A lack of snow so far this winter hasn’t helped ward off complaints around Oslo’s annual Christmas market in the heart of downtown. It’s recently been criticized and ridiculed in Norway’s largest newspaper, prompting its commercial operator to mount a quick defense.
“Do we really have to trash Oslo’s main boulevard, for six weeks year after year, with a world championship in tackiness?” asked local resident Håkon Ryvarden Hübert in newspaper Aftenposten last week. He objects to how it dominates the central square between Parliament and the National Theater, and how he now needs to walk through it every day to get to work, because the tram station at Parliament is closed for renovations.
Hübert claims an “otherwise nice” promenade is “greatly disrupted” from mid-November through the end of the year because of all the retail stalls and amusements set up around what’s a popular fountain in the summer and usually an outdoor ice rink in winter. He wonders “why we must accept” what he calls the “stink of fried food, rat infestation and super-commercial stalls” during the holiday season. It’s all called Jul i Vinterland (Christmas in Winterland),
Hübert insisted he’s not a “Grinch” and thinks “all national capitals with respect for themselves must have a Christmas market.” He would much prefer, however, a less commercial farmers’ market that offered higher quality local products: “Now we have very plastic variety of a market that has little to do with Christmas and blocks views of some of Oslo’s prettiest areas.”
Aasmund Lund, leader of this year’s Jul i Vinterland, responded rapidly in Aftenposten, thanking Hübert for his “engagement’ and for “sharing his views” while defending the annual Christmas market as “a gathering place that creates light, life and activity during a period that for many can be a dark and quiet” time of the year. He stressed how both young and old, families and visitors can enjoy ice skating, concerts, dance shows and other opportunities to experience “fellowship and winter joy in the middle of the city.”
There’s no question it can be costly, after a reporting team from Aftenposten looked into Hübert’s complaints and could confirm that there’s little tradition in Norway for the candied apples apples on sale for NOK 65 (USD 6.50). A glass of beer cost NOK 129 and hot chocolate with cream cost NOK 69. It also cost NOK 98 for two rounds on the ferris wheel. Other items on sale included “dirty corndogs” and “dirty fries,” but it was also possible to buy Norwegian pepperkake (akin to ginger bread) and traditional smultringer from Gjøvik that are similar to donuts.
Aftenposten also reported no sign of rats despite all the food for sale, while spotting vigorous early-morning and late-night efforts to contain them.
Oslo’s current Christmas market replaced an earlier version several years ago that used to be erected on the fjordside City Hall Plaza. It offered more Scandinavian crafts and less warm fast food, but also more local packaged Norwegian food like sild (herring), smoked fish and meats and baked goods. The city leased both that site, its successor and the current one to their operators after various bidding processes.
Lund further defended this year’s market by stressing that it employs around 500 people every season and has ripple effects for other businesses in Oslo including hotels, restaurants and stores. He claimed more than 3 million people visit the market each year, many of them several times. “We are working continually do develop its concept,” he vowed, and to “increase its local base, meet higher quality demands, offer more Norwegian products and concentrate on cleanliness, visitors’ enjoyment and security.”
There are also more Christmas lights and crowds downtown after last weekend’s annual lighting of the city’s Christmas tree nearby. That’s where the Salvation Army also annually set up its donation box, where the spirit of giving can also be carried out.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
