More Miracles in Norway: A WWII Story

by Cindy K. Stewart

Last month I shared about the early days of Nazi Germany’s invasion of Norway in 1940 as told by Mrs. Florence Harriman, U.S. Minister (Ambassador) to Norway. You can read it here. Today I will continue the story based upon the book I Saw It Happen in Norway by C.J. Hambro, President of the Norwegian Parliament.

The Germans attacked Norway on April 9, 1940 and took the country by surprise. Norway had maintained a strict neutral status in World War II and was on excellent terms with both Germany and the Allies.

The German attack on Norway, planned months in advance, was executed with simultaneous invasions by ship and air at every strategically important point in the country. Also, soldiers had been secretly loaded on German commercial ships which were already in Norwegians ports. Unfortunately, the Norwegian army had not been mobilized, and the country was completely unprepared for war.

Courtesy of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The first inkling of trouble came when the air raid alarm in Oslo started at 1:00 AM and continued incessantly. At 2:00 AM, Mr. Hambro reached the War Office and the Prime Minister by telephone and then received updates every fifteen minutes. Reports came in from all over the country—the Germans were invading.

Between 4:30 and 5:00 AM, the German Minister met with the Norwegian Minister of Affairs. He presented a list of demands which actually called for the complete surrender of Norway. The Government rejected the proposal and made plans to flee the capital. Mr. Hambro traveled by taxi to Hamar, one hundred miles north of Oslo, to prepare for the arrival of the Royal Family, the Government (Cabinet), the 150 members of the Storting (Parliament), and others supporting them. Most of these traveled on a special train which left Oslo at 7:23 AM that morning.

The sinking of the German flag ship Blucher in the Oslo Fjord postponed the occupation of Oslo, the capital of Norway, by eight hours and prevented the Germans from ever capturing the Royal Family or the Government. 

German infantry reinforcements brought in by warship march out from
Oslo Harbor. Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum. © IWM (HU 55638).

That afternoon while the Storting was in session in Hamar, word arrived that the German motorized troops were advancing toward the city - one group was only ten miles away. A special train left for Elverum with most of the members aboard about ten minutes later. Norwegian soldiers barricaded the roads leading to Elverum and established a line of defense. The Storting met for the last time before the German occupation and unanimously gave the Government the full power to make all necessary decisions under war conditions.

The king sent his daughter-in-law, the Crown-Princess, and her three children to Sweden to stay with her parents, Prince Carl and Princess Ingeborg. The King and Crown Prince traveled with them as far as Nybergsund, which was twenty miles west of the border with Sweden.

The German Minister demanded a meeting with with the King, so he made the 45-mile trip back over frozen roads to Elverum the next day. Dr. Brauer, the German Minister, set forth the ultimatum which was tougher than the one he had presented the day before. The King stated he would abdicate rather than dissolve the Government and appoint a new one headed by Hitler’s man. The Government supported him and refused to accept the German demands.

Elverum On Fire after German Attack
Courtesy of the U. S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

The Germans replied by bombing Elverum and nearly destroying it. Nybergsund, which was smaller than a village, was also raided by bombers, but the deep snow reduced the impact of the explosions. The King, Crown Prince, and the Government passed through the Gudbrandsdalen Valley to the town of Molde on the west coast. They were constantly on the move, running from German bombers. 

King Haakon and Crown Prince Olav hiding in the woods during a
German bombing. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

British, French, and Polish troops landed at three points along the west coast to assist the Norwegians in their fight. The first British troops reached Norway on April 19^th, but by April 28^th, they were forced to evacuate southern Norway. The fight moved to the northern counties. The King and Government sailed above the Arctic Circle to Tromso, which became the provisional capital. The plan was to drive the Germans farther and farther south, and the implementation started to succeed when the Germans slowly lost ground in the north. Nevertheless, the King, Crown Prince, and Government only stayed in Tromso for five weeks.

After the Germans invaded the Low Countries and France, the Allies were forced to evacuate Norway - the troops were needed to defend their homelands. The British offered safe passage to the Royals and the Norwegian Government, and on June 7th, they departed on the British cruiser Devonshire for England.

In August, the Crown Princess, her three children, along with Mrs. Harriman, the U.S. Minister to Norway, and hundreds of others journeyed by train up the length of Sweden to the far north. They crossed into Finland and proceeded to the port of Petsamo on the Arctic coast. There they boarded the American Legion, a troop ship, sent by Roosevelt to take them to America. 

