“Kallle Anka ouch Hans banner onskar God Jul” and other Christmas traditions
Dec 26, 2018
Story by Kitt Amundson
On December 24th at 3:00 pm, every year since 1959, Swedes gather in front of their televisions for “Kalle Anka ouch Hans banner onskar God Jul”, or for those who don’t speak Swedish, Donald Duck and His Friends Wish You a Merry Christmas. Colorado Eagles defenseman, Anton Lindholm fondly speaks about his family’s traditions for the holidays. “We celebrate Christmas on the 24th. My family starts the day with breakfast and lunch at my grandparents house on my dad’s side. At 3 pm, it is a Swedish tradition on TV, Donald Duck and his friends. It is always the same show, every year, so my parents saw the same thing growing up that I did. Donald Duck doesn’t speak in his original English voice, it is dubbed in Swedish. After watching Donald Duck, we go to my grandparent’s house on my mom’s side of the family where we have a big Christmas buffet dinner. Obviously, there are meatballs, salmon, lamb and maybe reindeer as part of the Christmas buffet. After dinner we open presents. After that we usually play board games. The thing I miss the most when I spend Christmas here is my family. Even when we had my fiancé and her family for Christmas one year, it is different when you aren’t home.
“In the Czech Republic the tradition is that we have a big family dinner on December 24. We have a traditional meal of fried Carp and potato salad. We don’t have Santa Claus, we have baby Jesus. No one really knows what baby Jesus looks like, but he is the one who brings the presents,” shared Colorado Eagles net minder Patel Francouz. Baby Jesus has been part of Czech Christmas for over 400 years, but unlike Santa, he lives in the mountains instead of the North Pole, and makes his appearance on Christmas Eve, after the family has enjoyed a traditional dinner. As a professional hockey player, Francouz has had to spend more than a few Christmas holiday seasons alone. “When I have to be away from home of course the thing I miss the most is family. Aside from that, it is pretty nice here for Christmas. I like that it is cold and there is snow and that makes it feel like Christmas.”
Fellow countryman, Martin Kaut is looking forward to Christmas this year. “I will be spending Christmas in Vancouver with the Czech national team, so it will be special for me. I just want to enjoy it as those will be special days. When I am at home my family celebrates Christmas pretty much the way that you do here. We eat fish and exchange presents on the 24th. My family has a lot of great cookies, so we eat a lot of those. When we are together celebrating, we often take a stroll through the city as we get together to celebrate.”
For Quebec native, JC Beaudin, Christmas has a special family tradition at Christmas. “On my mom’s side we have a big family, I have a lot of cousins. For Christmas our family rents ice time in a local arena and we play hockey. It is a family hockey game. We pick the teams by throwing the sticks in the middle and then choosing them one by one, my mom plays too. That is actually how she met my Dad, they played on the same hockey team together”, said Beaudin. “My mom doesn’t tell me what I’ve done wrong, I always play good for my mom. My grandmother is actually worse, I don’t think she played hockey but because all of her sons played hockey she really knows the game. Then, after our game we all come back to the house and eat dessert, lots of dessert, it is a lot of fun.
Center Irgo Shvyrev and Sergei Boikov, both natives of Russia, were happy to share their holiday experiences. “We don’t have the traditional Christmas like you do here. In Russia, New Year is the biggest thing, everybody tries to get together with their family. Mothers and grandmothers make a lot of food and we have traditional salads, chicken, turkey, and potatoes. Not too different from what is eaten here for Thanksgiving, I guess. We don’t have Santa Claus, but we have someone almost like Santa. He is called Ded Moroz, he brings presents to kids who have been good on New Year’s Eve, it is very similar to Christmas. If you are not good, Ded Moroz doesn’t leave you anything. In my family the tradition is for the older ones to get gifts for the younger ones. The older folks get smaller gifts, but if you believe in Ded Moroz you get a great present. I have been in the US for a while, so I am used to being away from home for Christmas. It is almost like my home, but I still miss my family.”
Shvyev (with a little translation help from Boikov) shares his holiday thoughts. “New Years is the biggest holiday day for us. It is better than my birthday because all of my family gets together and we have fun. I have never had Christmas before, especially in the US, I am very excited about it this year. I don’t have specific expectations, but I am looking forward to it. As a kid, always started thinking about New Year’s six months before it comes.”
Whether you are Russian, Swedish, Canadian, Czech or from the US, Shvyev summed it up best, in his last comment to Boikov, “It is always better when you are with family.”
