Last Sunday celebrated the first week of advent. As I believe I have written previously, Sweden is a very secular society. That said, if one is going to go to church at all, first advent is the Sunday one is most likely attend. It is the first Sunday of the church calender. On this day, the church not only celebrates the coming of the newborn King, but also Christ's entry into Jerusalem. It is, as I understand it, the true beginning of the Christmas (Jul) season. It is on this day that Swedes put lights in their windows, and light the first of their four advent candles.
And so, off to church we went. We had our first snow that morning, and I got a kick out of the snow removal the church employed. Yes, there are snow plows here. But I have never seen this...snow broom... and, like I said, it brought a smile to my face.
The church service was lovely. There was much singing. Swede's love to sing - and pretty consistently - sing very very well.
After the church service we, of course (!!), had FIKA. Fika should not really be capitalized, but it is in my world. : ) Below you see a picture of Lucia rolls. The feast of Santa Lucia is the 13th of December, but I guess it is fine to make these lovely, lightly sweetened rolls ahead of time.
I am including a recipe for the rolls which I found on Youtube. The post is very nicely done. I am also including the recipe from the cookbook I mentioned in an earlier post. Neither recipe has cardamom, but in this area, cardamom is very common, and it, along with the saffron, typically flavors the rolls.
I know the print is small. You will have to "zooma in".
In the evening, John and I took the bus to a small church in Trelleborg. We went to listen to a choir in which a friend of ours sings. It was really lovely.
The following recording is not great quality, but you will get a feel for the evening.
And when we came home, the traditional Jul lights were shining in our windows.
: )
God Jul!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.