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Behind the forests, behind the mountains, in far northern Norway, after many months of winter darkness, the sun finally comes out from behind the mountains. This long-awaited day is called soldagen (Day of the Sun). Imagine the joy with which the first rays of this life-giving star are greeted!
Where is S oldagen celebrated?
Sun Day is celebrated in Norwegian towns above the Arctic Circle ( polarsirkelen ), from Tromsø, through Vardø, to Longyearbyen in Spitsbergen. The exception to this is the city of Rjukan, located south of the Arctic Circle. As the steep mountains to the south prevent sunlight from reaching it in the winter months, its inhabitants also celebrate the soldagen.
When is Soldagen ?
celebrated
The date on which the Day of the Sun is celebrated varies according to location, latitude and local terrain. In Tromsø, for example, we can see the sun above the horizon on January 16, but due to the mountains in the south of the city, the official day is not celebrated until January 21. However, in Longyearbyen, which is much more northerly, Sun Day does not fall until March 8.
A bit of history
The tradition of celebrating the Day of the Sun goes back probably 1,500 years. This is indicated by the discoveries of archaeologists on the island of Austvågøya in Lofoten. On January 18, the sun goes straight to the 1.5-meter-long solsteinen (sun stone) in the Hadsel cemetery. In the vicinity of the stone, remains of animal bones and fires were found, dating back to around 500 AD. This may indicate sun worship and sacrifice on the occasion.
How is Sun Day celebrated?
Each city has its own tradition of welcoming the first rays of the sun. Usually, northerners, equipped with warm clothes, cocoa thermos flasks and sunbreads baked that day, go out to the two, eagerly awaiting the first orange-pink rays of sun over the mountains. Oranges resembling little suns are also popular on this day. In some towns, such as Vardø, children are free from school. The Solar Salute ( solsalut ) is also fired there from the old cannons. The Sunshine festival is held in Honningsvåg, and in one of the schools in Narvik, the children launch their own balloons.
Solboller, or sunny rolls
As you know, because I wrote about it in the post about cinnamon rolls, Norwegians love yeast pastries. Therefore, traditionally on this day, in many places in Norway, the so-called solboller (sun buns) or solskinnsboller (sun buns). These are yeast buns with a vanilla cream inside, decorated with white frosting; these buns symbolize little suns. There are variations of sunny buns, e.g. in Tromsø, berlinerboller (donuts) are made instead.
Interestingly, the Norwegians also bake buns during polar nights, the so-called mørketidsboller , these buns are eaten when you can’t see the sun over the horizon. These are dark chocolate covered donuts with a vanilla cream filling.
How do you like this tradition?
In the photo you can see the sunny buns baked by me. They turned out great! Why not bake them as well?
Link to Norwegian recipe for sunny cakes:
https://www.tine.no/oppskrifter/bakst/sot-gjarbakst/solskinnsboller
