Three Kings' Day

January 6th is, according to Scandinavian traditions, widely known as Thirteenth Day Yule, referering to this day as the thirteenth day after Christmas Eve. Commemorating the visit of the Magi to baby Christ, this day is also called Helligtrekongersdag ("Three Kings' Day"). Many places, Thirteenth Day Yule was marked as the actual day of Christmas, and hence called Old Christmas; it was a celebration consisting of traditional Christmas cuisine, many toasts to the year to come, as well as a three-armed "Three Kings" candelabra in the center of the feast. In the evening people preferred to stay indoors, as the infamous Wild Hunt began its retreat after creating havoc all through the holidays. Whatever dream one may have dreamed on this night, was believed to come true.

As early as the 3rd century, the baptism of Jesus was celebrated on this day. For the Gnostics, the day of Christ's baptism was his actual birthday, as he, through his baptism, became the undisputed son of God. In latin the day was called Epiphania domini ("Revelation of the Lord"). Thorughout the fourth century, the Epiphany was arranged to be celebrated on the 25th of December. In the year 1700 the holiday was abolished by Danish-Norwegian authorities.

For the common folk however, the Thirteenth Day was known as an important day of forsight; clear weather predicted a good and fertile year. It was also believed that the weather on this day would last for 13 weeks - from now on the coldest part of winter began.

Stefano da Verona (1435). Adoration of the Magi.
Tempera on panel. Pinacoteca di Brera.

"The main food of the common people in our country"

Flatbrød (literally "flat-bread") is rightly considered the Norwegian national bread. In his book, "Common sense cooking" (1864), Norwegian scholar Peter Christen Asbjørnsen writes that barley and oats are best used for flat bread and lefse - "the main food of the common people in our country."

Flatbread baked at Dølmotunet, 2016.
Photo: Anno Musea i Nord-Østerdal.

In older writings it is made known that the bread was very different for rich and poor, servant and master. In the Poetic Edda, the Norse god Heimdall, under the name Rig, wandered around, visiting people from different walks of life. First he came to the house of the thrall (slave). According to old custom, food was served to the stranger, yet the bread was "heavy and dense and full of seeds." On the peasant's farm however, the conditions were better. Finally he entered the nobleman's house and was well received, for"the mother found a patterned tablecloth of the finest linen and laid it on the table. Then she put pieces of bread on the tablecloth - thin, white loaves."

Right up to our time, it has been flat bread that people have had in mind when they spoke of bread. Fermented bread was usually called kaku or stump. One of the great advantages of flatbread was - and is - that it can be stored for decades if necessary, without any special kind of storage method. As long as the grain was grown in modest quantities, and the grinding took place with a hand grinder, it was inadvisable to make large portions at a time. But as time went on, the fields grew, watermills and later on village mills replaced the hand mills, grain and flour stocks became larger both on the farms and at the local merchant's. Around 1500 people were able to bake such large portions that they had enough flatbread on the farm for several months. Some made so much that they had a supply which lasted the whole year, but it was most common to bake twice a year - in spring and autumn. Then the work lasted for several days, up to weeks, at a time, and the young and elderly alike helped out. There had to be plenty of flatbread, because it was served at every meal throughout the day, especially before the potato came into use. There was considered a great embarrasment if flatbread was scarce over a longer period of time.

In some places it was custom for neighbors to get together to help each other out with the baking. They called it to "bake på donna" (communal work; dugnad in Norwegian). The men came driving with their wives, baking trays, baking tables and other utensils stored on the horse cart. With time, "bakstkuller" (baking-wives) emerged, walking from farm to farm baking for payment. The man on the farm made sure that dry and finely split firewood was available at all times. Perhaps he also kneaded the dough, but the baking itself was considered women's work.

The custom of "bake på donna" (communal baking) has probably also been in use in some places in Sweden. In one of his pictures, the famous painter Anders Zorn has depicted such a day when women from Dalarna have come together to help. The painting is called Tunnbrødbak (1889).

The baking in spring was to be done between spring labor in april and Midsummer in June; in autumn when the slaughter was finished, but before preparations were initiated for Christmas. The workday started at 4 o'clock in the morning, and it is stated that a good baker should be able to make 40 loaves per hour. In the midst of the struggle, however, there was also time for moments of enjoyment. Both children and adults stopped by to have a look. Housewives perhaps with a little freshly churned butter or a little sour cream so they could make "kjinnabete" (flat bread smeared with sour cream or freshly churned butter). If coffee was served, it was a big treat. In the evening, they often made lefse or primlefse. One had to take good care of the baking wife so she would come back.

