Article from Døtre Av Norge — November/December 2008, pg. 14
Nancy Klimb's cousin Jarl Saegrov, now living in Molde, has shared with her some tidbits about life in mid-western Norway in Sunnfjord from days gone by, and Nancy offers them here for us. I have extracted the themes around Christmas, and edited it a bit to make the language flow easier. RKM [Roberta Kay Morrow, Editor]
Wood had to be prepared for the wintertime. It needed to be dried by the warm summer air so it was ready for the following winter. They had no chain saws. They had to cut the trees by hand. You can imagine how much energy they needed to do all this. Almost everyone was thin! To be fat had status. It was only the priest who was fat, and sometimes the shopkeeper.
One important thing was to have enough wood to put on the fire. Every husband had the duty to make a big store of cut and dried wood so the peace of the holy days would not be broken preparing more wood. All the rooms in the house had to be kept warm every day, all day long, as long as the Christmas season lasted.
The Christmas wood was something special. It should be very good and powerful – pine or betula. The trees should be cut when the moon was increasing and when leaves were on to give the best burning! In western Norway, juniper was also put on the fire. Juniper was sprinkled on the fire and made sounds that scared trolls so they kept away from the house. Often they had a big piece of wood on the fire that lasted all the Christmas evening. They called it "julekveldskubben."
The final [wood] cutting was started early on Christmas even morning, while it was dark. It had to be finished before light was coming on. There was a competition between the farmers. It was very important to have the biggest store [of wood] made by spending the shortest time. It was a shame to be among the last. Julenissen was watching and punished if not enough wood was prepared or if wood was not cut – the coming year would bring unhappiness. The wood would burn faster and give less energy. If there was not wood indoors for the whole Christmas season, it would bring unhappiness and everything (food and other goods) would not last as usual. A full wood [bin] house made Julenissen satisfied and he would protect the house, family and animals on the farm. After finishing the woodcutting, a cross of wood was made and put on a staff to obtain protection and peace (julefred).
The advent weeks before Christmas were a time of penance and preparation, mentally and corporally, for the big Christmas feast. The time before Christmas was a busy time, working to get ready. If they did not prepare well enough, they were afraid of getting punished by illness and bad harvest in the coming year. The most important thing to do was to supply much food for the house and family for the whole Christmas feast, which was the 25th of December, Christmas Day, to the 13th of January. Mikikelsmess (September 29th) to Helgeness (November 1st) was the time to kill the animals for Christmas and the rest of the year. Most of the meat was salted and placed in the storehouse (stabbur). To have a big storehouse was important. The animals picked out to be the food for Christmas would live a bit longer. The last animals to be killed was "julegalten" (the male pig). They had to feed him as much as possible so he could be round and fat.
Killing was a ritual with a prayer or respect for the animal and understanding of the need for this process for their health and survival. This killing of animals had to be done while the last moon was increasing before Christmas This would ensure that the meat would go a long way, have a better state, and more fat. Animals killed in [a] decreasing moon would not go a long way, and could produce illness. For the same reason, animals were killed at high tide. The best time of the day to kill was early morning just before the light was coming.
Before we had pigs in Norge, it was usual to kill a male goat or male sheep. The Norwegians made beer, killed the animal and baked all according to the old and strict tradition. Beer has always had a strong tradition in Norway, both before and after the Reformation. They started a couple weeks before Christmas. It was a duty to make beer. Around 1800, we started using yeast. From that time, plenty of bread and "lefse" was made, cakes and "flatbrød." Flatbrød was important all throughout the year.
The last days before Christmas the house should be cleaned up and down. The old straw in beds had to be changed to new straw. They burned the old straw. At 5:00 p.m. on the 24th of December, the church bells started ringing and then it was Christmas time.
"Julenissen" has a good-hearted character who cared for the cows, horse and other animals on the farm. The believe was the "nisse" was the first who came to clear the ground to make a living there possible. On Christmas night, the best of food and drink would be left for him, especially "lefse" and "Julegrøt." If Julenissen was satisfied, he would watch over the house and farm.