The Return of the Royal Family to Norway - June 7, 1945
Courtesy of Oslo Museum via Wikimedia Commons

On June 7, 1940, five years to the day that the King and Crown Prince had fled Norway, the King and Crown Princess and her children returned to Norway by ship to cheering crowds welcoming the Royal Family home. The Crown Prince had returned a few weeks before to prepare the way.

***

Sources:

Mission to the North by Frances Jaffray Harriman. J. B. Lippincott Company, 1941.

I Saw It Happen in Norway by C. J. Hambro. D. Appleton-Century Co., 1940.

***

Cindy Stewart, a high school social studies teacher, church pianist, and inspirational historical fiction author, semi-finaled in the American Christian Fiction Writer’s 2017 Genesis contest, and won ACFW’s 2014 First Impressions contest in the historical category. Cindy is passionate about revealing God’s handiwork in history. She resides in North Georgia with her college sweetheart and husband of thirty-seven years and near her married daughter, son-in-law, and four adorable grandchildren. She’s currently writing a fiction series set in WWII Europe.

HHH Book Day

Rosalinda knows she will never escape her past, both the choices forced on her and the mistakes she’s made. She longs to find a place to live in peace—where she can learn to mother her children and where Lucio Armenta won’t be a constant reminder of the love she can never have. Lucio wants to marry. However, Rosalinda, the only woman he’s ever been attracted to, doesn’t meet the ideals he’s set for his future wife. When he discovers she, and her adorable brood, are accompanying him to his sister and brother-in-law’s, he objects. An objection that is overruled. When secrets from Lucio’s past are exposed, and Rosalinda faces choices no woman should have to make, will their growing love, and their faith, survive? 

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As a Union sniper, killing has become easy for Captain Christmas “Chris” Haley. After four long years of fighting against his own countrymen, the once naïve farm boy is now a war hardened soldier whose faith in God is shaken. Chris is ready to set aside his rifle and return to his Kansas farm. But will his family accept the man he’s become—angry and unsure if he still believes in God? Chris struggles with being home. His mother's pretty caregiver catches his eye and begins to give him a reason to go on each day. In spite of his bitterness, his heart is softening. But what happens when he learns the secret Hannah is keeping?

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Avice Touchet has always dreamed of marrying for love and that love would be her best friend, Philip Greslet. She’s waited five years for him to see her as the woman she’s become but when a visiting lord arrives with secrets that could put her father in prison, Avice must consider a sacrificial marriage.

Philip Greslet has worked his whole life for one thing—to be a castellan—and now it is finally in his grasp. But when Avice rebuffs his new lord’s attentions, Philip must convince his best friend to marry the lord against his heart’s inclination to have her as his own.

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Victorian Christmas Brides

Experience a Dickens of a Christmas:

Faced with the daily extremes of gluttony and want in the Victorian Era, nine women seek to create the perfect Christmas celebrations. But will expectations and pride cause them to overlook imperfect men who offer true love

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For Lena Carver, Christmas always came with contradictions – cherished memories and painful recollections of why she was undesirable. This year, it came with a dark-eyed stranger, broken, bruised, and bent on changing her mind about love.

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Widowed during the war, Natalie Ellis finds herself solely responsible for Rose Hill plantation. When Union troops arrive with a proclamation freeing the slaves, all seems lost. How can she run the plantation without slaves? In order to save her son’s inheritance she strikes a deal with the arrogant, albeit handsome, Colonel Maish. In exchange for use of her family’s property, the army will provide workers to bring in her cotton crop. But as her admiration for the colonel grows, a shocking secret is uncovered. Can she trust him with her heart and her young, fatherless son?

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Kylee is the youngest of the Danner clan and drops out of college to barrel race full-time and spend more time with her rodeo sweetheart, Jesse Martin. Connor Morris, known as Jesse Martin on the rodeo circuit, is in love with Kylee, but he is keeping his true identity from her for now. When her brothers discover Jesse Martin is an ex-con on parole, they jump in and decide Kylee must break off the relationship. Kylee can’t believe Jesse is what they say, but when he doesn’t show up at the rodeo where they’re both competing, she grows suspicious. When the truth of his identity as Connor Morris is revealed in a news item on television, it is even more shocking to Kylee. His retired movie queen mother has had a heart attack and is at a hospital in Denver. He is shown there with a woman claiming to be his fiancée, and she calls him Connor Morris, son of Hal Morris, who was running for U.S. Senator from Colorado. Jesse must now not only gain back Kylee’s love and trust, he must also convince her father and brothers that he loves Kylee and the TV story was a big mix-up. 

