It’s winter, it’s getting near to Christmas, and so my thoughts turn to Norway (oddly enough, they do the same thing in summer). Someday I’d like to spend Christmas in Norway, though that would probably be a cruel abuse of my relatives’ hospitality.

I long for even shorter days, I guess.

Here’s a series of three, related commercials from Norway. They appear to actually be Swedish, but the company, Freia Chocolate, is an old, beloved Norwegian one (now owned by Hershey, it almost goes without saying, but it’s still really good chocolate).

Facts about December 11 from Hva Dagene Vet, the Norwegian almanac by Sverre Østen (translated by me):

0 The day honors the memory of St. Damasus, who was pope in 366. He had inscriptions added to graves in the catacombs.

0 Today is considered unlucky. Around the rural neighborhoods, and in seafaring districts, it is considered extremely dangerous for a woman to comb her hair or clip her nails while the men are at work, especially if they are at sea. If she were to do that, it might bring ocean storms, leading to shipwreck.

0 Today is also considered the devil’s second birthday (the other is June 11). On June 11 and December 11, interest fell due on secured loans (according to a 1643 law).

0 It was about 14 days before Christmas that Petter Dass (a noted 17th Century pastor and poet in Norwegian history) received a command to be in Denmark the very next day. Time was short, and no one could take him so far in such a short time.

But Petter Dass “knew a thing or two,” and so he conjured up the devil. Petter mounted on the devil’s back and was carried across the sea. But the devil flew low over the water, thinking that Petter would be frightened, and so cross himself and speak God’s name. In that case, the devil would be able to throw him off. But Petter said, “Now, Satan, higher up and faster!” And the devil had to obey.

Later on, there came a day when the devil attempted to deceive him again. He replaced the pastor’s sermon text with a blank piece of paper. When Petter got up in the pulpit, he first looked on one side of the paper and said, “There is nothing here.” Then he turned it over and said, “And here there is nothing, either. And out of nothing, God created the world!” And so he preached on that topic. He had previously promised the devil that he could have all the souls that slept in church while he was preaching. Afterward, the devil complained that he hadn’t gotten one, and said, “Who could sleep, the way you were bellowing?”