In Sweden, Disney cartoons define Christmas

[Wilt Dasney]

Came across this story about the Swedish tradition of watching a 50-year-old collection of Disney cartoons on TV every Christmas eve.

The tradition is apparently so ingrained that the slightest changes over the years, like substituting the Ugly Duckling for Ferdinand the Bull or moving it from 3 p.m. to 2 p.m., have caused massive viewer outrage.

A few snippets on how culturally massive this show is:

Kalle Anka is typically one of the three most popular television events of the year, with between 40 and 50 percent of the country tuning in to watch. In 2008, the show had its lowest ratings in more than 15 years but was still taken in by 36 percent of the viewing public, some 3,213,000 people.

The show's cultural significance cannot be understated. You do not tape or DVR Kalle Anka for later viewing. You do not eat or prepare dinner while watching Kalle Anka. Age does not matter—every member of the family is expected to sit quietly together and watch a program that generations of Swedes have been watching for 50 years. Most families plan their entire Christmas around Kalle Anka, from the Smörgåsbord at lunch to the post-Kalle visit from Jultomten. "At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, you can't to do anything else, because Sweden is closed," Lena Kättström Höök, a curator at the Nordic Museum who manages the "Traditions" exhibit, told me. "So even if you don't want to watch it yourself, you can't call anyone else or do anything else, because no one will do it with you."

Apparently the draw is partially based on the novelty of American cartoons on Swedish TV in the late '50s, when this odd little tradition began.

I had never heard of this before today. It reminds me a little of the days before cable and satellite in this country, when The Wizard of Oz aired on network TV once a year and was consistently one of the highest-rated shows. We've lost that sense of communal viewing here. I would say the Super Bowl is the closest thing left in America.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

Apparently this is a general Scandinavian thing.

The comments section on the Slate story has people from Denmark and Norway commenting that this same show is a Christmas eve tradition in their countries. No word on if Finland participates yet.

Hey, you learn something new every day, and most days it's not something nearly as cool as this.

 

[Erika]

Too funny! That is cool. I have some distant cousins over there, but I've never met any of them. I wonder if they do this. Now I'm curious- I'll have to ask my aunt :xmas:

 

[Wilt Dasney]

Too funny! That is cool. I have some distant cousins over there, but I've never met any of them. I wonder if they do this. Now I'm curious- I'll have to ask my aunt :xmas:

if you do get a chance to ask her, I'd be interesting in hearing what she says, and whether it's really the huge deal culturally that this article makes it out to be.

 

[heartodisney]

This reminds me of waiting for all the christmas stop animation shows to come on..ie: Rudolph and others..!