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A Prostitute Seeks Her Revenge--In 1942, Miyako Matsuura cradled her little brother as he died on the sidewalk, a victim of the first U.S. bombing raid on Japan. By 1948, the war has reduced her to a street-hardened prostitute consumed by her shame. A Doolittle Raider Finds His True Mission--Dave Delham makes military aviation history piloting a B-25 in the audacious Doolittle Raid. Forced to bail out over occupied China, he and his crew are captured by the Japanese and survive a harrowing P.O.W. ordeal. In 1948, he returns to Japan as a Christian missionary, determined to showcase Christ's forgiveness.

Convinced that Delham was responsible for the bomb that snuffed out her brother's life, Miyako resolves to restore her honor by avenging him--even if it costs her own life. But the huntress soon becomes hunted in Osaka's treacherous underworld. Miyako must outmaneuver a ruthless brothel owner, outwit gangs with competing plans to profit by her, and overcome betrayal by family and friends--only to confront a decision that will change everything.

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Love Is One of Life’s Greatest Adventures: Seven daring damsels don’t let the norms of their eras hold them back. Along the way these women attract the attention of men who admire their bravery and determination, but will they let love grow out of the adventures?

“Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” is Mary Davis’s novella in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection. In 1904, Zola Calkin sets out on an adventure to be the first woman to drive across the country. Will the journalist tasked to report her presumed failure sabotage her efforts? Or will he steal her heart?

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NEW RELEASE!!! Can a desperate young woman trust the handsome Irish stranger who wants to free her from her captors? Set in Montana during its gold rush -- a time troubled by outlaws, corruption and vigilante violence, Stagecoach to Liberty explores faith, love, and courage in the wild west. This story can stand alone or continue the saga that began with Hills of Nevermore and Cheyenne Sunrise.

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Christmas in Colonial America

While Christmas celebrations are quite common in this century, it was not always so in America. In fact, our first settlers—both the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth in 1620, and the Puritans who established Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630—were adamantly opposed to the tradition, which they viewed as un-Christian.

Both immigrant groups were part of the Protestant Reformation movement that opposed many things associated with the church in Rome. Catholics had adopted the holiday based on the ancient Roman celebration called Saturnalia, a feast of lights that involved drinking and feasting. Their reasoning was to fix a definite date of birth to prove the personhood of the Christ child, yet most Christians balked at the unknown (according to Scripture) date. Puritans and Pilgrims rejected the holiday and its connection with the pagan Roman tradition celebrated on December 25. 

The colonists were not the first to renounce Christmas as a religious holiday, since the Puritans in England in 1647 had already banned the celebration. The reformists in America followed suit in 1659 when the General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony declared that “whoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas or the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other such way” was subject to a fine of five shillings. 

During the same time period, the Assembly of Connecticut prohibited the keeping of Christmas and any saint’s day. 

The Puritans believed that Christmas was just a pagan custom, adapted as a Christian one, without any Biblical basis. The way revelers celebrated Christmas did not endear the Pilgrims or Puritans to the holiday. “Men dishonor Christ more in the 12 days of Christmas then in all the twelve months besides,” wrote 16^thcentury clergyman, Hugh Latimer. 

The Christmas was neither “silent” nor “holy,” involving gambling, excess drinking, and rowdy, licentious behavior. 

Businesses and schools in Massachusetts remained open on December 25, until it was declared a public holiday in 1856.

But Christmas customs varied in the colonies, depending on religious affiliations. Most Virginians were devout Anglicans and the weeks leading up to December 25 were a time of penance and reflection on one’s spiritual condition. 

Quakers in Philadelphia, as well as Presbyterians, did not partake in Christmas festivities.

But Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Moravians did observe Christmas day and all its celebrations in the Middle Atlantic colonies as well as in the South. 

Peter Kalm, a Swedish visitor to Philadelphia in 1749, made note of the Christmas decorations—green boughs, garlands made of holly, ivy, and mountain laurel hanging from the church roof, walls, and pillars. 

Although historic areas now use fruits to decorate for Christmas, it is likely that these were far too precious a commodity as food in Colonial America—except perhaps by the wealthy. 

