FAR11.1: Advent Starts, Faroese Style

Man, I am so fired up about Christmas this year. More than ever (well, that’s probably not completely true). But I’ve been good – I didn’t let myself listen to any Christmas music until 1st December, but then I made up for it! (Obviously, I heard Christmas music in shops, band practice, etc. but I had very little control over that).*

I was really excited about seeing how the Faroese would welcome in the Christmas season. As you’ve probably seen from the pictures, large parts of the Faroes look like a Christmas village anyway, so lights and snow just make it perfect.

This weekend I went to the lighting of the main tree in the centre of Tórshavn. There were so many people there, and the atmosphere was great.

Waiting for something to happen:

After a couple of readings (nicely aimed at kids and nicely religious – I haven’t spoken about religion in the Faroe Islands yet, have I?) and carols by the town band, Father Christmas (Jólamaðurin) arrived on a sleigh to light the tree. Impressed? I don’t think the crane was as invisible as the organisers may have hoped, but all the same. As he came out of the sleigh, there was a gasp around the crowd, and it was one of those moments: ‘Was that supposed to happen?’Fortunately it was, and he did his stuff and lit the tree. (This picture does look somewhat tragic, doesn't it?)

The crowd dispersed pretty quickly, but the surroundings they left behind were beautiful.Of course, Christmas is a busy time for the Salvationist, even when he’s living in the Faroe Islands. This weekend marked my first carolling of 2008, at the lighting of the Christmas tree in Hoyvík. I LOVE carolling :)

*Plus the Faroese carols don’t sound Christmassy anyway. Well, obviously to the Faroese they do. They would hear those songs and get a warm glow, whereas I’m like ‘What’s this?’ In the same way, they asked what I wanted to play, and I said ‘As with Gladness Men of Old’ (only because it has a nice euphonium part, and it was on the page I was looking at), and they didn’t think that was particularly Christmassy at all. I hear it, and immediately picture a little group of Salvation Army bandsmen, wrapped up warmly, playing on a street corner in deep snow, with a little lantern, and... But that’s just me.