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You are here: Home / London Life / Scandi Christmas markets in London

Scandi Christmas markets in London

by Jeanne Horak on December 20, 2013 5 Comments in London Life, Markets

ScandiMarketsTitle © J Horak-Druiff 2013

People often ask me what Christmas traditions are like in South Africa – after all, we do have Christmas in midsummer rather than midwinter so you’d think that we might have come up with some radically different southern hemisphere Christmas traditions, right?  Wrong! Christmas in sunny South Africa looks almost precisely like Christmas in the Europe: pine trees decorated with sparkly baubles; Santa Clauses dressed up in scratchy red suits, looking as if they might melt at any moment; mistletoe ornaments; and even fake “snow” and snowflake motifs painted on sunny shop windows. The longer I think about it, the more ridiculous it seems! If, on the other hand, you really want to see Christmas in its natural environment, get thee to the Nordic countries!  These must surely be the ultimate Christmas countries – the font from which all other Christmases sprang: they are covered in type of pine trees on which we model our traditional Christmas trees; they are full of indigenous reindeer; and there is no shortage of snow.

It should have come as no surprise, then, to find that all the Nordic countries take Christmas rather seriously.  Even here in London, the Scandinavian communities preserve their traditional Christmas cultures and foods in Scandi Christmas markets that take place on a single weekend in late November.   The Swedish and Danish Christmas markets are centred around the Swedish church and the Danish YMCA in Marylebone and Finchley respectively which is the other end of London for me.  But the Norwegian and Finnish markets take place in and around the Norwegian and Finnish churches in Rotherhithe – practically on my doorstep!  The person who had first alerted me to the Scandi Christmas markets in London was the lovely Su-Lin, so it seemed only fitting that I met up with her one crisp, sunny Saturday last month to explore them.

There has been a Norwegian church in London since the late 17th century and the current Norwegian church, also known as St Olav’s Church, is situated near the Thames right next to the northern entrance to the Rotherhithe tunnel.  It was built in 1926 and is part of The Norwegian Seamen’s Churches, a religious organisation originally founded to secure the religious education of Scandinavian seafarers but now serving all Norwegians and and other Scandinavians travelling abroad.  The church is also called the seaferer’s church and its maritime history is evident in the gilded ship which serves as a weather  vane.  Just inside the front door there is also a statue t St Olav – and beyond that (on the day we visited anyway!) was a bustling Christmas fair full of beautiful traditional wooden ornaments, knitted goods, lace and a whole lot of fantastic food from cookies to tins of Norwegian fishballs to tins of reindeer paté.  We were seduced by the lure of loaves of beautiful wholegrain bread and bottles of pickled herring, both of which are made each year by the ladies of the church congregation. In the main space of the church, a bustling café had been set up, staffed by Norwegian ladies in traditional dresses.  On offer were a selection of open-face sandwiches and some delectable cakes which we could not resist.  Between us we had the smoked salmon; the pickled herring and beetroot; and the meatball sandwiches, and then we did an earl fika with bottomless coffee and apple cake.

 

NorwegianChurch © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

StOlavStatue © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

NorwegianChurchMarket © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

NorwegianChurchSandwiches © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

NorwegianAppleCake © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

Fortified sufficiently, we stepped outside into Albion Street which was lined with Christmas stalls as far as the eye could see.  Whatever you might need for a Scandi Christmas could be found there, from beautiful more traditional Christmas decorations and adorable tomtes;  to funky Cath Kidson-esque angels; to my gift idea of the day – colourful, funky and stylish thick felt trivets for your Christmas table by Verso Design.