Music was a huge part of celebrations. Philip Fithian of Virginia wrote in his diary on Christmas Eve in 1775 about singing hymns written by Isaac Watts, which seems ironic since Watts was an English Congregationalist minister and theologian. Congregationalists in Massachusetts abhorred the idea of Christmas. Watts actually wrote “Joy to the World,” a favorite Christmas carol. 

Some churches offered Christmas worship services, but this religious observance seemed to play a minor role in comparison to feasting and revelry. The wealthy in the South provided lavish feasts and entertainments, including balls and fox hunts. The less well-off did not celebrate with such splendor but did participate with simpler food and festivities. 

While Southern colonists brought in the English customs of yule logs, kissing under the mistletoe, and decorating with greenery, German immigrants brought the German folk figure of Christkindel, who brings children their gifts at Christmas. 

Many cultures, traditions, and beliefs influenced the holiday of Christmas during colonial times. They were as diverse as the people who came here to settle in America.

May your Christmas be blessed. 

Elaine Marie Cooper is the award-winning author of Fields of the Fatherless and Bethany’s Calendar. Her latest release (Saratoga Letters) was finalist in Historical Romance in both the Selah Awards and Next Generation Indie Book Awards. She penned the three-book Deer Run Saga and has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies. She freely admits to being a history geek. Look for her upcoming series, entitled Dawn of America, set in Revolutionary War Connecticut. The first two books are entitled War's Respiteand Love's Kindling. You can visit her site at www.elainemariecooper.com  

Connecting with the Hanukkah Story--And Encountering Messiah

The Jewish festival of Hanukkah starts this Saturday evening. Many Christians don’t know the history behind Hanukkah—I’m afraid we sort of think of it as “the Jewish Christmas.” This is not fair at all. It’s a timely and important story of heroes of the faith.

The story also holds a surprising number of ingredients in common with our Thanksgiving.

The story unfolded in the second century before Christ. It's told in the books of 1 and 2 Maccabees, which are considered canonical in several orthodox Christian denominations. 

Like King James in the Thanksgiving story, the Hanukkah story also starts with a despot. Seleucid emperor Antiochus Epiphanes wanted to see his entire kingdom unite under a single religious system—that of Hellenistic Greece. Israel was included at that time in the Greek Seleucid Empire, which stretched across modern Lebanon, Syria, parts of Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Iran. 

On Antiochus’ orders, Jews caught keeping Shabbat were burned alive. The Emperor banned the Torah and burned any scrolls found. The Temple sacrifices required by God’s law were halted, and Jews were forced to participate in sacrifices honoring the Emperor. Women who defied the law and circumcised their sons were “paraded about the city with their babies hanging at their breasts and then thrown down from the city walls.” (2 Macc 6:1-11) 

The ultimate outrage took place when Antiochus set up an altar to the Greek God Zeus in the Temple in Jerusalem, and sacrificed an unclean animal, a pig, in the sanctuary.

A Culture of Compromise

The Greeks had overrun Israel more than a hundred years earlier and many Jews bought into Greek culture. As was also the case in King James’ seventeenth-century England, Antiochus found plenty of people who were willing to blow with the prevailing winds of culture. Antiochus appointed Jews to the priesthood who would go along with his idolatrous system, in place of any Aaronic priests who resisted him.

The Faithful Remnant

But as was the case with the seventeenth-century Pilgrims, a remnant of Jews stood determined to stay faithful to God’s word. Jews who wished to keep God’s law hid in the wilderness and many suffered martyrdom. A priest named Mattathias fled Jerusalem with his five sons and settled in Modiim, a small town near Jerusalem. In 167 B.C., Antiochus’ soldiers arrived there and tried to pressure Mattathias into making a detestable offering to the Greek deities. He refused.

I and my sons and my kindred will keep to the covenant of our ancestors. Heaven forbid that we should forsake the law and the commandments. We will not obey the words of the king by departing from our religion in the slightest degree. (1 Macc 2:20-22)

Mattathias led an uprising against the Antiochus’ soldiers, and an armed resistance movement was born.

The Cost

For the Hebrew Maccabees—as for the Plymouth Pilgrims—the cost of faithfulness was real.

