In the cold, dark lands of Scandinavia, there is no Santa Claus.
Dark as these lands are, in the summer they are graced by the midnight sun, and in the winter, grasped by perpetual darkness. Only the white of the snow breaks the gloom. When news of Nicholas the wonderworker ventured this far north, he met resistance from the local fey. The fey in question, known as Nissen or Tomten in the lands of Svea, was one whom the locals knew better than to replace with another.
In recent times the features of these two have been intertwined by the power of the free market and television, but Nissen is entirely dissimilar from the saint of sailors, archers, repentant thieves, and prostitutes. He did not bring gifts; he had no sled and, even though reindeer were abundant, none of them served him specifically. Perhaps, in part, this was because the reindeer were kept by the Sami and, according to their Noaiden, other creatures of the fey populated their lands.
Nissen, you see – or Fjös-Nissen, as he is sometimes known – is someone you’d do well to respect and perhaps even fear if you know what’s best for you. He is said to be a short man (not much taller than three to four feet in height, and sometimes even smaller), but despite his diminutive frame, he possesses tremendous strength and power. He can easily lift an ox, sometimes even a small house or a wagon, and he can command the animals and bring doom on your farm or home. He could be considered a fey version of the ‘Godfather,’ as he uses blackmail and the threat of harm to get his way, and protects your farm if you`re nice to him.
Nissen has specific requirements of how you treat him, you see. Most of them are, compared to the potential consequences of his ire, relatively benign. He wants you to show courtesy and to warn him before you throw water from your kettle or washbasin out of the window, and he wants you to be kind to the animals, as they are his friends and as he can converse with them. You cannot hide mistreatment. Many claim that cats are his best friends – and we all know that cats know everything.
In addition to his hat – which I will come back to – he also requires you to put out a bowl of porridge for him on Christmas Eve, outside the barn door; this is perhaps how he became confused with Santa. This isn’t just any old porridge, though; it has to be made from the fattest sour cream – an old tradition in these lands and, as custom dictates, must be served properly with flatbread and some cured sausage.
Nissen’s hat is one of the main features that likely led to people confusing him with old Saint Nicholas – or, at least, the modern depictions of him anyway. You see, Nissen wears a red woolen hat, knitted and long with a bushy tassel at the end. He also has a big white beard – as is almost expected in one his age.
The consequences of not treating Nissen right could range from the unpleasant to the downright dangerous. If angered, Nissen could let all of your livestock out of the safety of the barn during the night. He could move your sled to the next farm over, make your horses run away, or even start fires. As isolated cases, this would be bad enough luck, but since Christmas only comes once a year, if you set a foot wrong then you have to suffer Nissen’s wrath for an entire year before you can make amends – and even then, if he accepts your atonement, he might still enact his torment upon you.
Hopefully, my words will have taught you a valuable lesson, and you will not chance awakening his anger.