 

ScandiXmasDecs1 © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

ScandiTomtes © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

SscandiDecs2 © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

ScandiFeltTrivets © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

And of course, let’s not forget the food!  Swedish bakery Bageriet was there, with a table heaving under the weight of Lussekatter (saffron buns) and Klenäter – deep-fried pastry twists dusted in cinnamon sugar that rather reminded me of a Swedish take on koeksisters!   For the more traditionally-minded, there were gorgeous muffins and for the more adventurous there was a steaming pot of reindeer stew – although we were told by one of the sellers that they sometimes have to describe it as “Arctic venison” in the UK to avoid upsetting youngsters who think we are eating Santa’s main form of transport!  There was an entire stall devoted to the foods of Estonia, a country that I often forget sits so far north as to be culturally part of Scandinavia – the highlight for me was the coffee laced with warmingVana Tallinn, a rum-based liqueur with Christmassy spices. Despite having just eaten at the Norwegian church, Su-Lin and ai could not resist some of the treats on sale, including a Swedish hot dog served in a traditional flatbread rather than a roll, loaded with ALL the toppings (including crispy onions!); a shared mug of astonnoshingly good Norwegian fish chowder; and a fresh, crispy waffle with fruit jam.

 

ScandiBakedGoods © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

ScandiFoodDiptych © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

ScandiTallinCoffee © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

ScandiHotDog © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

ScandiWaffles © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

At the opposite end of Albion Street, and at the opposite end of the architectural spectrum,  from the Norwegian church is the Finnish Church, a modern Grade II listed building opened in 1958.  As we were told while waiting to get in, the building also houses a shop selling Finnish products, a hostel, and a traditional Finnish sauna open to the public Tuesday to Sunday.  Inside the church, we found a bustling bazaar full of all manner of interesting Finnish foods for sale and a group of carol singers, singing familiar carols in Finnish.  Upstairs was a café serving all manner of Finnish treats – would have been rude not to try some, right?? 😉 We tried the Karelian pie, an unlikely-sounding delicacy consisting of  a thin rye or buckwheat crust with a filling of rice, spread with a mix of hard-boiled egg and butter before serving. Its not nearly as heavy as you might think. and the egg butter is  surprisingly delicious. To finish (hah!) we had two pastries – a Finnish Korvapuusti (cinnamon roll) and a  Joulutortiu – a star-shaped puff pastry with a plum jam filling.

 

ScandiFinnishCarols © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

FinnishChurchSnowflakes © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

FinnishKarelianPasty © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

FinnishPastries © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

And with that, we had reached the end of the street – and our capacity for food!  On the way back to the station, we caught a few tunes by the excellent South London Jazz Orchestra playing in the market, and the following day I feasted on Norwegian pickled herring and the best bread I’ve tasted in a while, served with beetroot grown by Nick – and of course a heavenly Lussekatter for fika.

 

SouthLondonJazzOrchestra © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

NorwegianChurchPickledHerring © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

NorwegianBread © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

NorwegianHerringMeal © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

Lussekatter1  © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

Lussekatter2 © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

VISITOR INFO

The markets take place only one weekend per year, usually in late November – details of the 2014 dates will be released on their website in due course.  To do justice to all the markets, I would suggest doing the Noregian and Finnish markets on one day; and the Swedish and Danish on the other – click here for Su-Lin’s write-up of the 2013 Danish Christmas market; or here for her write-up of all four markets in 2012.

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  1. Jonker - Firefly says

    December 21, 2013 at 3:03 pm

    Can I throw a little temper tantrum about the fact that we don’t have traditional Christmas markets here in SA. Perhaps its just not our tradition. But heck, we should make it so. I love these Christmas markets. Wish I could go to them. Gotta make a plan and have a European Christmas one day

    Reply
  2. Jamie says

    December 23, 2013 at 4:28 pm

    Oh….. if only. But I would end up eating so much and buying so much it would be the ruin of me. But how fabulous, beautiful and festive! You should see the sorry, pathetic excuse for a Christmas Market in Nantes. I envy you! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  3. Rosa says

    December 23, 2013 at 6:43 pm

    Wonderful!

    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    Reply
  4. Bintu @ Recipes From A Pantry says

    December 24, 2013 at 12:51 pm

    You know, I did not realise there were scandi markets in London. Will put on my to do list for 2014.

    Reply
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Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

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