It took three years of bloody guerrilla warfare and several battles before Mattathias’ rebels triumphed and reentered Jerusalem to take back their Temple. Mattathias’ third son, Judas, showed military leadership that gained him the nickname HaMakkaba—“The Hammer” in Aramaic. Maccabee (Hebrew: מכבים‎‎ Machabi) is also an acronym for the Torah verse the insurgents used as a battle cry: "Mi chamocha ba'elim YHWH", "Who is like You among the heavenly powers, Adonai!”

The Triumph

After this, the sons of Israel went up to the Temple and rebuilt its gates and purified the Temple from the dead bodies and from the defilement.

– Scroll of Antiochus

Once the Maccabees won their Temple back, they had to return it to a state of ritual purification. This was no small task. 

Hanukkah is best known for its special nine-branched Menorah. When Jewish people light the Hanukkah menorah, it reminds them of a miracle that occurred when the Temple was restored:

And they sought after pure olive oil to light the lamps therewith, but could not find any, except one bowl…. There was in it [enough oil] to light [the lamps therewith] for one day, but the God of heaven whose name dwells there put therein His blessing and they were able to light from it eight days. 

– Scroll of Antiochus

Gold-plated replica of the magnificent Temple Menorah on display in Jerusalem. It stands about six feet tall. Levitical law required the lamps in the Temple to burn every night. (Ex 27:21)
This is my photo from our first trip to Israel. I find it funny that our then-teenage daughter hasn't even noticed the magnificent menorah. She's more intent on befriending the kitty!

The dreidel game is basically gambling for chocolate coins, and it is fun with kids the right age! The Hebrew letters that mark the four sides (they're painted on the top of this dreidel) are an acronym for "A Great Miracle Happened Here." 

The Feast of Heartfelt Thanks

When they were able to resume the sacrifices commanded in the Torah, Judas Maccabeus declared an annual eight-day festival.

Now Judas celebrated the festival of the restoration of the sacrifices of the temple for eight days…. he feasted them upon very rich and splendid sacrifices; and he honored God, and delighted them by hymns and psalms.

– Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities xii. 7, § 7, #323

Sound a bit like the Pilgrims’ feast? Only grander and longer?

Therefore, the sons of Ḥashmonai made this covenant and took upon themselves a solemn vow… that they might observe these eight days of joy and honour… so as to make known to those who come after them that their God wrought for them salvation from heaven.

– Scroll of Antiochus

Our holiday table, dressed for Hanukkah

As for the Maccabees, they formed a new Hasmonean dynasty that ruled Israel for nearly two hundred years. Sadly, like virtually all human institutions, it eventually went south—it brought the Herods to power.

The Bible doesn’t mention the miracle of the oil. But the New Testament does allude to this annual feast as the “Feast of Dedication.” And it records Jesus observing this feast almost two hundred years after these events took place (John 10:22). (Yes, Yeshua the Jewish Messiah observed Hanukkah—reason enough for us to learn its history!)

A Thought for the Holidays

In fact it was during the Feast of Dedication, while Jesus walked in the court of the miraculously rededicated Temple, that the Pharisees demanded, “How long do You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

Jesus’ response?

I and the Father are One… If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works…. (John 10:24-30)

Yeshua consistently illustrated how the feasts on the Hebrew calendar pointed to Him. To Emmanuel / “God with Us” (Matt 1:23). To our “Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, Mighty God” (Is 9:6). Hanukkah is no exception. Josephus tells us it was known even then as the Feast of Lights. And there was the True Light, walking in the miraculously rededicated Temple! (John 10:31)

There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him…. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God… (John 1:9-13)

The Plum Blooms in Winter

My debut novel inspired by the Doolittle Raid is finally here!

“A taut, crisp debut achievement that colorfully evokes the Pacific theater of WWII. Start this one forewarned: it's a stay-up-all-night read."

-Jerry B. Jenkins--21-time New York Times bestselling author (Left Behind, et al)

A Prostitute Seeks Her Revenge--In 1942, Miyako Matsuura cradled her little brother as he died on the sidewalk, a victim of the first U.S. bombing raid on Japan. By 1948, the war has reduced her to a street-hardened prostitute consumed by her shame.

A Doolittle Raid Hero Finds His True Mission--Dave Delham makes military aviation history piloting a B-25 in the audacious Doolittle Raid. Forced to bail out over occupied China, he and his crew are captured by the Japanese and survive a harrowing P.O.W. ordeal. In 1948, he returns to Japan as a Christian missionary, determined to showcase Christ's forgiveness.

