I am trying to track down our Swedish Christmas traditions. I have written a story and most of it I understand where is comes from. Swedes typically celebrate Christmas eve, and Santa comes that night, all different than tradition American Christmas’. We also have Dopp i Gytan, which I can find some referenences to everywhere.
The part I cant find mention of anywhere is as I describe in my story;
Dopp i Grytan is our traditional Swedish Christmas dinner. It is a sparse course, consisting of pork and or veal boiled into making lots of broth. The traditional rye bread was solely served and in early days, the only other thing I remember in the table was celery sticks filled with cream cheese. As time went on, a salad and black olives were added. Eventually, today there are different types of breads and cheeses available, a little less sparse then original, but surprisingly still close. When dinner was ready, we would all sit around the table in the same seats for every year I can remember. My father would say let’s start, and we would sing a chant
Jul rar jul igen
Jul rar jul igen
dopp i grytan
dopp i grytan
We would all get up, singing, and go into the kitchen, get a plate and a piece of bread, and take a ladle of the dopp i gytan, or meat broth, onto the bread and go back to the table. When everyone was seated, we would stop singing and start eating. The tradition was that if someone got back up for more food, we all would sing the chant again until they got their food and were seated. I don’t remember ever having a prayer of any sort, and when pressed about the history of our Swedish Christmas or dopp i grytan, my father would say it was a tradition of honoring the famine years in Sweden. Even though the meal was sparse, it was always a happy time and the excitement of Santa coming was in the air.
We have celebrated this all my life and I have no reason to think my father didn’t do the same growing up.
But…
Firstly, I’m pretty sure the words are not correct. Its suppose to say something along the lines of Christmas is here again, dip in the grease.
Secondly, outside my family, I have yet to find anyone who has even heard of this.
I found a couple vague references to it.
The dopp I grytan itself, I have figured out, started as a winter solstice pagan festival where young animals were slaughtered and put in a communal boiling pot to appease Odin so the crops would be good as well as a lot of other things. At sun down all would gather around and dip their bread in the broth. Christianity eventually took root, and it was, to keep the story short, merged into a new holiday in Christianity called Christmas. I also believe that a fasting was required for that day or days before. I would say the honoring of the famines, which is what we were told, and the old tradition of rituals for a good harvest pretty much line up (either way means pretty much the same thing)
Any help or thoughts would be appreciated
Pete
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