Flatbread being carried to the storehouse. 
Photo: Anno Musea i Nord-Østerdal. Date: unknown

When the pile of loaves was large enough, it was carried to the storehouse, and there could be stacked many such piles in a row. The ideal situation was to have more flatbread than needed between each baking. You never knew what the corn harvest would be like next year, so for the housewife it gave extra security to know that she had such a food reserve on the farm. While the shelf life of flour was limited, flatbread could last for years, and thus also became a form of flour storage.

Anyone who had flatbread, milk, cured meats, herring and potatoes, grain and flour was well supplied with food.

Flatbread piled at the storehouse. 
Photo: The Norwegian Museum of Cultural History. Date: unkown

Do you wish to make your own flatbread? 😋

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour

• 1 1/3 cup all purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

• 3/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature

INSTRUCTIONS

• In a large mixing bowl, sift together flours, baking soda, and salt. Add vegetable oil and mix well.

• Add buttermilk. Knead dough for a minute or so on a well-floured surface.

• Preheat oven to 350F. Cover dough with a damp paper towel when not using. Take approximately 1/4 cup of dough, roll it into a ball, and proceed to roll it out with a rolling pin on a floured counter top until very thin and crispy, like a cracker. Place rounds onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until flatbread is lightly browned and crisp.

With its strong historical roots, flatbread is well suited to serve with traditional Norwegian dishes such as cured meats and rakfisk, fårikål (mutton and cabbage), soups and stews.

Recipe from https://www.cheaprecipeblog.com/

Sources:

• Norsk mat: Tradisjoner og gamle matretter. Landbruksforlaget, 1992

"They ride from farm to farm on broomsticks..."

The old Norwegian laws and Christian courts had detailed prohibitions against all kinds of witchcraft, and severe punishments were imposed on the accused. Danish-Norwegian legislation maintained this legal tradition both before and after the Reformation. King Christian 2's ecclesiastical law ordered the authorities, especially on Maundy Thursday and Walpurgis Night, to keep an eye on everyone who was suspected of witchcraft. As recently as king Christian 5's Norwegian law of 1687, it is stated that any sorcerer or sorceress who demonstrably "has forsaken God and his holy baptism and Christianity, and devoted himself to the devil, should be thrown alive on the fire and burn."

📷 Norwegian Museum of
Cultural History

Central to the witch's belief, as we know it from its medieval depictions, was the notion that the witches at certain times of the year (Christmas, Easter, Midsummer's Eve) sat on their broomsticks, ladles or troughs and went off through the air to feast with the devil, on certain gathering places - Blocksberg in Germany, Blåkulla in Sweden, Lyderhorn in Norway or Hekla in Iceland - where they danced and performed all the abominations that a tarnished imagination could think up.

The oral tradition is naturally far more restrained than the court records in detailing these orgies; it was more concerned with what one could do to protect oneself from the devilry. By placing steel over doors, in beds, barns and stables, a set of safe havens were unsured, keeping the witches at bay. The same was true of crosses, heat and magical formulas as well as the broomstick, the witches' own means of transportation. If the witch did not find a broomstick to ride on, she took a horse or a cow instead, which was much worse. Norwegian sociologist Eilert Sundt thought this was the explanation for the widespread village custom of putting one or more broomsticks outside the kitchen or barn door on Christmas Eve and Maundy Thursday for use by the witches.

The ordinary broomstick was given a very special power of protection, and was used in several ways. Eilert Sundt has pointed out that it was common to put a broomstick in front of the hallway door, so that people could dry their shoes on it before entering the house. Admittedly, spruce bushes and the like could also do the trick, but according the old beliefs it should preferably be a broom; over which neither sorcerers nor any other evil could ascend. According to folklore, the power of broomsticks could also protect people and animals against another side of the witches' activities; their dangerous ability to affect the weather, and provoke gusts and storms. Against such "magic weather", three broomsticks were placed crosswise on a fire, and burned on a Sunday. The magic power in the north wind crumbled when a burning broomstick was thrown into the sea.

Well into the 20th century, the Easter "blow" was a widespread rural tradition in southeastern Norway, basically constituting loose shots fired into the air with pistols and shotguns or gunpowder set on fire. The intention was partly to initiate the holy feast, as the costums were during major church holidays, partly to clean the air of devilry and "shoot the Easter hag". "You shoot on Easter evening to spare the farm from witchcraft. It is this evening that the witches ride from farm to farm broomsticks", it was said in Høland, as late as in 1914. Better remedy for sorcery than gunpowder, bullets and gunshots was yet to be found.