Convinced that Delham was responsible for the bomb that snuffed out her brother's life, Miyako resolves to restore her honor by avenging him--even if it costs her own life. But the huntress soon becomes hunted in Osaka's treacherous underworld. Miyako must outmaneuver a ruthless brothel owner, outwit gangs with competing plans to profit by her, and overcome betrayal by family and friends--only to confront a decision that will change everything.

I stepped away from a marketing career that spanned continents to write what I love: stories of reckless faith that showcase God's hand in history. I'm so excited to work with the all-star team at Mountain Brook Ink to launch my debut novel, The Plum Blooms in Winter, on December 1! Inspired by a remarkable true story from World War II's pivotal Doolittle Raid, The Plum Blooms in Winter is an American Christian Fiction Writers' Genesis Contest winner. The novel follows a captured American pilot and a bereaved Japanese prostitute who targets him for ritual revenge. Please also feel free to check out my blog, Five Stones and a Sling, which hovers in the region where history meets Bible prophecy meets current events. It's rich ground--we live in a day when prophecies are leaping from the Bible's pages into the headlines!

I live outside Phoenix with my husband, a third-generation airline pilot who doubles as my Chief Military Research Officer. We share our home with two mostly-grown-up kids and a small platoon of housecats. When I'm not writing, you'll find me rollerblading--yes, I know that makes me a throwback 😊--or catching a moonrise, or dreaming of my next trip. Next up: Wales, then Israel.

Wigilia: The Polish Traditional Christmas Eve Gathering.

Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia!

The Polish Christmas Eve festival is one the most beloved traditions for Polish families. The highly anticipated Wigilia, or Christmas Eve Dinner, is served during the festival.

After days of preparation, the celebration starts Christmas Eve when the family anxiously awaits the advent of a very special star in the sky. This star is known as Gwiazdka, and it appears in the eastern sky. As soon as Gwiazdka appears, the feast to honor the birth of the Christ Child begins.

To prepare for the feast, a thin layer of hay is sprinkled on the dinner table then a typical white tablecloth is laid over top of the hay. This is in memory of the manger in which the Baby Jesus was placed after His birth.

Then before the family sits at the dinner table, each member breaks a traditional wafer, or Oplatek. The Oplatek is an unleavened wafer similar to altar bread in the Catholic communion service. The wafers are imprinted with figures of the Baby Jesus, the blessed Mary, and angels. Each person trades well wishes for good health and great wealth and joy in the New Year with one another. This is a time of family bonding and love that all family members look forward to each season.

Another Wigilia tradition is to set lighted candles in the windows. This signifies the hope that Jesus might visit to share the Wigilia. It is believed He would appear in the form of a stranger. So, an extra place setting is always set at the table for this unexpected and welcomed guest. This belief stems from the ancient Polish adage, "A guest in the home is God in the home."

In preparation for the feast, an old Polish myth says there can never be an odd number of people at the dinner table. If there is an odd number, the legend says that some of the feasters will not live to see another Christmas. That’d be enough to make me want to sit at the kid's table.

The meal is the highlight of the night. There are twelve dishes served from the four corners of the earth: forest, sea, field, and orchard. Therefore, you will see such a rich variety of recipes based on fish from the sea, root vegetables, fruit from the orchard, dried mushrooms from the forest, and pirogi made from wheat flour from the field.

Traditional Wigilia recipes:

Polish Vegetable Barley Soup Recipe (Krupnik Polski)
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb mushrooms, sliced (mix of wild varieties is best)
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
2 large celery stalks, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1-2 parsnips, diced
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1 leek, chopped
3-4 teaspoons dried thyme
1 bay leaf
4-5 large dried mushrooms
1/2 cup pearl barley
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5-6 cups chicken stock
1-2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons sea salt (or to taste)
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cup heavy cream (or 3/4 cup sour cream, or 3/4 cup plain yogurt)
Garnish: 1 tablespoon fresh dill or parsley, minced

VEGETABLE BARLEY SOUP DIRECTIONS

1. Clean and slice fresh mushrooms and soak dried wild mushrooms. Heat butter and olive oil till butter is melted. Add the onion, celery, carrot, garlic, leek, and barley stir until slightly softened, do not brown.

2. Raise the heat to medium high and add fresh mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Cook 8 minutes until they are golden brown, stirring frequently.

3. Reduce heat and add thyme, bay leaf, and flour, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan for 5-8 minutes.

