07.12.14 - Celebrating Christmas in Greenland

On Christmas Eve a service is held that is attended by almost the whole population, many of them in national costume. A number of the men wear the white anoraks which signify festivities and ceremony.

Santa Claus

People decorate their homes in December, in particular their windows with the characteristic Christmas star. As a neighbour to the North Pole, Greenland experiences only a little, or indeed no, daylight at this time of year. North of the Arctic Circle the sun does not rise for several months, and in the south of Greenland the sun appears only briefly over the mountains. However, illuminated Christmas stars decorate all the windows of public buildings, shops and private homes.

Every town in Greenland has an illuminated Christmas tree on a hillside or mountain top, and there are Christmas trees in the majority of private homes. These Christmas trees are transported by ship from Denmark, since trees cannot grow in Greenland’s arctic climate. Earlier it was common to make your own tree from driftwood which you then decorated with heather. There are still some people who choose this method, whilst others buy an imported tree.
The Christmas tree is decorated with both traditional Christmas decorations and Greenlandic decorations made by the children. Thus traditional Greenlandic items such as the sealskin breeches known as kamiks can hang side by side with traditional Christmas hearts and tinsel. The tree is typically decorated on the evening of 23rd December by parents.

When Christmas is over, everyone looks forward to New Year, which in Greenland is celebrated in the same way as in Europe with dinner, fireworks, songs and champagne, though with a single exception:

On 31 December New Year is actually celebrated twice – firstly the Danish New Year at 8 p.m. (due to the 4-hour time difference) and the Greenlandic New Year at midnight. On both occasions the dark blue night sky and the snow-covered landscape are illuminated by spectacular, colourful rockets.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!