Tomorrow is the first day of Advent, a word which is used far more often and with a more secular meaning here than in the United States. In the US, Advent is a pretty Christian way of referring to the four weeks before Christmas. Here, it’s used as an expression of time.
Four candles for the four weeks of advent!
The big news with it being the beginning of Advent is that all the Christmas Markets (Julmarknad) are opening if they haven’t already. Lund’s outdoor museum, Kulturen, hosts a giant one with tons of food stands, handmade crafts, and Christmas decorations.
A traditional Swedish decoration: the "Julbock," or "Christmas goat."
Another funny thing about Sweden’s approach to Christmas is, as you might have noticed, that it uses all the language and imagery of Christianity even though very few people identify as religious or will be going to church. In the US, it’s de rigeur to refer to the time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s as “the holiday season,” meaning Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Islamic holidays if they fall in the right time period (Islamic holidays are based on the lunar calendar, so they change dates relative to the Western solar-based calendar).
One thing I'm definitely looking forward to... another personalized gingerbread piggy all of my own.
At exactly this time last year, we threw a huge Thanksgiving party late into the night on Saturday and then woke up bright and early on Sunday to meet first Simon’s mom and then a bunch of our friends at Kulturen’s Julmarknad. I was so tired and worn out from Thanksgiving, but we stayed there in the miserable cold for something like five hours anyway. Then we ran into a friend’s parents, who invited us over for a glögg party (spiced wine party, who loves Scandinavia, oh wait it’s me!). Don’t mind if we do.
One of the houses at Kulturen had these shutters, which I immediately fell in love with. I don't care which country we end up living in long term, but I will have these shutters.
As many of you know, trying to speak a foreign language can be pretty difficult when you’re tired, but our friend’s dad also happened to speak the fastest, most clipped Swedish of all time. (Or at least, that’s how I remember it.) I felt like a total idiot. I haven’t met them again since them and I want to so badly in order to redeem myself. Maybe this weekend will be it, finally…
If you’re in Skåne, it’s well worth a visit. I couldn’t quite find the opening hours on their website, but my best guess is that it’s open from 11 am to 5 pm. You can find it right in central Lund, about a 5-10 minutes walk from the train station.
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