“Why should we eat so horribly much just because it is Christmas” – Tove Jansson’s relation to Christmas food
Christmas was the highlight of the year for Tove Jansson as a child. Traditions like having real candles in the Christmas tree and building the same nativity scene were held on to year after year, but what kinds of Christmas food were on the table?
In a short talk on the radio in 1963, Tove Jansson speaks about her feelings around Christmas. She begins by talking about the Christmases of her childhood:
“When I was a child, Christmas was real, a day of anticipation, kindness and peace. The highlight of the whole year. In hindsight, I realise that the celebration may not have been as lavish as I thought, but it was the tree with burning candles and building the nativity scene with the sacred landscape of moss and sand around it that was important.”
The main message of the talk is that we should not let Christmas “become a panic”, but Tove also talks about her relation to food during Christmas:
“Why should we eat so horribly much just because it’s Christmas? Why does Christmas have so much to do with food, it’s almost embarrassing.“
Food on the Christmas table in the Jansson family
It is safe to say that the adult Tove Jansson was never one to prioritize food, not even during the Christmas holidays.
When she was asked to share Christmas food recipes for the magazine Vi in 1965, she instead wrote a short story about how Christmas was celebrated in the Jansson family when she was little. This short story called Vår magiska jul (“Our Magical Christmas”) was later published as a chapter in Tove’s autobiographically inspired book Sculptor’s Daughter (1968). The chapter describing the Christmas celebrations in the Jansson family does not include recipes, but it does mention some foods.
“Mummy weighed sweets and nuts on a letterbalance so that everyone would get exactly the same amount. During the year everything is measured roughly, but at Christmas everything has to be absolutely fair. That’s why it’s such a strenuous Time.”
Tove and her brothers Lars and Per Olov around the Christmas table in the 1930s (man on the right unknown).“In Sweden people stuff their own sausages and make candles and carry small baskets to the poor for several months and all mothers sew presents at night. On Christmas Eve they all become Lucias, with a great wreath with lots of candles in it on their heads.“
Sculptor’s Daughter, 1968
Read more about the strange tradition of combining Lucia and Christmas in the Jansson family.
In Sculptor’s Daughter, the only description of Christmas food being made is how Tove’s mother Signe “Ham” Hammarsten Jansson baked “lussekatter” (“Lucia cats”), i.e. sweet saffron buns of wheat:
“She made gingerbread biscuits shaped like goats with the pastry-cutter and gave the Lucy-pussies, small flat pastry scrolls, curly legs and a raisin in the middle of the tummy. When they came here from Sweden the pussies had only four legs but every year they got more and more until they had a wild and curly ornamentation all over.”
Tove Jansson’s illustration of the difference between “Lucia cat” buns in Sweden (to the left) and Finland (to the right) in the magazine Vi in 1963.
Modern day “Lucia cats”. Christmas food in Moominvalley
Even though food might not have been Tove Jansson’s top priority in life, eating is an important part of life in Moominvalley, the world created by Tove Jansson in the Moomin stories.
As the Moomins traditionally hibernate through winter, Christmas is normally not a holiday they celebrate. However, Tove does write about Christmas in the short story The Fir Tree in Tales of Moominvalley (1963). The Moomins are awakened by a Hemulen and told Christmas is coming. They do not understand why everyone is running around and preparing for Christmas, and they end up believing that Christmas is some scary creature.
“Food for Christmas,” Moomintroll repeated. “Does he eat?” The Aunt never listened to him. “You don’t get away with less than a dinner at the very least,” she said nervously and went whizzing down the slope. Moominmamma worked all afternoon. A little before dark she had the food cooked for Christmas, and served in small bowls around the fir tree. There was juice and yoghurt and blueberry pie and eggnog and other things the Moomin family liked. “Do you think Christmas is very hungry?” Moominmamma wondered, a little anxiously. “No worse than I, very likely,” Moominpappa said longingly.”
The Fir Tree, from the short story collection Tales from Moominvalley (1963)
Most of the foods that the Moomins serve in The Fir Tree are not at all traditional Nordic Christmas food, but consist of foods “the Moomin family liked”. Here one sees an example of how the Moomins do things their own way, and maybe a hint of how the food itself was never the main thing about Christmas for the author.
The only Christmas-related food item mentioned in The Fir Tree is the eggnog, but the choice of food does not affect the joy felt by the small creatures gathered around the Christmas tree. The short story ends with the Moomin family going back to sleep, while the small creatures gather for a scene evoking the Christmas spirit of Tove’s childhood.
“All the small creatures were sitting around the fir tree, eating and drinking and opening parcels and having more fun than ever. Finally they climbed the fir tree and carefully fastened the burning candles on the branches.”
The Fir Tree, from the short story collection Tales from Moominvalley (1963)
Illustration from the short story The Fir Tree.