Carl Spitzweg, The witches ride, 1875

 Sources:

• Hodne, Ørnulf (1988) Påske: tradisjoner omkring en høytid, Grøndahl & Søn Forlag

"Crack and crackle and make merry!" - Keeping Warm at Christmas

Nearly all of the supernatural beings inhabiting the Scandinavian folklore were on the move on Christmas Eve, and were especially dangerous around winter solstice. For protection and safeguard against this rabble, there were a number of superstitious customs that were carefully observed. In the old society, these were important elements within the Yule celebration.

Having nothing but firewood, and in some places peat, to keep warm it was important to acquire a large stock in advance, making sure that the house would remain nice and heated all Christmas without having to disrupt the peace of mind and reduce the festivities. At Christmas, no room should be locked, dark or cold.

The Christmas wood should be nice and sturdy, preferably dry birch and pine. It was to be cut in the growing moon and with the leaves on - then it burned twice as well, it was told. In Fjærland in Western Norway it had to be of seven sorts, the best one came across in the forest during the year. On Christmas Eve, the fire should "crack and crackle and make merry", for when it crackled, the witches were scared away from the chimney! Preferably it should be one single great, big log that would burn throughout Christmas Eve or even longer.

Some notions indicate that in earlier times, the lokal fjøsnisse - or more menacing Christmas spirits - , would make sure that the right procedure had been conducted. In Lofoten it was told, that if the firewood were not proparly provided, the undead came at night and sawing and chopping, making a terrible noise. The usual practice was to chop up enough for the thirteenth or twentieth day of Christmas, and stock it inside for the first two days of the celebration. Any other procedure was considered a disgrace. Finally, a cross of firewood was placed on the chopping block, and it had to lie there until Christmas had passed - to bless the work completed and protect against evil spirits.

Theodor Kittelsen. Freezing cold, 1903

Source:

• Ørnulf Hodne. Jul i Norge. Cappelen, 1996.

Staffan the Stable Boy

It's Christmas night. The dark winter sky is hovering above a snow-covered landscape. Nature is lifeless and quiet; only the stars seem to breathe. It is Christmas peace, and a bright star is reminiscent of the one who shone above the manger of Christ. On this holy night, one would think that humans too would find peace. Suddenly however, the sound of feet drifts across the courtyard. A torch moves across to the stables, and after a while riders in wild gallop is seen leaving the farms, following the road to the nearest neighbor. Shouting and and screaming interrupt the silence of the night.

Such nightly rides bore some resemblance to the dreaded åsgårdsreien (Eng. the wild hunt)- only worse. With their shrieks and bawls, the riders made as much havoc as they could, knocking down the doors, banging on the timber walls. At each door they got a sip of the mighty Christmas beer, and as the night unfolded, the more intense the riding became. Not seldom did a rider fall off his horse, making the animal run home unaccompanied. 

Yet these rides were not solidly an excuse to kicking down the neighbour's door for a taste of the Christmas beer. There were also had a earnest idea involved; for it was said that one should go out to the crack of dawn with the horses and let them drink of the wells. There were some springs in particular which had a reputation for their clean water, and it was important to be there first; it was "holy water," and whoever drank first, drank wine; the horses would thrive of such water. As a result, there was a violent race race to come first, people rode like crazy. Coming in second was simply not an option, stories tell even of lives being lost. This nocturnal race called for the "'Staffan's race," and songs about him have been sung in Scandinavia since the Middle Ages. Staffan was a stableboy, watering his horses… These lines of text are among our oldest musical treasures. But who was he really - this Steffan?

The biblical Staffan - Stephen – we already encounter in the Acts of the Apostles; shortly after Jesus' death, the number of disciples is increasing continuously. The original twelve apostles need help in the practical work of a fast-growing congregation and appoint seven men to help. One of them is Stephen - the stable boy of King Herrod. Stephen does not content himself with serving food without preaching; Stephen start doing wonders on his own which, eventually, resulting in him being being stoned to death by an angry crowd, as the first Christian martyr. Consequently, Stephen quickly became a revered saint and the deacons appointed Stefanus as their patron saint. His increasing popularity led to the legends surrounding his life story, legends that were both colorful and imaginative – and completely devoid of reality.

The rooster miracle depicted on an altar front from the 1100s. Originating from Broddetorp's church in Västergötland, the altar piece is exhibited at the Historical Museum in Stockholm.

