Denmark Christmas BY: ANDREW VIERA

HISTORY Christmas in Denmark is suppose to be when a naughty elf called Nisse can have his fun. He lives in the attics of old farmhouses and loves playing jokes on people. He wears gray woolen clothes, a red bonnet, red stockings and white clogs. Families leave him a bowl of rice pudding or oatmeal on Christmas Eve to keep his jokes within limits. Most of the time he is kind and helpful helping out on the farms and being good to the children. http://www.thehistoryofchristmas.com/traditions/denmark.htm

DECORATIONS Christmas decorations are traditional Danish ornaments with roots to the Danish and Scandinavian Christmas the last thousands of years. It is a very special season for the people of Denmark and we mark the time with Christmas ornaments, mobiles, paper cut-outs, figures of gnomes (nisser) and Santam angels, hearts and cones. http://denmark.dk/en/meet-the-danes/traditions/the-christmas-month/

FOOD The food people eat on Christmas Day is roast pork, boiled potatoes, smoked salmon, fried meatballs, and seafood. To wash it down, they drink a Christmas beer called “Julebryg” in Danish. For dessert, they eat duck with apples and prunes, peppernut cookies, and rice pudding. http://www.visitdenmark.co.uk/en-gb/denmark/danish-christmas-food

TRADITIONS Danes love to decorate their homes for Christmas. Advent wreaths with their candles, Nissers (little gnome like elves/their santa), evergreen branches, mistletoe, and holly are placed throughout the house. If a family lives in a rural area, the whole family sets out with the sled to find and cut their perfect Christmas tree. Danes gather around the table with their family to make gingerbread cookies is a tradition the youngest children especially enjoy. The dough was made several weeks earlier and put into the refrigerator so that it's flavor would meld properly. Danish butter cookies and peppernuts are also favorites.