
Saint Lucia Unit
Christmas Traditions of Sweden and Norway
~By Clarice Fox-Hughes
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I am lucky enough to live in Poulsbo, WA. which is a Norwegian town and is steeped in wonderful traditions. One of our favorites is at Christmas time. Poulsbo is on Liberty Bay and Saint Lucia is brought in on a Viking boat across the bay. It is sooo beautiful to see the torches from the boat and the lights from Saint Lucia's crown reflecting on the water. Saint Lucia is escorted off the boat by Vikings dressed in full gear to a bonfire which is lit. Needless to say my daughters have always been enchanted by this and this year Chloe (8) gets to be Saint Lucia. If you would like to look at our lovely town here is a link. http://poulsbo.net/ I wanted to take all these beautiful ideas and put them in a unit for our family. We will be scrap booking this and hopefully it will be something wonderful Aubern’e and Chloe will always remember. |
I am grouping this unit by ideas. We will be reading lots of books and watching videos as we do this study. I will list the books and videos we used at the end. We are very hands on in our units. So as I said before I will group different ideas and fill in with reading materials. There is so much more we could have done but I have tailored this unit to fit the interests of our family. Hopefully this will be a jump off point for you.
~Blessings, Clarice

The Ideas.....
Idea 1. Julbock-Goat
Julbock is the goat that Jultomten (Elf, like Santa) rides. There is a site on line that shows, step by step, a straw goat being made. The site is: http://www.halmenshus.com/ebock.asp?nr=0
Here is a site with wheat weaving crafts: http://wheatweaving.com/projects.html
Idea 2. Marzipan and Pig
There is wonderful tradition about giving a marzipan pig for good luck. We will make marzipan pigs (and maybe Santa will put one in the girls stockings, if they have been good :)
Here is a site about marzipan candy: http://skandland.com/xmmarzipan.htm
Idea 3. Baking Cookies
Baking is such a Swedish and Norwegian tradition. There are hundreds of cookies we could bake (and will) but we will bake Peppernuts. The girls have never made them, so they will be new to them. I have a wonderful little book called “ Peppernuts Plain and Fancy “ by Normas Jost Voth. Which has lots of information and has 2 dozen recipes. We are going to cut our dough with a thimble. You do not have to cut the cookies this small. Here is a recipe from the book.
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Mrs. H. C. Unruh’s Yule Peppernuts 1 cup butter
1 tsp. cinnamon |
Here is a nice story about peppernuts.....
PFEFFERNEUSSE
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Idea 4. Julenek
"Julenek," a sheaf of grain Norwegians place outside for the birds each Christmas.
We will make a Julenek. Here is a lovely picture: http://www.norskland.com/nordtex/images/julenek.jpg
Idea 5. Light
We will talk about how God's light plays a part in Christmas. Then we will make a gingerbread lantern. Here is one: http://hem.passagen.se/beda88/index.html
Here is another site with a little different lantern: http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/ah_entertaining_occasions/article/0,1801,HGTV_3115_1383928,00.html
Idea 6. Heart
We will show how love plays a part of Christmas. Make Hjertekurver Swedish woven hearts.
Here are directions for the woven heart: http://www.twilightbridge.com/hobbies/festivals/christmas/lucia/paper_heart.htm
Here are some patterns of different types of hearts: http://permo.homepage.dk/xmsheart.htm

Idea 7. Language
Star - Stjärna {shair'-nuh }
Here is a English/Swedish Christmas dictionary online: http://hem.passagen.se/bjornw/dictionary.htm
Idea 8. Royalty
Here is a site The Royal House of Norway: http://www.kongehuset.no/default.asp?lang=eng
and here is The Royal Court of Sweden: http://www.royalcourt.se/2.53abbbfd7ffdfa677fff23627.html
Idea 9. Jultomten
Jultomten is a Christmas elf who bring presents (like Santa). We will make a Jultomten out of pine cones. Glue a wooden bead (for a head) of the top (pointed end) of a pine cone (the body). You can paint a face on the bead if you want. Glue a tuft of wool for a beard and make a little red cap out of wool.
There is a tradition of setting out a bowl of Julgrot (Christmas rice pudding) for Jultomten on Christmas eve. Here is a recipe: http://www.webmall1.com/sweetdreams/xmasporridge.htm
Idea 10. Dalahast
Dala horse is a most recognizable symbol of Sweden. It is a painted horse. Since I could not get these unpainted, I made them myself. They are a very simple shape. I made an armature out of foil and covered it with paper clay. After it dried, the girls could paint them themselves. Here you can see what they look like: http://www.genuinescandinavia.com/Dala_Horse_History.asp
And here you can see them being made: http://www.grannas.com/eng/production.htm
Idea 11. Finally, Saint Lucia
We will make a wreath for Chloe. I think I will wrap twinkle lights around a small wreath for her to wear on her head. There are wreaths with electric candles you can buy as well.
For a little one you could make a paper wreath: http://www.cstone.net/~bry-back/holidayfun/lucia.html
This is a great Saint Lucia site: http://www.twilightbridge.com/hobbies/festivals/christmas/lucia/
We will also make a star boy hat: http://www.luciamorning.com/hat.html
And of course Lussekatter, Lucia Buns: http://www.twilightbridge.com/hobbies/festivals/christmas/lucia/recipe.htm
In Scandinavian homes, the feast of St. Lucia (Dec 13) is marked by the serving of these buns. Traditionally, they are served by a young girl wearing a wreath with lighted candles on her head.
Here is a wonderful recipe from Sombra from the Homemade Board. Thank you Sombra !!!!
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St. Lucia
Buns
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List of Sites, Videos, Books
Sites:
Here are some beautiful Victorian Saint Lucia postcards:
http://www.carasantalucia.it/santini/santini.htm
Swedish card to send: http://www.wahansa.com/postcard/page17.html
and gift tags: http://www.pinpubstudio.com/gift_tags.html
Videos:
MY favorite video is: “Christmas in Norway”
"Rogaland : The Jewel of Norway A Musical Portrait" by Jan Kurtis Skugstad
"The Spirit of Sweden" by Ed Lark
Books:
Books by Carl Larson
"Lucia Morning in Sweden" by
Ewa Rydåker

Another favorite “Once Upon A Christmas Time” by Thyra Ferre’ Bjorn, Author of “Papa’s Wife”
"Annika's Secret Wish” by Beverly Lewis
"Christmas in
Noisy Village" by Astrid Lindgren
"Christmas Trolls"
by Jan Brett
Make a Hedgie basket to go with story: http://www.janbrett.com/hedgies_basket.htm
Ekte Norsk Jul Vol. 1,2, &3: Traditional Norwegian
Christmas 
"Norway Coloring Book" & Sweden Coloring Book" By: Sevig, Kirsten
More than just a coloring book, these 48-page books include crafts, recipes,
songs, and traditions as well.
“My Village in Norway” by Sonia and Tim Gildal
"Children of the Soil" By Nora Burglon. This is a vintage book about a Scandinavian family.
Of course, I like: “Kristen, The American Girl” books
“ Peppernuts Plain and Fancy “ by Normas Jost Voth
“Olaf and Anne" by Virginia Olcott
“The Legend of the Christmas Rose”
http://www.novareinna.com/festive/rose.html
http://www.noelnoelnoel.com/trad/rose.html
Thank you for the idea Susan!
Clarice Fox-Hughes has been homeschooling her daughters in Washington state using mainly Charlotte Mason's methods and ideas. She is a very talented in cooking, crafting, and making schooling a natural lifestyle. You may enjoy visiting her blog, Storybook Woods, for more ideas. Email Clarice
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