Yet again, all of Sweden in completely covered in snow and you can’t find one single thermometer (outside…)  in the whole country showing above zero. -20, more likely. Snow is causing chaos all over Sweden with cancelled trains, unsafe roads and icy conditions and lots of people won’t make it home in time for Christmas Eve. I thought I would be one of those, since travelling from England turned out to be a bit of a hassle as well. But three cancelled flights later, we finally made it – to Oslo, Norway. Gothenburg a three hours drive away from Oslo, but boy was it worth it once finally home! The first taste of ham (skinka), a few of mum’s meatballs (köttbullar) and a tiny piece of herring (sill) to get into the Christmas spririt…

If you read this blog past Christmas, you will know all about the Dipping Day and the day before the Dipping Day, but I thought tihis would be the perfect day for a little reminder and some brush up on your Swedish tradition knowledge.

Christmas Eve is not only known as julafton in Swedish, it is also known as the Dipping Day (Dopparedagen). And although we are Vikings and quite fond of our winter baths, this name has nothing to do with dipping in the ice cold sea. No, the name Dopparedagen comes from a very old tradition of dipping a piece of bread in meat stock. This rather unappetizing meal might have old hedonistic roots, but it’s more likely that the tradition of dipping the bread in meat stock was created out of practical reasons in medieval Sweden. During all the Christmas preparations, there was not much time to cook ordinary everyday food. There were probably only some pieces of dry bread left over in the cupboard. And since meat was banned during the medieval feast (fastan), the dipping became a clever way of getting the taste of meat without eating it. Also, the left over bread got soaked in stock and therefore – not dry and boring anymore.

This old tradition still lives on in many Swedish families, despite freshly baked bread and microwave ovens. Most of the dipping today is done with the left over stock from boiling the ham and the bread is most likely freshly baked. But, this is probably not the most popular thing on the Christmas table – and not the most common either There’s really no need to dip in 2010, but guess the dipping works in the same way as so many other traditions. They live on just because we quite like to stick to our roots and pass these things on.

Another fun tradition that we turn to on the day before the Dipping Day is the gift rhyming (julklappsrim) – a perfect thing to do while waiting for this looooong day to pass.  A gift rhyme is exactly what it says – a little rhyme giving clues to what’s inside. This tradition dates way back, to when kids in the countryside used to walk around the village and knock people’s doors. When someone opened, they would throw in a joke gift, like a peice of wood or a bundle of straw with a note attached, explaining why the person recieved this lovely gift. I love this tradition and my family always spend the night before Christmas Eve trying to be creative and beat each other’s rhyming skills.

Here’s one example – can you guess what’s inside?

Mamma, du är värd det allra bästa,
får jag med nått gott dig fresta?
Flaskan i sig är en tjusig sak,
den där Calvin har riktigt god smak!