Greenland‘s capital city, Nuuk, all but guarantees a white Christmas. In December, the streets glisten with frost, and steady snowfall covers rooftops and mountain peaks. Locals and visitors alike can enjoy gentle walks through the frozen city or venture out into the deep snow around Quassussuaq, where cross-country skiing, tobogganing, and snowball fights bring winter joy to both children and adults. cross country skis can be rented from the local skiing club.
Across the country’s small towns and northern villages, Christmas is a time of gathering for Polar Inuits. Families visit one another, sharing coffee, cakes, and gifts — often handmade, such as model sledges, polished walrus tusks, or sealskin mitts. On Christmas Eve, people attend church services, many dressed in national costumes: men wear their white ceremonial anoraks, and women don traditional embroidered garments.
Because no trees grow that far north, Christmas Trees are imported, usually from Denmark. They are decorated on December 23rd, adorned with candles, ornaments, and even miniature sealskin boots known as kamiks. In some homes, people use driftwood trees, decorated with heather and local materials. A warm glow fills Greenlandic towns through illuminated stars placed in nearly every window — a custom introduced by Moravian missionaries. These stars bring symbolic light to the long Arctic night, when the sun never rises above the horizon. Villages often set up a large communal Christmas tree on a nearby hill, visible from afar and lit for the entire Advent season. St Lucia’s day (December 13th) is also celebrated in Greenland.
Christmas food in Greenland blends local ingredients with Danish influence. Traditional delicacies include mattak (whale skin with blubber), kiviak (fermented little auks preserved in sealskin), and hearty suaasat soup made with reindeer, lamb, or seabirds. Danish pastries, Christmas cookies, and warm rice porridge topped with sugar and cinnamon complete the festive table. After dinner, it is custom for men to serve women, pouring coffee and stirring their meals before everyone joins in lively games. Candles are also lit in cemeteries to honour loved ones, echoing a Nordic tradition shared with Finland and Denmark. In Greenlandic, Merry Christmas is “Juullimi Pilluarit”, and in Danish, “Glædelig Jul.” The country even claims a connection to Santa Claus, said to spend his summers in Spraglebugten near Uummannaq. Finally, New Year’s Eve brings double celebration — first at 8 p.m. when the new year arrives in Denmark, and again at midnight, when it reaches Greenland itself. Fireworks light up the Arctic sky twice, marking the end of one of the world’s most magical Christmas seasons.
By the All Things Nordic Editorial Team
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