Sweden's tradition of watching Donald Duck cartoons on Christmas Eve (2009) | Hacker News Reader

Sweden's tradition of watching Donald Duck cartoons on Christmas Eve (2009)

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59 pointsgeorgehdd53 comments

My wife and I are in Barcelona at the moment, and yesterday we learned about Caga tió, or "Shitting log", Catalan's version of Santa Claus. It's literally a log with a smiley face.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ti%C3%B3_de_Nadal

Each family buys or makes their log and covers the rear with a blanket. Children then hit the log with sticks until it poos presents, often while singing one of several songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB_N7-HXTlI

Certainly one of the highlights of our trip.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caganer

Spain seems to have multiple poop based Christmas traditions.

In Japan, they eat KFC:

http://www.fastcompany.com/3040263/its-not-christmas-in-japa...

I was walking down "Christmas Tree Lane" in Alameda a couple days ago and remarking to my mates on how popular culture turns into "Christmas Tradition". Many "Christmas Standards" are merely popular music from days past.

There was a very impressive "Nightmare Before Christmas" display synced to music. (The song "What's This?") Some smart alec walking by commented "someone sure loves their arduino."

If anything should become a new Christmas tradition, I think it should be this David Sedaris essay:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYdpte1W0vk

It's also a nice commentary on how traditions change and can become bizarre.

EDIT: I sometimes ask people, "You know that way you feel when you do the Donald Duck voice? Do you think ducks feel like that all the time?" I'm pretty convinced that most people who can do that voice can't do it without a smile in their eyes. When I looked up the definition of "ducky," I found that one of the meanings was, "charming; delightful."

Alright, so now it's time for weird Christmas things and things about weird Christmas traditions from Scandinavia, here's a (joke? yeah probably) video about some from Norway:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j50fA_7TbSI

I won't spoil it by saying anything more... enjoy

It's also interesting that the segment has become a point of heavy discussion of political correctness and genderification and at this point has been censored in many parts

Yes, indeed.

Last year a bl*ck doll was cut, as the stereotype was frowned upon (the airhead blonde doll was kept, and the fat white men) http://www.thelocal.se/20121214/45080

and this year a feminist gender consulting agency counted 293 male vs 22 female characters in the cartoon, and the twitterati went through the roof.

http://svenska.yle.fi/artikel/2014/12/24/hejdlos-mansdominan...

They cut the blonde this year too, and the jewish stereotype. But that particular scene is so full of political incorrectness, besides being a big sweat shop, I think if they cut all of it there would be nothing left :)

How many years until the chinese dolls go?

The most bizarre thing is cutting down trees

and bringing hem indoors

Freaky. It would be even stranger if they started planting trees.

Reminds me of one of my favorite Xmas vids: Treevenge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kicdSI_-XpE

If we are talking about holiday traditions, I should point out Germany's "Dinner for one" sketch. Although that's for New year, not Christmas.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_for_One

Bernd das Brot did a parody called "Dinner für Brot", also worth a watch.

I prefer this swedish christmas cartoon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnM4hswopgs

This is a longer version and has better quality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c96LBI4enk

Too communistish for my taste.

I find it no more bizarre than A Charlie Brown Christmas.

The content isn't what's bizarre to me, it's the synchronicity. Everyone watches it together at the same time all around the country. Sort of like a cross between the Macy's parade and A Charle Brown Christmas.

That said, it's a lot of fun.

Source: Lived in Sweden for a few years, watched Kalle Anka with Swedish friends every year.

And for Iceland, via NPR...

Iceland publishes more books per capita than any other country in the world, with five titles published for every 1,000 Icelanders. But what's really unusual is the timing: Historically, a majority of books in Iceland are sold from late September to early November. It's a national tradition, and it has a name: Jolabokaflod, or the "Christmas Book Flood."

"The culture of giving books as presents is very deeply rooted in how families perceive Christmas as a holiday," says Kristjan B. Jonasson, president of the Iceland Publishers Association. "Normally, we give the presents on the night of the 24th and people spend the night reading. In many ways, it's the backbone of the publishing sector here in Iceland."

http://www.npr.org/2012/12/25/167537939/literary-iceland-rev...

Don't forget the fine Swedish tradition of setting the christmas bock on fire. So many gems in its rich history

http://dynamic.hs.fi/arkku/tiedostot/236485051591abb0d7c0235...

