vintagenorway:Nisse, Elverum, Norway, 1963Nissen was originally a smal supernatural creature that li
vintagenorway:Nisse, Elverum, Norway, 1963Nissen was originally a smal supernatural creature that lived on the farm. Most of the time he was invisible, but sometimes people could catch a glimpse of him. The Nisse always wear a red woolen hat. The concept of the Nisse is most likely a left over from the old Norse belief of the gardvord, a sort of vættr of an ancestor buried in the grave mound on the farm. You sacrificed food and drinks on special occasions to keep him happy, and you would get good year and peace. The Nisse would support and help out at the farm behind the scenes but he is prickly and if you didn’t treat him well he could harm the animals or sabotage the harvest. The tradition says that to treat the Nisse well you have to set out porridge for him the night before Christmas, and don’t you dare skimp on the butter. After the reformation, priests and scholars saw the Nisse as heathen superstition and catholic nonsense. The fairytale collectors, artists and folklorists of national romanticism in the 1800s collected and documented the stories of Nissen and made sure he survived.In the 1800s Nissen took on some of Saint Nicholas characteristics, and started leaving gifts for children. In modern times he fused even further with the modern American version of Santa Claus and today we call the character that brings presents to children on Christmas eve Nissen or Julenissen. When he fills this role he is human sized and have a white beard and mostly red clothes, sometimes with traditional touches like knitted clothes and knickerbockers instead of red velvet and white fur trimmings. He comes in through the door not down the chimney. Many seperate the two concepts by referring to the traditional farm Nisse as Fjøsnissen (barn santa) and Santa as Julenissen (christmas santa) sometimes with the fjøsnisse in a more santa’s elf like rolle. It is still tradition to put out porridge for Nissen the night before Christmas. -- source link