Christian the Baker |
The Swedish Club had a St. Lucia party recently, and Christian was the baker for the song, “There is a baker…”
In Norwegian the words go:
Det bor en baker
I Østre AkerHan baker kringler og julekakeHan baker store
Han baker småHa baker noen med sukker på
The Swedes sing:
Det finns en bakare
Han bor i sta’nHan baker kakor mest hela dagenHan baker stora
Han baker småHan baker nogra med socker på
Translated, the gist of it is: There’s a baker (in Norway he lives in East Aker, in Sweden he lives in the City), he bakes all day and makes Christmas cakes and all kinds of good things, large and small. Some of them have sugar on them.
It sounds better in Norwegian and/or Swedish. It’s a kid’s song that I sang when I was little, too.
I think he looks adorable in his costume. The red-striped apron says "God Jul", which means Merry Christmas!
I love that these fun songs of my youth are getting passed down to the next generation. You go, Christian!
Hope you have a holiday filled with delicious baked goods. Ah-Yup - that's the most Scandinavian holiday wish I can think of at the moment!
2 comments:
Just recently I saw a license plate frame that read "Happiness is being Norwegian"! Thought you would appreciate that.
There's a second verse to the Swedish song. It goes (in English)"And in his window there hangs Christmas things,
Horses, pigs, and gingerbread cookies,
If you are nice then you will receive,
But if you are naughty, so sad for you!"
The Christmas cookies were shaped like pigs because of all the pork they ate at Christmas and also shaped like horses because the horses pulled the sleigh to the church. I learned that in a Swedish history book last week!
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