Every year Oslo donates a Christmas tree from its snowy forests to London as a thank you for Britain’s help during World War II, often to mixed and hilarious reviews.
After the Nazi invasion of Norway in 1940, then-Norwegian king Haakon sought refuge in the British capital, and Oslo has expressed its thanks for the hospitality he received by gifting the city a Christmas spruce every year since 1947.
“It’s a token of our gratitude for the help that we received during the the Second World War,” Oslo Mayor Anne Lindboe said after taking an inaugural saw to this year’s tree at the end of last month. “But it’s also come to mean so much more. We are living in these really, really dark times and now I think the Christmas tree symbolises peace, standing together, friendship between cities.”
Photo: AFP
It might be a solidly planted friendship, but the gift does not always please its recipients.
‘Shaggy,’ ‘scrawny,’ ‘anaemic,’ and straight out ‘ugly’ are some of the adjectives fit to print that have been used to criticise the various Norwegian spruces over the years.
British social media users took particular offense to the 2021 specimen.
“Have we gone to war with Norway?” one joked. “One of those 5G masts disguised as a tree,” another said, while a third described it as “a half-plucked chicken.”
It got so bad that year that Oslo seriously considered sending a second, bushier tree.
Admittedly, the Christmas tree — which has its own account on X, formerly Twitter — sometimes loses some of its splendor on its journey. Before it goes up on Trafalgar Square, it spends several days in transit.
Flung from a truck to a boat then back to a truck, it travels from a dry and cold Nordic climate to the salty sea air and then to the mild and humid English winter.
Inevitably, a few branches get broken and pine needles shed.
“The trees that we send are generally perfect where they’re growing, but a lot of things can happen during the journey,” said grower Knut Johansson, in charge of managing Oslo’s forests.
“Once we received complaints that the tree looked like a cucumber,” he recalled. “It’s like criticizing the tree has become a bit of a sport.”
Yet every tree sent across the North Sea is carefully selected, preserved, packed, watered and shipped off on the shortest route possible.
Like an IKEA kit, dozens of extra branches are sent along to fill out the tree if necessary on arrival.
The spruce has to measure 19m to 21m, Johansson said, adding that it is not too big to be transported by road, but not so small that it looks puny next to Nelson’s Column, which towers 52m above Trafalgar Square.
British Ambassador to Norway Jan Thompson dismissed Brits’ occasional mockery of the gift.
“The point is, this is not like a Disney tree,” Thompson said. “It’s not going to be 100 percent perfect, but that’s what’s so special about it. It’s a real tree that’s been growing in a Norwegian forest.”
“Christmas isn’t really Christmas until the Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square is lit,” she said.
However, rumours are circulating that Oslo is mulling whether to continue the tradition, given its environmental cost. The question is expected to be reviewed next year.
In the meantime, this year’s 70-year-old tree went up in London on Monday.
The first reviews were positive.
“Fantastic, very festive. Brings the spirit of Christmas,” said one couple with a surname very fitting of the occasion, Becky and Gareth Wood.
“It’s a lovely gesture. And it’s free,” gushed Betty and Kevin Saunders, tourists visiting from northern England.
However, on social media, party-poopers did their best to spoil the joyous mood.
“Where’s the other half of it?!” one user wrote on X, after seeing photos of the tree still lopsided after its voyage.
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
Myanmar’s junta chief met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the first time since seizing power, state media reported yesterday, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021, overthrowing Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy and plunging the nation into civil war. In the four years since, his armed forces have battled dozens of ethnic armed groups and rebel militias — some with close links to China — opposed to its rule. The conflict has seen Min Aung Hlaing draw condemnation from rights groups and pursued by the
RSS