The Ritual Master Christmas is a magical time, the days carry a special kind of stardust on their wings and my imagination goes wild. The woodland creatures seem to tell us stories of great adventures and extraordinary characters. It’s clearly time for storytelling, and Scandinavian tales are truly remarkable.
Here are my three suggestions for Scandinavian tales.
A Scandinavian Christmas: Festive Tales for a Nordic Noël is a collection of Christmas themed stories from famous authors from Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. Classic tales from Hans Christian Andersen and Nobel Prize-winner Selma Lagerlöf blend with modern-day stories from Karl Ove Knausgaard and Vigdis Hjorth. They all evoke the warmth and cosiness of Christmas, a good introduction to the Northern way of celebrating the winter.
The complete illustrated works of Hans Christian Andersen have been a dream of mine, and having found this edition with reproductions of old world engravings, I cannot tell you how happy I was. From the famous stories of our childhood, to new and surprising tales of country living, there is much to be discovered in this collectable anthology. I shall be reading it little by little, and if there’s something left for next year then all the better.
And finally, a drop of popular wisdom in this collection of Nordic Folktales from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Denmark. I’ve always been fascinated with the work of ethnographers that travel and collect stories from the most remote parts of the world, stories that have never been written and so, that are constantly evolving. Having the priviledge of reading folktales is like meeting grandmothers from distant lands and sharing a mystical moment in the company of their ancestral legacy. This illustrated edition is simply magical, to have and to cherish each year during our long winter evenings.
Until tomorrow, remember that “Once upon a time…”. Happy reading !