4. Add the stock and the rest of the ingredients, except the cream (or yogurt) and dill.

5. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer until slightly thickened for 30 minutes or until mushrooms and vegetables are tender. If too thick, add more chicken stock or water.

6. Remove the pot from heat and serve. Or, keep on low heat and add heavy cream (or sour cream / yogurt) to make a creamy krupnik soup. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding a few drops of lemon juice if desired. Cook for another 5-7 minutes.

7. Ladle into warm bowls and garnish with fresh dill or parsley.


Polish Apple & Leek Salad (Salatka z jablek i porow)

2 leeks, white part only, washed thoroughly
2 large, crisp apples
1 tbsp fresh minced parsley
Juice of 1 lemon
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp mild oil (optional)
Salt & fresh, ground black pepper to taste

APPLE & LEEK SALAD DIRECTIONS

1. Thinly slice the leeks, using only the white part. Peel and core the apples, then slice thinly.

2. Toss all ingredients in a large serving bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. Let stand in a cool place for about an hour to allow flavors to blend together.

4. May toss with roasted walnuts.


Do you and your family have any special holiday traditions? An old family recipe? A beloved yearly event or gathering? Please, share your family traditions with us below, and whatever your traditions for this time of year, I hope you have a wonderful, joy filled holiday season.

Until we meet again...
Michele

Award winning author, Michele Morris’s love for historical fiction began when she first read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House book series. Michele loves to hear from readers on Facebook, Twitter, and through the group blog, Heroes, Heroines, and History at HHHistory.com. She is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.

Natural Phenomena: How Nature Affected the American Revolution

By J. M. Hochstetler

Throughout history, weather and other natural and sometimes supernatural phenomena have affected the course of history. Today we’re going to take a look at how events beyond human control impacted the American Revolution.

Crop Failures

David C. Smith, emeritus professor of American history at the University of Maine in Orono, and William R. Baron, professor of historic climatology at the University of Northern Arizona at Flagstaff, determined that New England suffered early and late killing frosts from 1697 through the time of the Revolution. During the 37 years leading up to the war, the New England states, which already have a short growing season, experienced 15 even shorter ones, with late and early freezes and other weather that led to widespread crop failures.

From 1765 to the end of the Revolution, Britain stationed a standing army in the colonies, and the colonists were required to provide the soldiers food and lodging. For the British to add more mouths to feed to families who already faced a shortage of food didn’t endear them to the colonists. Smith said, “My guess is there would not have been a revolution if the weather had been different. There were other things exercising an influence on colonists and events, but when you look at the weather, it makes a compelling statement.” Other researchers think Smith and Baron overstate their case, but crop failures certainly didn’t help the situation.

Storms 

Siege of Boston

By John Christian Schetky

On the night of March 4, 1776, General George Washington fortified Dorchester Heights overlooking British-occupied Boston with the artillery Henry Knox brought overland from captured Fort Ticonderoga, rendering the city untenable. The British immediately set plans afoot to assault the heights the next day, March 6. Since the rebels had long-range cannon and plenty of ammunition this time, the resulting carnage would have been even greater than at the Battle of Bunker Hill the previous summer. But overnight a violent gale some believed to be the hand of God drove the British warships needed to transport the troops afoul of each other as they lay neatly at anchor side by side. The damage was so severe that the British were left no choice but to evacuate the city.

Battle of Long Island

On August 18-19, 1776, while British General William Howe prepared to move his army from Staten Island to Long Island to attack the American force stationed there, thunderstorms moved through the area, ruining some ammunition stores and delaying the transfer of soldiers via ship, giving Washington more time to fortify his lines. On the night of August 21-22, an intense storm of thunder, lightning, and pouring rain rocked New York City for three hours. Witnesses described it as revolving like a giant wheel with a terrible energy that seemed to portend disaster before it finally moved off to sea. A few days later, on August 27, in the Battle of Long Island the British outflanked the American positions, driving them back to the western end of Long Island and trapping them against the East River shore.

Battle of Yorktown

Trapped at Yorktown, British commander Lord Charles Cornwallis planned to secretly evacuate his army across the York River on flatboats, then fight his way north to join the rest of the British forces in New York City in order to continue the war against the Americans. But while they prepared to cross on the night of October 16-17, 1781, a violent thunderstorm dispersed the flatboats, driving some of them five miles downriver where they were captured by the French. The plan had to be abandoned, and “thus expired the last hope of the British army,” according to one of its officers. Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, at last sealing the independence of the United States of America.