Kalle Anka provides a excellent time where the parents can take a break after eating the Christmas dinner, drink coffee, and prepare for the event of delivering and opening presents with the children. A break, where everyone is expected lean back, to sit still and be calm.

>where everyone is expected lean back, to sit still and be calm.

Now that's Christmas magic

We have the same tradition in Denmark. We exchange presents on December 24th in the evening and during that morning and day the tv is filled with the same cartoons every year. We also have "Disneys Store Juleshow" (Disneys grand Christmas show) with lots of old short cartoons (Donald and his nephews in the snowball fight) and some new clips from Disneys movies. (Cinderellas dress creation, lady and the tramp spaghetti scene, snow white and the party in the hut, and this year; let it go from frozen). That's usually the thing that gets me in the Christmas mood on the 24th :)

In Poland for every Christmas we're watching "Home Alone". People were filling online petitions when one of main TV stations threatened to drop it last year.

Does it have that horrible Lector dubbing?

Of course. Like almost all of the films in tv. But almost everyone is already used to this, we don't even notice it.

While the article is mostly true, the commitment to this tradition is very exaggerated. Few of the people I know gather around the TV show.

Source: Being a swede.

This is the traditional movie shown before noon here in Norway: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C5%99i_o%C5%99%C3%AD%C5%A1ky_... (voices are dubbed to Norwegian). I think it has been shown every christmas eve since the 70s.

My favorite part of the show is at Santa, where they paint a chess board using chess-board-patterned paint.

Now thats efficiency.

In Russia and most of the former Soviet Union (even in Ukraine, Georgia and Baltics), they watch one and the same film for 25 years, now.

Here's the film: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073179/

I watch this every New Year's eve, do Russians watch it on Christmas Eve?

Good point, it's New Year's Eve, not Christmas.

I'm pretty sure it's more like 35+ years. Soviet Union has been gone for 23 years now.

It's a Soviet love story where a guy gets so drunk with his buddies that he ends up getting on the plane instead of his friend and goes to another city. Wakes up in the airport, calls a cab, gives him his street address and is dropped off at an identical street with identical apartment building and opens the door with his key, to someone else's apartment.

Unless you lived during those times, it's hard to understand how everything could be nearly identical, but the equality of that was a key soviet ideal. The movie pokes fun at how ridiculous that really is, but at the same time has a love story form in those conditions.

I doubt that narrative would have been allowed even a decade earlier.

In the UK 'The Snowman' has become a bit of an institution.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Snowman#Animated_film

Which is one reason why I particularly love this Irn Bru advert (soft drink, popular in Scotland):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfiqrkV_ZqI

and several European country's put on a 1963 German version of a 1920's British comedy sketch "Dinner for one" on new years eve.

The fact that it ends with the boy kneeling, sobbing over the melted remains of his magical snowman friend explains a lot about why Britons are so cynical I think.

for some unexpicable reasons, in italy we get 80's movies (Trading Places (1983) is the top) and asterix cartoons. I used to wait eagerly for those, to be frank.

Astérix, Lucky Luke and Tintin cartoons are a holiday tradition of many years in the province of Quebec, Canada, as well.

I recently read [1, in Spanish] that you guys were into a different 1983 movie: Vacanze di Natale. Is it indeed popular as well?

[1] http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/11/20/icon/1416504630_403302.h...

Those films in Italy are like Justin Bieber in the music world: almost everyone loves to hate them, I never perused neither of the two (nor I know anyone who does), and they evidently have captured a certain market segment.

Trading Places otoh is broadcasted every single year, so given how it's hard to grow up without a television at home I definitely agree how that's a staple for italian broadcast programming that's part of popculture

I prefer the simple pleasures of Daffy Dook:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTJdmmSTvw8

My tradition is watching "The Muppet Christmas Carol" every Christmas

Same procedure every year. Europeans love their traditions and customs.

Not only Europeans.

I live in Finland and we do the same thing here.

Do you live in western Finland? I live in the east, and I don't remember ever seeing that.

I live in Espoo, but spent my childhood/adolescence in Turku.

You happen to speak Swedish? My mother tongue is Finnish, and I had never heard of the Kalle Anka thing, but all my Swedish speaking friends said they have always watched it (and still do).

Perhaps Swedish speaking finns used to watch Swedish TV? I suppose that would have a very strong cultural influence.

[2009] Corrected [2011]

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