Long, long ago, so the old stories of the North say, frost giants who lived on the mountains wanted to keep the earth in darkness and cold, and the gods who lived in the valleys fought with the giants to keep sunshine and warmth on the earth.

Early in January each year when the nights were longest, the people in the old days said, “Yule, the frost giant, has won in the battle against Odin, the god of the sun.” Now the people knew that Odin would win the next battle, which was always fought in the middle of the summer when the days were longest; therefore they celebrated Yule’s victory in the happy thought that Odin would soon triumph over the frost giant. They lighted fires and made feasts which lasted for weeks. And so began the Yule-tide celebration which the children of those northern lands today celebrate each year.

After years and years, the people who lived in these lands became Christians. They began to celebrate the day the Christ-child was born. As the years passed, the Christmas celebration and the Yule celebration came to be one big feast time.

The weeks before Yule time are busy weeks. The houses must be cleaned. Cakes, cookies, and bread are baked. Sausages are made. Girls are sewing on gifts and boys are sawing and pounding, making gifts too. The stores in the cities and towns are bright with decorations and happy buyers crowd about buying gifts.

The day before Christmas comes at last. And for the girls and boys of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark the day before Christmas is a merrier day even than Christmas Day. Everybody is up early on that day. A tree of spruce or fir is set in place in the living room. No home is too poor to have a yule-tree in that land of evergreen trees. Norway and Sweden have enough trees in their forests to supply every home, and ships carry trees from their forests to the children of Denmark.

As soon as the Yule-tree is up the merriment begins. The girls and boys help decorate the tree with strings of bright paper, painted cones from the evergreen trees, colored ornaments, and red candles, or bright electric lights. The boys place a big log in the fireplace ready to brighten the room with its glow.

Another tree is then decorated in the yard for the birds. The boys set up a large branch of a tree and help the girls tie bunches of oats and barley upon it so that the birds will have their Yule-time feast.

After lunch the girls and boys stay away from the Yule-tree. But how excited they are! For it is then that secret packages are heaped on the floor underneath the branches of the tree. Darkness comes early in the northern parts of these countries at Christmas time. In the far north the sun never shines at this time of the year. As early as three o’clock, Mother lights the tree and Father starts the Yule-log burning. Then all the family gather around the tree and the best fun of the day begins. Those children do not have to wait until Christmas morning to see their gifts. The packages are passed out as soon as the tree is lighted on Christmas Eve. Under the tree are presents for everybody—dolls, toy trains, books, knives, skates, sleds, skis, and candies and nuts and many, many other gifts too.

After the gifts are unwrapped sometimes Father and Mother and the children and the servants join hands and sing carols around the tree. By that time the dinner is ready. And that dinner is one of the best of the year with fish, potatoes, peas, flat bread, sausages, ham, or maybe a goose, pudding, and cakes. The children are tired and ready for bed at an early hour.

The next morning they are up early again. While it is quite dark they go to church for a Christmas service. Pretty Yule-trees stand beside the altar and the children carry gifts for the poor and place them beneath the Yule-trees. They sing songs, repeat their prayers, and listen to the pastor’s story of the Christ-child.

Christmas Day is a quiet day in most of the homes in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. But after Christmas is over the merrymaking begins again. There are more feasts and parties. The children skate, and ski, and coast on their sleds as much as they please, for school is closed during the whole of the Yule season.

American girls and boys sometimes dance around a Maypole and crown a queen on the first day of May. The girls and boys of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark have a midsummer holiday when they too dance around a gaily decorated pole, but they are not celebrating the coming of May. They are greeting the long summer day.

In the long ago people believed that June twenty-third was the day on which Odin, the sun god, won in the fight against the frost giants. So they danced and sang in praise of Odin. And people of those lands have kept up the old custom.

The school children of one Swedish town were gay and happy on the twenty-third of June. The big boys set up a tall pole in a field near the schoolhouse. Then a crowd of girls and boys tied branches of fir, spruce, and pine on the pole. They put bright flowers among the green branches.

When the pole was bright with the evergreen and flowers, a troop of girls and boys came from the schoolhouse and played games on the grass around the Maypole. But the greatest fun would come after dark. So early in the afternoon they hurried home to dress in their gayest costumes to be ready for the frolic that night.

Grown-ups came to the night celebration too. The dance lasted far into the night, for all through those northern lands there is no darkness on the midsummer eve. The sun shines all through the night in the places far to the north, but even in the southern part of Sweden where these children live, the sun was gone but a few hours. During those hours while the sun was gone, the sky was almost as bright as day with twilight.

In one town in Denmark, some girls and boys are as eager for the Fourth of July as American girls and boys are. For, like many American girls and boys, on that day they are going to a picnic in a park. Yes, they are going to a Fourth-of-July picnic and a picnic as much like an American picnic as they can have. About the only things missing from their picnic are firecrackers. The law of Denmark will not permit firecrackers.

The park is called The American National Park. The bands play patriotic American music. The people sing American patriotic songs, “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “America.” Speakers tell about America and how our country won independence. The Stars and Stripes float in the breeze with the Danish flag of red and white. People play ball and run races. They eat lunches from big lunch baskets.

One American visitor asked, “Who are the people celebrating our Independence Day?” If you asked that question at the park, and a Danish boy answered, the answer would be, “This is the Danish-American Club.” Have you ever heard of Danish-American clubs in America? The members of Danish-American clubs in America are people who have come from Denmark to live in America. The Danish-American Club in Denmark is made up of Danish people who have lived in America at some time and Danish people who have relatives living in America.

Svend is one boy you might meet at a Fourth of July picnic in Denmark. Svend was born in the city of Chicago in the United States. His father and mother were both born in Denmark, but they lived in America about ten years. Svend’s father studied in the United States and learned to be a librarian.

Svend was only four years old when he went to Denmark to live. Of course Svend could speak English then. But when he was old enough to go to school, he began speaking Danish all the time. His father wanted him to speak English at home so that he would not forget the English words. Svend said, “Oh, if I speak English, the boys call me a foreigner.” Svend was only seven years old when he said that. When he is older he will study English in the schools of Denmark. Then perhaps he will be proud that he can speak English easily.

Svend’s father takes care of a library for the Danish-American Club. In his library are many, many books telling about how Denmark and America work together. Some of the books are written in Danish and some are written in English. Both Danish-American clubs in Denmark and Danish-American clubs in America give money to support the park and the library.

Svend’s father is glad to take Svend to the Danish-American picnic on the Fourth of July each year, for he wants Svend to love America, the land where he was born.

Karl is another boy at the picnic. He is fifteen years old. He speaks English very well from his study in school. Karl’s family go to the Fourth of July picnic because Karl’s uncle lives in America. Karl writes to his cousins in the United States. From them he has learned many things about our country.

Travelers in Denmark sometimes go to the Fourth of July picnic. They cannot feel strange on that picnic ground with the many American flags and the American songs.