FOG

Evacuation of Long Island

Copyright The Granger Collection, New York

A few days after the Battle of Long Island, the British were poised to annihilate Washington’s army, trapped against the East River. In a desperate gamble he assembled every available boat and under cover of darkness on August 29 began to evacuate men and equipment to New York City, while the last companies kept campfires blazing. Their ruse deceived the British sentries, but with dawn rapidly approaching, many soldiers were still aboard the slow-moving boats with the rear guard waiting anxiously for their turn to leave. Miraculously, as the British kept watch, still unaware, a thick fog rose over land and river, enabling every last man of Washington’s army to escape the British noose to fight another day.

BLIZZARD

Battle of Trenton

With enlistments set to expire at the stroke of midnight December 31, 1776, Washington made another daring gamble, this time to save his shrinking army. On Christmas evening, in the midst of a roaring Nor’easter, the Continentals crossed the Delaware River to attack the isolated Hessian garrison at Trenton, New Jersey. The ice-choked river prevented a second American force from crossing south of the town, but to the north the river was clear enough for Washington’s corps to get across. Emerging like ghosts from the wind, sleet, and driving snow that rendered them effectively invisible to the enemy, they took the Hessian defenders by complete surprise, routing them within an hour and mortally wounded their commander, then withdrew back across the river, taking the remaining garrison with them as prisoners. Washington offered his soldiers a bonus if they would extend their enlistments, and exuberant at their part in the victory, many did, thus saving the rebellion for the time being.

THE BIG CHILL

Battle of Princeton

George Washington Rallying His Troops at Princeton
by William Ranney

Not content with the victory at Trenton, Washington soon hatched an even more daring plan. The weather had warmed, melting the snow, so on New Year’s Day 1777 the Continentals crossed the Delaware again and returned to Trenton. This time the British countered with a large force and trapped Washington in fields sunk in mud with his back to the river. Then they settled into camp, planning to finish the job the next morning. Being a Virginia farmer, however, Washington knew that winter days with clear skies and a northwest wind often bring freezing nights. Soon the ground had frozen solid, and leaving campfires blazing to deceive the British, the Continentals moved around the British lines northward toward Princeton, wagon wheels wrapped in cloth to dampen their creaking.

The next morning the British raced after them, but when they caught up the battle was fierce and short, lasting less than an hour. Defeated once again, the British pulled back to their garrisons in the New York area, while Washington settled his army in Morristown for the rest of the winter. The news of the triumphs at Trenton and Princeton swept through the new nation, encouraging the populace and ultimately bringing in new recruits for the Continental Army. It also proved to the French that their old enemy England might just be vulnerable after all and along with the victory at Saratoga ultimately resulted in France allying with the United States in the war against Britain.

EARTHQUAKE

An earthquake shook eastern Pennsylvania on November 21, 1777, unsettling both the Americans and the British with concerns about such phenomena heralding impending disaster.

AURORA BOREALIS

The Northern Lights were visible in Boston and other places unusually far south on November 27, 1777. For the superstitious, these lights were a bad sign.

Interestingly, both the earthquake and the display of the aurora occurred within a fortnight of the murder of the great Shawnee chief Cornstalk by militia soldiers at Fort Randolph that turned his tribe and other native nations into the Americans’ implacable enemies and extended the Indian wars into the 1800s.

Many people believe that phenomena that occur in the natural world are under God’s control. Do you think that He sometimes uses things like weather events, earthquakes, volcanoes, and other means to redirect the course of history, to punish those who do evil, or to protect others? In some instances could the psychological effects have as much impact on people’s reactions as the physical effects. Please share why you think so and any examples you may know of.

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J. M. Hochstetler is the daughter of Mennonite farmers and a lifelong student of history. She is also an author, editor, and publisher. Her American Patriot Series is the only comprehensive historical fiction series on the American Revolution. Book 6, Refiner’s Fire, releases in April 2019. Northkill, Book 1 of the Northkill Amish Series coauthored with Bob Hostetler, won Foreword Magazine’s 2014 Indie Book of the Year Bronze Award for historical fiction. Book 2, The Return, received the 2017 Interviews and Reviews Silver Award for Historical Fiction and was named one of Shelf Unbound’s 2018 Notable Indie Books. One Holy Night, a contemporary retelling of the Christmas story, was the Christian Small Publishers 2009 Book of the Year and a finalist in the Carol Award.