" U-LA-BOCK-ING"

Don't you just wish for a Julbock?

These are folks that are Julbocking

JULEBRUK is an old tradition that many Norwegians brought with them to the U.S. It remained in rural Norway with folk dancing, rosmaling and other traditions that died out some in the big cities of Norway. Recently these customs have again grown in popularity. It resembles the American Trick or Treat, as participants dress in costume and go from house to house enjoying food and drinks, while offering Christmas songs and jokes.



From the paper we learn:

1920


Rosewood News Five of the community’s best singers went house to house to sing Christmas carolers over the holidays. Everyone wishing to have them stop had a candle lit in the window. The group braved a cold wind and snowy roads to do so.

Rosewood News “Christmas Ghosts” were around the community last Saturday evening showing their skill in making and dressing as done by various races of people in the olden days.






Rosewood News The carol singing on Christmas Eve outside candle lighted windows was very pretty and much appreciated. The evening was very still and beautiful and the strains of the old Christmas hymns floated like fairy echoes through the calm winter air. The pale cold light of the full moon gave a mystic illumination to the whole and hard indeed must be the hearts that have not been smitten by this Christmas spirit. A hearty thanks to the partakers in the singing.





1923


Rosewood News Christmas ghosts have been numerous this year.

1926

Rosewood News The customary “Christmas ghosts” have made their rounds this past Christmas extending their Christmas greetings.

1929

The customary “Julbocks” did their rounds on the second day of Christmas. They were dressed according to tradition to resemble ghosts, fairies, and Christmas saints and were masked to conceal their identity. They called at a majority of homes pretending mischievous pranks and leaving with a wish of holiday greetings. Later in the evening they unmasked and spent part of the night at merry making with friends.

The Julbock or Yule-goat is a ubiquitous symbol of the winter holidays in Scandinavian countries. A throwback to Pre-Christian times, the Julbock is a Pagan Yule symbol that was gradually absorbed into Christian holiday customs. In the Norse pagan religion, the goat was the conveyence of the gods- early images of Odin in a goat-drawn cart are eerily similar to modern depictions of Santa Claus. As Christianity became the norm, the Yule-goat remained popular as a trickster figure, a stand-in for the devil who accompanied the elf Tomten, and later, St Nick, on gift-giving missions. It became customary for men of the villages to dress up as the julbock and play pranks on the unsuspecting.

Today, the Julbock is most often represented in modern times by a straw figurine of a goat, traditionally made from the last grain of the harvest, bundled in red ribbons and kept as a sign of good fortune for the New Year.

Did I get your goat?

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