Merry Christmas and happy holidays! For many of us, the holidays and special occasions our families celebrate together are golden for uncovering new stories and reminiscing on the old ones. These stories, whether solicited or not, sometimes carry hints to help trace your family tree. They can also give you a feel for your family’s heritage and culture.
No matter where you live, your family has stories about family traditions. Here’s a good example.
Mom’s Christmas Facebook Post
On December 23, 2020, my mom, Ruth Hanson Dilley, posted the following on Facebook:
“Tonight is what my Norwegian Dad called Little Christmas Eve. On this night and on Christmas Eve all the animals in the barn got an extra measure of hay and ground feed. I thought it was a nice custom.
Dad has been gone since 1982 and I still miss his singing. When he sang up front in the choir I always enjoyed it because when he hit a high note his eyebrows would go up to help him hit it.
Mom was from German and Yankee families but she always cooked his Norwegian treats for him. One of his favorites was Fattimon Bakkels. These were flat cookies fried until crisp and dusted with powdered sugar.”
You may have read my stories about Grandpa Erick. I love the one about his immigration from Norway to America and how he met my grandmother, Sidney Roghers. My grandfather was very proud of his Norwegian roots. So, of course, when I read this story my mom posted I had to make sure that these traditions were actually Norwegian.
When I first opened my browser to start searching, I was a little nervous. After all, Erick’s grandparents were actually Swedish, and I didn’t want him rolling over in his grave. You’ll be relieved to know he was right. Whew! In fact, the tradition of Little Christmas Eve is still practiced in both Norway and Sweden.
Little Christmas Eve
As tradition goes, December 23, called Little Christmas Eve, is a day when people throughout Norway and Sweden prepare for Christmas. Some stay home and decorate their Christmas trees. Others finish up their last-minute shopping or get together for pre-Christmas drinks and festivities.
December 24, Christmas Eve, is the traditional day to celebrate Christmas, with family dinner, church services, and gift opening. I did a little research on it and the pictures show Oslo, Norway decked out like the set of one of those Hallmark Channel Christmas movies. Beautiful! Maybe I’ll invest in a heavy-duty parka and visit one of these years…
But I digress. What was so cool about my fact-checking journey was the peek it gave me into why Christmas had so many hints of Norwegian culture at my grandparents’ house. The Norwegians really do Christmas in a big way! My grandparents were not in any way party people, as might be evident in this article about an invader in the barnyard. But, every year they had loads of decorations and lots of yummy treats.
The Fattigman Bakkels Tradition
I remember watching Grandma Hanson make the Fattigman Bakkels that my mom mentioned in her post. These were supposed to be “poor man’s cookies” because they were deep-fried instead of formed into shapes with complicated molds or irons. When she made these things, she rolled out the dough really thin and cut it into diamonds (I can’t remember if she had a fancy pastry cutter or if she just used a paring knife).
She would then make a slit in the middle of each cutout and pull one of the tips of the diamond through the middle, making a knot. The cookies were then placed in hot fat and fried up.
After they cooled, Grandma would sift powdered sugar over them like a gentle snowfall. They turned out crispy and just slightly sweet, almost like crackers.
Yeah, sure Grandma, no problem… She made it look so easy! I can screw up tossing Fattigman in a deep-frier just as well as I can make a debacle out of the fancy cookies with the molds and irons. She had years of experience making these beautiful treats. I have years of experience making mistakes while trying. I guess my Norwegian DNA doesn’t extend to baking. But I am glad to know where it all came from.
Research Clues in Family Traditions
If your family has traditions that you wonder about, ask your parents or grandparents where those traditions came from. Some things you think of as unique to your quirky family could hold bits and pieces of old traditions. Who knows, you may gain some insight into your own family heritage.
Why is there an empty chair at the table? Why do we all get together on June 19th? What is the deal with all the round food we’re eating? Answering these or other questions about family traditions leads to stories that help to bring your ancestors to life. They give you some understanding of why your family does things the way they do. These stories can even give you hints about where your ancestors were from, which may point you toward some big clues while tracing back through the generations. So the next time you try to make some complicated Christmas cookies, ask your grandma why your family always makes them. Her story may shed loads of light on your family tree and help you realize your family isn’t so strange after all!
Image credits:
Erick and Sidney Hanson, from the files of Gerald and Ruth Dilley.
Christmas Tree, from the files of Gerald and Ruth Dilley.
“File:Rolled and cut Fattigman dough.jpg” by Mycoleptodiscus is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
“File:Frying Fattigman in Crisco.jpg” by Mycoleptodiscus is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
Good job Janet. The picture of Mom and Dad with his Norwegian outfit was actually from 1948 when Dad sang in Norwegian at the Wisconsin State Fair for Wisconsin’s Statehood Centennial. Mom got to go along. At the state fair they even had a beer.
My teetotaling grandparents had a beer?! Shocking!