01/10/2008 06:07 PM

Can American Girl Dolls and Their Books Be a Good Role Model?

In an earlier blog post, I talked about a less expensive alternative to American Girl Dolls. My daughter and I call them “Me” Dolls. I feel that these dolls are good for kids since they can play with them without parents worrying about the dolls getting messy. Today Ed Gawlinski wrote to me about [...]

12/19/2007 12:14 PM

The Elf Waltz - More about the Tomtar from Sweden

In my last blog post, I talked about the tomtar – little elf-like creatures in Sweden. The tomtar are nice to people who are nice to them, but they can act mischievously towards people who don’t treat them well. The song below ends with the tomtar showing up at the door. The question is, [...]

12/18/2007 03:05 PM

Tomtar are Like Gnomes and They’re an Important Part of Christmas in Sweden

In Sweden the tomtar are an important part of Christmas. The tomtar are a kind of tiny, benevolent elf or gnome. There are many holiday songs about them. Here’s one called Tomtarnas Julnatt – The Gnomes’ Christmas Night – in both Swedish and English followed by a YouTube recording of the song. Tomtarnas [...]

12/08/2007 04:14 PM

Silent Night - A Christmas Song that’s Popular around the World

Silent Night was originally a German Austrian song called Stille Nacht which was written as a poem by Joseph Mohr in 1816 and set to music by his friend Franz Gruber in 1818. John Freeman Young translated Stille Nacht into the English version called Silent Night that’s so well known today. He was an Episcopal [...]

12/05/2007 05:42 PM

A Food Eaten for Santa Lucia in Sweden

My friend and colleague Monique in France made the biscuits called Lussekatter that they serve in Sweden for Santa Lucia on December 13th. She sent me a photo of what they look like… I also noticed that Frog with a Blog linked to a recipe for glögg that he likes. But beware! It [...]

12/05/2007 01:52 PM

The St. Nicholas Tradition in Poland and a Way to Teach Your Children about Holiday Customs Around the World

Ed Gawlinski wrote to me about his family’s holiday traditions. His letter shows how you can be creative and expose your children to many different customs around the world at this time of year… Lisa, The Polish Custom is for Saint Nicholas (świętego Mikołaja) to bring children presents on December 6th …. The traditions that go [...]

12/04/2007 12:29 PM

A Santa Lucia Day Song and Saying, plus why it’s a Festival of Light

Several days ago I wrote a post about the Santa Lucia holiday in Sweden and Scandinavia. A popular saying associated with this holiday is: Lucy Light, The Shortest day & The Longest Night. This saying celebrates the association of St Lucia’s Day, December 13, with the Winter Solstice which, under the old Julian calendar, used to fall on that day. This [...]

12/02/2007 09:55 PM

St. Lucia’s Day in Sweden and Scandinavia

Santa Lucia’s Day is celebrated on December 13th in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. It commemorates the life of Santa Lucia, who is also known as Saint Lucy. St. Lucy was born in Syracuse, Sicily around 283 and died in 303 AD. The myth is that her parents wanted her to marry a man [...]

06/18/2007 03:20 PM

The Origin of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

People all around the world are familiar with the tune to Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. It’s at least 245 years old! The tune is originally from France and it was first seen in print in Paris in 1761 – though the current song, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star didn’t exist back then. In the 1770’s, [...]

01/17/2007 12:04 PM

St. Knut’s Day - Looting the Christmas Tree

Last year I wrote about St. Knut’s Day, a holiday celebrated on January 13th, in Sweden, Finland and Norway. St. Knut’s Day is all about getting rid of all the Christmas decorations and throwing out the tree, thus ending the Christmas season. When I wrote about it last year, I asked if anyone knew of [...]