Part of the 2020 good-times advent calendar! If you have ideas, and/or would like to see something fun drawn into the advent calendar, please let me know. Comment below or email/WhatsApp me and let’s have fun this next few weeks.
The reason for the season… in the Northern hemisphere, it gets dark in winter (darker the norther you go!) More than any other reason, Christmas landing where it is links to the Winter Solstice: the shortest day that marks the turning point when days start getting longer again. The Swedish word for Christmas ‘Jul’ reflects this pre-Christian part of the tradition, as do ‘yule-tide’ traditions in the anglosphere.
Candles are a great and very Swedish way to bring a warm and cozy light to the dinner table, breakfast table, card-playing table, coffee table, etc. In related news: December is the biggest month for home fires in Sweden. Candles are great, and please be safe and mindful when you use them!
As another fun note for this lovely Sunday: today is St Lucia day, which means it is time for those Lussekatt buns and also for the annual cat beauty contest in Gävle. This year’s contestants unfortunately behind a paywall, but you can see a few cute faces peek out.