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    God Jul: A Swedish Christmas
    God Jul: A Swedish Christmas
    God Jul: A Swedish Christmas
    Ebook288 pages45 minutes

    God Jul: A Swedish Christmas

    By Anders Neumuller

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    About this ebook

    The charm, warmth, and beauty of a Swedish Christmas is captured in this remarkable collection of 300 colorful, fun, and historic postcards dating back to the 1800s. Each postcard reveals the magic behind Christmas and of Scandinavian tradition and folklore. Here, gnomish elves meet Santa and children play with angels. With traditional postcards from renowned artists such as Jenny Nystrom, Elsa Beeskow, and Aina Stenberg, accompanied by explanations of the cultural and historical past, God Jul will make everyone that is even a little bit Swedish homesick for an Old World Christmas.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSkyhorse
    Release dateNov 3, 2009
    ISBN9781628732535
    God Jul: A Swedish Christmas

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      Book preview

      God Jul - Anders Neumuller

      When You Are Waiting for Something Good. . .

      The Celebration of the Year It is no coincidence that in Sweden the most important celebration of the year takes place during the darkest and most inhospitable season of the year. Christmas brightens Swedish life and gives us something to look forward to during the rest of the year. Christmas traditions have changed almost entirely during the last four to five generations. Many of what are considered to be ancient traditions, handed down from generation to generation, were actually unknown to Swedish forefathers. We have let go of customs that have lost their significance and acquired new and imported ones that we feel have added something more meaningful to the celebration of the year.

      The Visual Christmas Ideal One of Sweden’s youngest traditions is the Christmas card. It would be hard to imagine Christmas without them. When Swedes conjure up a picture of Christmas in their imagination, they see something that has been depicted on a Christmas card. The background and the people may be a bit different, but the set-up has been available for sale on a 4 × 6-inch piece of cardboard. Swedish image of a real Swedish Christmas has been shaped by decades of holiday cards. This is where the Christmas goat, the Christmas buffet, the Christmas pig, Santa, the Christmas tree, the early morning church service—yes, even the Christmas spirit first appeared in a picture format and gradually became Swedish visual ideal of Christmas. The Christmas celebration is a romantic quest for more secure times of the past. This nostalgic quest is also one of the reasons why we see so few entirely modern Christmas cards. Publishers try to introduce more international motifs and contemporary artists, but most people still choose older, beloved motifs from Christmases past.

      e9781602397552_i0005.jpg

      TR-n (Torvald Rasmussen), Le Moine & Malmeström Konstförlag, Göteborg 1904.

      e9781602397552_i0006.jpg

      J.C. Horsley, R.A., Joseph Cundall of New Bond Street, London 1846 (1881).

      The First Christmas Card How did the Christmas card come about? There are many theories. Greeting cards in some form or another have actually been used throughout the ages. At the time of the birth of Christ, the Romans sent palm leaves or small gifts to each other as a symbol of victory and success. In Japan there is a very old tradition of giving Surimono cards to friends and relatives on the Japanese new year. (The explorer Sven Hedin had a Chinese New Year’s greeting card from 300 A.D. in his collection.) The oldest European new year’s greeting still in existence dates back to the 14th century. Toward the end of the 18th century names day cards became popular in Germany. Each calendar day was dedicated to a saint and, on the day, you would send greeting cards to any acquaintances who had the same name as the saint. This was much easier than trying to remember birthdays. Half a century later, the first new year’s card appeared in England and it was not many years after this that Henry Cole ordered the very first Christmas card in 1843. Sir Henry—his title derived not from the invention of the Christmas card, but for his founding of the Victoria and Albert Museum—had started a phenomenon. The artist John Calcott Horsley depicted the yuletide message with a happy family seated around an extravagant Christmas meal. Three generations—children, parents, and grandchildren—raise their glasses in a toast to a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. The temperance lobby of the time protested against the motif and were not appeased by the vineframed side panels showing the less fortunate being fed and clothed. The card was printed in 1,000 copies that were individually hand-colored by the artist. Just two Christmases later, the Royal Mail distributed 25,000 Christmas cards.

      Anonymous German card with glitter, 1892.

      e9781602397552_i0007.jpg

      AF (Alfred Schmidt), 1895.

      e9781602397552_i0008.jpg

      Vicke Andreen, 1892 (for the Idun magazine’s subscription drive).

      e9781602397552_i0009.jpg

      Bookmark Santa from the 1880s.s.

      e9781602397552_i0010.jpg

      The Golden Age of the Christmas Card Starting off as a rather exclusive phenomenon, the Christmas card got its big breakthrough in the 1760-70s when people in large parts of Europe started sending them to each other. One reason for the spread of this custom was that the price of the cards and the postage came down considerably. At the same time, introduction of oil printing meant that the chrome lithographic method replaced hand-coloring. The foremost artists of the time were engaged and competitions with large cash awards were announced to bring in new motifs. In England alone, as many as a quarter of a

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