the Darkness draws near
We have crossed to the darkside here in Sweden. We are almost to the darkest day of the year, which is in a week or so. It gets light around 8 am and twilight is 3 pm. I find the darkness hard to deal with, but not unbearable. If I knew I were to live here for 20 years it would be, but being here temporarily it is interesting, a bit annoying at times, but really not horrible. To compensate the Swedes are really into candles. There are different kinds of candles in every store. Also, they really celebrate the "coziness" of winter. Cozy in Swedish is "mysig", and that I know this word shows how this sense of being in the winter is present in their culture.
Another interesting impression is the importance of tradition for Christmas, but none of the buying. I won't dwell on it because I talked of it before, but it does continue to amaze me how different their holiday is. It makes me feel like we don't really know why we are celebrating Christmas because our country is so new. So, the advertisers taught us that buying was the way to do it, so that is what we think Christmas is.
Saniya and Rowan went to a playgroup in our complex. As the complex is all visiting researchers, the children are all from outside of Sweden. So, there is a different theme each week. A woman from Germany sent an email about what Christmas is there and we celebrated it in the playgroup last week. Here is her description:
"Saint Nicholas is the common name for Saint Nicholas of Myra who had a reputation for secret gift-giving. He lived in the 4th century in the Byzantine Empire,which today is in Turkey. This historical character was the inspiration for a mythical figure known as Sankt Nikolaus, which in turn was the inspiration for Santa Claus later on. Traditionally, "Nikolaus" (as we just say in Germany) has always been celebrated on December 6. In most parts of the Christian world, the celebration of Saint Nicholaus (or then later Santa Claus) got shifted back to December 24 or 25, but in Germany we still also celebrate December 6. However, it is usually celebrated on a small scale. Many children clean and put their boots outside the front door on the night of December 5 to the 6th. Nikolaus fills the boots with gifts, and at the same time checks up on the children to see if they were good. If they were not, they will have charcoal in their boots instead."
So, a great reflection on how other countries celebrate because of a long tradition from so many centuries prior. We do not have this piece with our celebration as it is such a new and heterogeneous country. This is not to bag on what we do celebrate, it is just to notice why we have certain traditions and be aware of where they came from and why we continue them. So, I guess I am still dwelling on the holiday differences. Ahhhhh.
Saniya is adjusting with school. She is beginning to say words in Swedish. Her favorite word right now is "titta!" meaning "look!" Rowan is saying a few words. His is "hhhhooooottttt" in a really breathy voice, "mama", "dada", and "all done" which he says constantly.
Yesterday we went to the Museum of Architecture and there was an exhibit of Gingerbread Houses. It was very cool. One was of "two houses humping". Can we say hilarious. I wish I had the camera and took a picture. Also, I love that most museums have a play area for kids so while one parents looks at the exhibits the other plays, and then switch so that the parents actually get to see everything. It is such a kid and baby friendly city. It really never ceases to amaze me how accommodating it is to live here as a family.
Hope everyone is doing well!
Yasmiene
Another interesting impression is the importance of tradition for Christmas, but none of the buying. I won't dwell on it because I talked of it before, but it does continue to amaze me how different their holiday is. It makes me feel like we don't really know why we are celebrating Christmas because our country is so new. So, the advertisers taught us that buying was the way to do it, so that is what we think Christmas is.
Saniya and Rowan went to a playgroup in our complex. As the complex is all visiting researchers, the children are all from outside of Sweden. So, there is a different theme each week. A woman from Germany sent an email about what Christmas is there and we celebrated it in the playgroup last week. Here is her description:
"Saint Nicholas is the common name for Saint Nicholas of Myra who had a reputation for secret gift-giving. He lived in the 4th century in the Byzantine Empire,which today is in Turkey. This historical character was the inspiration for a mythical figure known as Sankt Nikolaus, which in turn was the inspiration for Santa Claus later on. Traditionally, "Nikolaus" (as we just say in Germany) has always been celebrated on December 6. In most parts of the Christian world, the celebration of Saint Nicholaus (or then later Santa Claus) got shifted back to December 24 or 25, but in Germany we still also celebrate December 6. However, it is usually celebrated on a small scale. Many children clean and put their boots outside the front door on the night of December 5 to the 6th. Nikolaus fills the boots with gifts, and at the same time checks up on the children to see if they were good. If they were not, they will have charcoal in their boots instead."
So, a great reflection on how other countries celebrate because of a long tradition from so many centuries prior. We do not have this piece with our celebration as it is such a new and heterogeneous country. This is not to bag on what we do celebrate, it is just to notice why we have certain traditions and be aware of where they came from and why we continue them. So, I guess I am still dwelling on the holiday differences. Ahhhhh.
Saniya is adjusting with school. She is beginning to say words in Swedish. Her favorite word right now is "titta!" meaning "look!" Rowan is saying a few words. His is "hhhhooooottttt" in a really breathy voice, "mama", "dada", and "all done" which he says constantly.
Yesterday we went to the Museum of Architecture and there was an exhibit of Gingerbread Houses. It was very cool. One was of "two houses humping". Can we say hilarious. I wish I had the camera and took a picture. Also, I love that most museums have a play area for kids so while one parents looks at the exhibits the other plays, and then switch so that the parents actually get to see everything. It is such a kid and baby friendly city. It really never ceases to amaze me how accommodating it is to live here as a family.
Hope everyone is doing well!
Yasmiene
posted by Yaz and Rob at 7:37 AM
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