Norway

The traditional Advent calendar in Norway is an orange with cloves stuck in it. Children remove a clove each day until none are left. They then know it is Christmas. (photo)

For most people in Norway, the main celebration is on Christmas Eve. This is the day when presents are open and the main Christmas meal is eaten.

Norwegians eat Pinnekjøtt (rib of lamb) instead of turkey for their Christmas Dinner.

For pudding (dessert) they eat rice cream. The person who finds the almond hidden in the rice cream wins a prize – usually a marzipan pig.

This is very similar to the tradition in England where once a sixpence coin was hidden in the Christmas pudding. The person who found it had good luck for the rest of the year (or I suppose bad luck if they bit on the coin and broke their tooth!) For health safety reasons, people don't tend to put coins in the pudding anymore.

Children are often given a sweet red fizzy raspberry drink, julebrus, that is only available at Christmas time.

It is a very traditional Norwegian Christmas drink.

Every year the people of Oslo, Norway give London a Christmas tree which is put up in Trafalgar Square. The tree is a thank you gift from the people of Oslo, Norway.

During the Second World War, King Haakon of Norway was forced into exile in England when the Germans occupied his country. Since 1947, Norway has expressed its thanks for the help of the British people by continuing to send a huge Norwegian spruce to be shared by all.