As promised, here is a post filled with what I have discovered about the Faroese Christmas.
To no surprise and like every other aspect of the Faroese culture, Christmas is magical. Downtown Tórshavn is completely decked out in rows and rows of lights, just about everywhere. A giant Christmas tree stands in the middle of town, with a temporary ice skating rink across from it. Little "Christmas houses" are set up for decoration. They look like elf homes. This continues the fairy tale feel of the Faroes that I love so much, in Christmas form. I love it even more.
The past three days it has been very cold and we have had a constant snowfall - just like Minnesota. Unfortunately, this is rare for the Faroes. It's usually raining and windy and rather warm. I was down in the center of town this evening to sell waffles, hot cocoa and cookies to raise money for my class and I brought my camera along to take pictures of the perfectly calm, white evening. I didn't get very many, because my camera died just shortly after getting there. I am hoping for just one more night like this one, and a camera with full battery! Here are some pictures I did get -
Ein hugnaligt kvøld í Tórshavn - A "cozy" evening in Tórshavn
Selling waffles for 13e with classmate, Edit
The Christmas tree with my host sister, Sanna
The only picture I got of the town has a giant parking block in front of it. But, how magical is this place!
I worked for one hour with Edit, and the only customers we got were my host family, her family and a man who we think took pity on us. Although, it was a fun night anyway!
Every year in SMS - the shopping center or "mall" in Tórshavn - there is a Christmas Town! I don't have any pictures of it, but I have a video to show you of this years Christmas Town. It is kind of like a small version of the Macy's 8th Floor Holiday Display. You can imagine my screeching excitement in the background of this video, because that is just what I did when I saw it in SMS for the first time.
Something very different about the Faroese Christmas - it is celebrated in three days. They do all of the presents, family dinners, and basically everything that we do on Christmas day on Christmas eve. Christmas day is then referred to as Christmas number one, and is for relaxing and enjoying the gifts from the previous day. Christmas number two (the 26th) then becomes the day that all the young people (and old people) really celebrate Christmas. The 26th is the day of all the Christmas parties. I think the three-day Christmas reflects the Faroese culture very well - long, relaxing, not too fast, and a bit late.
Advents, advents, advents! A big part of Christmas in the Faroe Islands is all the advents. I didn't really know what an advent was before I got here. In a nut shell, it's something that you open or do every day in December until Christmas. Because of all the advents here, there are a lot of things to remember to do every day in December.
- Advent candle. Sanna and I have each made an advent candle. We bought the candles in the store, and they have the numbers 1-24 down the side. We decorated them around the bottom and will light them each day so the number at the top corresponding to the day melts off.
- Advent calendar. Before I moved out of my first host families house, they gave me a Kinder Chocolate advent calendar! You open a little door every day and there is a little chocolate piece waiting inside. We also have about four or five advent calendars lying around the house, from people who have been selling them door to door. Ketty - the cat - even has an advent calendar with cat treats inside.
- Advent TV program. This one is probably my favorite. Every night in December at 7:30, there is a Faroese Christmas program! It is one story for all of December, and the story continues each night. It's exciting for me, because I can understand everything that is going on! I love to watch it. It was originally a Norwegian Christmas advent, so the mouth doesn't exactly match the Faroese voice over, but I can over look that. One of my good friends in my class does the voice over for one of the characters - I didn't realize this until today!
Here is my advent candle. The santa clause on the side is starting to lose his head now.
I'll let you know more about my Faroese Christmas as the month of December progresses. For now, Gleðilig Jól!
Alt tað besta,
Katie
Hey Katie! Your blog is probably my favorite of all the exchange blogs I read. It looks so cool there!
ReplyDeletethanks so much, Wes! Your blog is super fun to read as well, looks like Japan is treating you well!
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