But of course my family still celebrates it. As a matter of fact, we seemed to have kept most of our Swedish Heritage traditions, from dancing around the Maypole (Majstag) every June to eating fish soaked in lye for a week and then prepared with cream sauce.
Oh yeah...don't forget the Vodka.
So...today is the 13th and while we did not rise at dawn,(we actually rose far before dawn) and we did not have the youngest daughter in the house, (Veggie Stick...can't imagine placing her in a long white gown with a wreath of burning candles atop her head)distribute lussekatter and glögg, we WILL celebrate the 13th tonight with a dinner and a few small gifts. Thank GOD I have the tree up with the lights on. We will finish decorating the tree as part of our own americanized version of St.Lucia and have a nice dinner together at our dining room table..complete with candles and dessert. While it might not be the accurate version, it's still a big deal for us and a tradition I'm trying to hold on to.
I was actually St.Lucia once, in church, and the entire time I was walking down the isle to distribute cookies and buns, I was TERRIFIED I was going to set my hair on fire.
My friend Paul, who was acting as a Star Boy (stjärngossar) decided to make things worse by whispering quite loudly, "She's going to light up like a Christmas tree any second.", then snickered and told the other stjärngossar to stand back.
I got through the whole experience ok, but it's one I'll never forget. Well...that and one of the elderly gentlemen passing out in the pew from drinking a little too much glögg. Heh heh heh...
Here is the recipe for glögg by the way. Personally I like it but some say it's an aquired taste. Probably the same as Lutefisk (that lye soaked nastiness passed on from my Nana's norweigan father and his family, BLEH!)
Glögg
* 1 bottle of red table wine(I like Sangaria or Tawny Port)
* 1/2- 1 cup vodka
* 5-20 cloves
* 1 rounded tsp. cardamom seeds
* 2 to 4 cinnamon sticks
* 1 or 2 pieces of ginger
* Zest of half a lemon
* 1 cup to 1 1/2 cup sugar
* 1 rounded tsp. vanilla
* 1 cup raisins
* 1 cup dates
Method
1. Crush the cinnamon and cardamom. Peel the lemon. Put all the spices and peel into a glass jar with the vodka.
2. Cover. Leave overnight. Strain the vodka, discard the spices.
3. Mix the spiced vodka with the wine and sugar.
4. Heat all the ingredients in a large saucepan until steaming hot. Do not boil! Stir and taste.
5. If not sweet enough, add more sugar. If too sweet, add more wine.
6. Pour over dates and raisins and allow to sit for a week.
7. You can serve hot or cold.
So there you have it.
The word of the day is....confused. No...I'm pretty sure I won't hear it much but if I do it'll cause me to scream and make noise and act like a complete idiot, which is how I feel sometimes.A confused idiot...
I need to go down to the school and help out a little bit with a few things. There are some programs and what-not that are coming up and things need to get done. I'd rather not do any of it, but what can you do? Someone has to be willing to go take care of business. In the meantime, I'd trying like the dickens to behave myself and get my stuff finished before Christmas has come and gone.
This is my mood today...
I hate having to do stuff I don't wanna do...meh
Spiced wine WITH vodka in.
ReplyDeleteYummy.
I'm not a drinker, but I like to try new and unusual foods. Any chance of having some Lutefisk sent my way. I think I actually saw a food network special on how it was prepared once and seemed different. You have to try every food you can try at least once or else life is too boring.
ReplyDeleteGee Ron, I don't know how the people on the food channel prepared it but this is how my great grandmother fixed it.
ReplyDeleteShe'd use dried cod and place it in a pail. Then she'd add water to cover it and set in a cool place for 5 to 6 days making sure to change the water each day.
Then she'd take the fish out and clean the pail.
That's when she'd cover it with a solution of water and lye. It would sit overnight. Then she'd drain it and clear liquid would run off it. She'd take that and pour it back over the fish. Then she'd let it sit in a cool place for a week. (Usually the root cellar).
After the week was up, she'd remove the fish, scrub it and soak it in fresh water for two or three days.
Then it would be drained and cooked in boiling salted water for 20-30 minutes. She'd make a white sauce out of butter, flour and cream, with salt and pepper to taste. We'd eat it with that. Personally I'm not a fan of it, but some people like it.
Amen, sistah. I NEED to go to the post office today. Will I? We'll see. And that fish conconction sounds nasty :::shudders:::
ReplyDeleteI don't think I could go for the lutefisk, but I really enjoyed reading about different traditions.
ReplyDeleteI'll bet getting to be St. Lucia was very cool, even with worrying about catching on fire.
How on earth did someone even come up with that recipe? I mean, 2 week old fish in a bucket? Did they wait a week and smell it and go 'hey, one more week and we'll have something'
ReplyDeleteI'll try anything once, but I think I should have tried it BEFORE I knew how it was made!
I was born on St. Blaze day (2/3) for you Catholic's out there, that was the flaming candle throat blessing day. (K-8 grade in catholic school explains a lot). Another strange flaming candle holiday/tradition.
m.
btw - I started a little home biz - shipped some stuff of to Norway yesterday!
I would like to try it (once) I think, but perhaps I should not try to prepare it myself :) I'm sure I would end up in the hospital.
ReplyDeleteLutefisk! Hahahahaha!!!! I was just discussing with a friend which is nastier, lutefisk or gefilte.
ReplyDeleteGefilte won. But not by much...
Happy Santa Lucia Day!!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't think you are an idiot.
And that fish thing sounds oh so.....yuck
Nooze's Godfather (rest his soul) was Swedish. We spent MANY nights at festivals of one kind or another.
ReplyDeleteThere was a HUGE Swedish group in Raleigh (his mom was a member), and we often went with him.
I LOVE a lot of different kinds of food. I would lose a LOT of weight if I lived in Sweden. (I like the meatballs and Glögg!)
Rob (Nooze's Godfather) was epiliptic, so we stuck to the alcohol free version. I LOVED IT.
For Ron - you do NOT want to try lutefisk. OR Gefilte fish. (*Most groceries with international areas sell both.)
Lutefisk. I just can't stop saying it.
ReplyDeleteLutefisk!
My neighbor is Swedish and belongs to that Raleigh group. I've never heard her mention Glogg, but I'm going to ask her is she has some...
ReplyDeleteLOL. Now lutefisk is a different story...ICK.
That's okay, I feel pink bunny-ish once in awhile too.
ReplyDeleteYour mood is a cute pink bunny with bunny slippers?
ReplyDeleteHere via other blogs. I went to a St. Lucia Day church service during one of my college years as my roommate was of Swedish descent. The church was Lutheran and the procession included the lit crowns on the girls. It was amazing.
ReplyDeleteI've, ahhhh, always liked the song by that name but don't know if it had a single thing to do with Santa Lucia Day.
ReplyDeleteProbably not worth mentioning which is why I snuck in at the end.