One of the legends tells about how Stephen on the night of Christmas Eve sees the Star of Bethlehem. He understands that it is a sign that the King of Judah, the Savior, has been born. Stephen tells of his discovery of Herod. The king refuses to believe his words, unless the fried rooster lying on his breakfast table rises, flaps his wings and crows. Of course, this is exactly what happens. The king is horrified at how powerful this newborn king must be who can already do such wonders. He decides to kill the child who threatens his kingdom. Stefanus himself is captured and stoned to death outside the city walls. “The rooster miracle”, as the event was called, became the prelude to the Massacre of the Innocents; by Herod’s orders, all boys two years of age and younger in Bethlehem and its vicinity, should be killed. In the Middle Ages there was a widely held belief that the child murders in Bethlehem were the first and perhaps most cruel of the martyrs.

In medieval Scandinavia, the legend of Stefanus, or Staffan as he is called here, takes on a quite different approach in which the horses play an important role. It's Christmas night and Staffan has ridden out to a well to water Herod's horses. But a horse refuses to drink from the water. It has seen the reflection of the star in the water and rears frightened into the night sky. 

Staffan stable boy and the star depicted on the ceiling of Dädesjö church in Småland.

Images of Staffan with his horses or in conjunction with the rooster miracle became popular in the early medieval Scandinavian art. The motif is often found on baptismal fonts as part of the story of Jesus' birth. The fact that it became so popular may have to do with the long and protracted Christianization process that characterized especially the ancient Sweden. Around the year 1100, the majority of the Swedish population was still pagan. It took nearly 300 years for Christianity to gain a foothold. The long missionary period caused Bible stories to emerge at the same time as a later developed cult of saints. The legend of Stephen and Herod must have been quite remodeled when it came to the Nordic countries, for then to be transformed by local traditions. In the Old Norse cult, the horse was put in the center and Christmas was a time when you should take special care of your horses. Making pagan customs Christian became a way for the new religion to establish itself. The legend of Stefan and Herod is a typical example of this initiation.

With Gustaf Vasa and the Reformation, the Catholic saint traditions connected to Stephen was abolished. Staffan the stable boy however, did not lose his popularity. During the 18th century, it was common to go horseback racing, in relation with the Staffan cult, and long into the 20th century he remained a part of the Christmas plays and carols, performed on his memorial day, the 26th of December.

Nowadays, the songs about Steffan stable boy has been as become a cherished part of the Lucia-celebration, as a companion of the female saint. "Staffansvisan", "Sankt Staffan" or "Staffan was a stable boy" is a well known and traditionally bound Swedish Lucia song, which is usually performed by the star boys in a so called Lucia proseccion.

Sources:

• Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson. 'Staffan var en stalledräng.' URL: https://historiska.se/upptack-historien/artikel/staffan-var-en-stalledrang/ 
• Kristofer Visted (2016). Jul i gamle dager. Norsk Folkeminnelag/ Scandinavian Academic Press/Spartacus. 

So they threw a wedding, and reveled and made merry, and fired off shots to scare away the troll hags.

In the old communities, throwing a wedding traditionally implied several days of costly and complex festivity, involving a network of customs and beliefs bearing different religious and social functions. If the primary purpose was to protect the bride and groom from temptations and dangers at a critical time, the church’s blessing simply did not bend. As the threats came from beings in which only the folk belief knew the means of defense.

Especially on the wedding day, the bride in particular found herself in a precarious situation. From the very moment she got up that day, and until she returned from church, the subterraneans crept about, trying to lure her from the wedding and into the mountain. Some stories tell of the girl voluntarily surrendering to the Mountain King. Other stories have a more heartbreaking approach; according to a legend from Notodden, a municipality in the southeastern part of Norway, the bride where on her way to the stave church of Heddal for the ceremony. As the bridal procession passed the mountain, the bride suddenly disappeared – the creatures got to her, locking her up in the stones. In order to call her back, the bells of the local church bells were put into use – however, the bell rope broke, and all to be heard from the girl was a distant cry from the innermost part of the mountain.

To prevent this from happening, the entourage was always arranged so that the bride along the way was surrounded by at least two bridal friends, who shot scarecrows over her head with pistols and guns, accompanied by shrieking and yelling from the other guests, making sure she was not captured by the mountain creatures, or – if passing a bridge – pulled underwater by the dreadful neck. As an extra safety precaution, the bride, as well as the groom, had a few silver shillings in their shoes, as the use of silver was known to scare the subterraneans away. If travelling by boat, the wedding couple with company was always situated in the first vessel, while blasts from the shotgun crackled and shrieked around them. 

Adolph Tidemand and Hans Gude (1848). Brudeferden i Hardanger 

(Bridal Procession on the Hardangerfjord). 

The Norwegian National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design

Source:

• Ørnulf Hodne (1999). Norsk Folketro. Cappelen