{"id":4762,"date":"2012-12-12T12:42:42","date_gmt":"2012-12-12T10:42:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.runquiltknitwrite.com\/?p=4762"},"modified":"2012-12-12T16:59:41","modified_gmt":"2012-12-12T14:59:41","slug":"swiss-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.runquiltknitwrite.net\/?p=4762","title":{"rendered":"Swiss Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Today I’m linking in with Blog in France’<\/a>s Christmas Blog Hop…you might want to hop over there and have a look at some of the other links)<\/p>\n

When I came to Switzerland over 20 years ago (gulp! Can it really be that long?), I casually assumed that having lived in the UK and the US, living in Switzerland would be a breeze. I knew I had two new languages (German and Schwyzert\u00fc\u00fctch) to learn, and within a couple of years I had them under my belt. What I hadn’t really realized were the cultural differences I was about to encounter. My attitude was along the lines of ‘it’s Europe, right. How different can they be?’. Wrong. They are different. But that’s OK. We’ve rubbed along over the years and if I’m honest, these days I’m probably more Swiss than British.<\/p>\n

But Christmas. Wow! It’s completely different. They do all sorts of things we in the UK don’t and don’t do the things we do.<\/p>\n

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First off, Santa Claus doesn’t come down the chimney on Christmas Eve. He comes wandering out of the forest on the 6th of December with a disreputable character called Schmutzli \u00a0(which actually translates as ‘scruffy’, but he has something of the monk about him) and is known as Sami Claus (Saint Niklaus). He tells bad children off and praises the good ones and distributes peanuts and mandarin oranges and if you’re really lucky, chocolate. He’s very busy in schools and visiting families in the village on the 6th and then he’s done, that’s it for the year.<\/p>\n

This was always a bit tricky…when the children were small Sami Claus popped up at playgroup, at kindergarten and school ….and then for some strange reason came down our chimney at Christmas…but not down anyone else’s….explain that one please! “British people are just special”, “he’s helping out the Christkind” (the Christ child who brings the presents in Switzerland)…were greeted by “but mum, why doesn’t the Christ child come to our house?”,”why does Santa come down the chimney? At my friend’s house he rang the doorbell”, “what has happened to his donkey, don’t the reindeer like the donkey?” Chaos I tell you….and I certainly never asked Sami Claus and Schmutzli to visit our house. Talk about adding to the confusion!<\/p>\n

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On the 6th December, in addition to the traditional nuts and mandarin oranges, the Swiss bake and eat Grittib\u00e4nz – bread baked in the shape of a man, often with a pipe – these go back into the annals of time, were originally in the shape of a bishop (St Niklaus), but quite why they are today just a man with a pipe seems unclear although the change seems to have taken place at the time of the Reformation (when I guess they didn’t like bishops much!).<\/p>\n

One thing that surprised me, coming from a land where the Christmas Dinner menu is more or less cast in stone, is that there is no traditional Christmas meal here. The big celebration is on the 24th as it is in most of Europe, and generally people work until 4pm. The most common menu I’ve come across seems to be fondue chinois – but more on the grounds that it isn’t something that you would otherwise eat every day and it also involves almost no preparation.<\/p>\n

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The catering effort where Christmas is concerned goes into the production of industrial quantities and multitudinous varieties of Guetzli or Christmas cookies. The Swiss are REALLY big into their Guetzli. I know housewives who will spend the entire month of December baking them and distribute plates of exquisite cookies to friends and neighbours (who have all been baking them too!). To say that I have seen a competitive edge in women who otherwise wouldn’t say boo to a Christmas goose is putting it mildly. Thankfully Guetzli seem to keep for ages, so I’m sure most Swiss families are still eating them long into January.<\/p>\n

Thankfully I don’t feel the need to get caught up in all the baking – I make one or two kinds to keep my husband happy and we also enjoy lots of mince pies, shortbread and a Christmas cake!<\/p>\n

This is one of our favourite Guetzli recipes if you would like to give it a try! It’s also one of the simplest!<\/p>\n

Mailanderli\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n