Some of my family rituals, and a Swedish holiday recipe.
RITUAL rit·u·al /ˈriCH(əw)əl/ A ritual is a ceremony or action performed in a customary way.
When I was growing up, we did the same thing every year for Christmas. We went to Gramma and Grampa’s for a big Christmas Eve dinner. Traditionally, Swedish Christmas celebrations are on Christmas Eve. We always said a Swedish prayer before dinner, then enjoyed dinner, which included a roast and a special Swedish side dish that my gramma made every year. Then we exchanged gifts with all the relatives on my mom’s side. God Jul! (translation: Good Yule, or Happy Christmas)
The next morning, we woke to the scent of a turkey cooking for the Christmas Day dinner at our house and the relatives from my dad’s side began to arrive. When the turkey was ready, my dad carved it and gave me the first piece to “test”.
Fortunately for me, this all continued into my adulthood. As we get older though, and some of those relatives pass away or other circumstances cause changes, the traditions have to shift.
As things have shifted, I’ve tried not to to be sad about the past celebrations being in the past. It’s just part of life, and if we can incorporate some of those traditions into our new celebrations, they can become our own family rituals that we can pass down to our children.
My family traditions
I love a good Christmas dinner! Now that I am the one making the dinner, we continue to say the Swedish prayer, and I make a roast and the Swedish side dish that Gramma always made every Christmas. Those joining our family have always found this Swedish dish very mysterious and suspect, possibly because of its name: Ostkaka.
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Let’s just say that the Spanish-speaking branch of our family was not impressed with the word kaka being in the name!
The translation is cheese cake but it’s not what you traditionally think of as cheesecake. It takes a few hours to make and remains a ritual to make it for the holiday dinner. I always think I’m going to make Ostkaka during the year but I never do. It’s as if it is part of the ritual container that is the holiday time. Below is our family Ostkaka recipe and a Tarot card that reflects the idea of family rituals.
A Tarot card for family traditions, my family Ostkaka recipe, and a winter coupon code.
A Tarot card for family rituals: 10 of Stones
This card is all about traditions, in some cases, it could be rituals that go back a long way. In the SparkTarot® card image, a stone circle stands in a field by the sea. Women infinitely arrive to enact a ceremony that’s been practiced for centuries, as generation after generation follows the eternal tradition rooted in the stones.
This card is about the material aspects of family and community: inheritance, investments, long-held traditions. Sometimes spiritual and emotional connections need to be grounded in physical traditions or processes to remain strong. This card is about that part of it—the structure and continuity that facilitates such tradition and connection.
My Family Ostkaka Recipe
I wish I had a photo of the Ostkaka to show you but unbelievably I don’t have one to share. Suffice to say that since I make it in a round casserole, it looks like a moon!
2 quarts of milk (1/2 gallon)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 c milk (additional to above)
1/2-1 rennet tablet
2 large eggs
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 t salt
1 cup light cream
1 t vanilla
Directions
Heat the milk to lukewarm and remove from the heat.
Add the flour into 1/2 cup of milk and mix until it’s smooth, then add it to the warm pan of milk and stir it all together.
Dissolve the rennet into 1 T of some of the warm milk mixture.
Add the dissolved rennet to the warm milk and stir until combined.
Let it stand until it’s set, about 1 hour.
Cut the curds with a knife, then strain the whey off with a spoon so you only have firm curds left (a little whey is ok).
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Coat a casserole with butter.
Beat the eggs, then add the sugar, salt, cream and vanilla and mix together. Next, add the strained curd and mix until it’s combined. Pour this mixture into the buttered casserole.
Bake in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours.
Turn up the heat at the end to brown it on top. Let it cool before serving and refrigerate to store. Enjoy with your holiday dinner (or anytime!)
Your Family Traditions
Consider what you already do for the holidays (and beyond) that comes from your family lineage. If you want to add something to your celebrations to make them more meaningful, think about past traditions you may remember or had heard about, or maybe family recipes or other things — like our swedish prayer, for example— that you can incorporate.
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