Norwegians are a great lens to teach us about some healthy longevity practices. The Norwegian diet is a significant factor. It's been described as the cold-weather cousin to the Mediterranean diet.
Swedes celebrate the day before on Holy Saturday, with Easter services in the Swedish church often taking place in the evening. This tradition reflects a broader cultural practice of marking holidays the evening before the main day.
Instead, they practice something called "friluftsliv" - literally "free air life" - and in February, when winter feels endless, this practice becomes almost sacred. It's their secret weapon against the darkness, and after trying it myself during a particularly rough winter, I can tell you it works better than any supplement I've ever taken. The word itself sounds complicated, but friluftsliv is beautifully simple. It means spending time outdoors, regardless of weather conditions. Not despite the cold and darkness, but because of it.
This freak storm eventually became the catalyst for Norway's most infamous witch trials-some of the most intense in Europe. Known as the Finnmark witchcraft trials, the proceedings continued throughout the 17th century. By 1692, 111 women and 24 men had been prosecuted for practicing witchcraft; 91 of these individuals, the vast majority of them women, were sentenced to death-a figure that represents around one-third of those condemned for the crime of witchcraft in the entirety of Norway's history.
A week's hiking in Jotunheimen national park (230 miles north of Oslo) last summer brought me tranquillity and peace. During four days of challenging hiking and wild camping through the area we saw hardly anyone else, having entire lush green valleys and still glacial lakes to ourselves. We were fortunate to have stunning weather throughout and, despite it being July, still had a reasonable amount of snow to traverse.
If you grew up in a region that received snow, you're probably familiar with the multitude of skiing superstitions. Whether it was wearing your pajamas inside out or flushing ice cubes down the toilet, every kid had their preferred method of playing with fate to force a snow day. Skiers, however, have taken snow superstitions to the next level. A common superstition in the skiing world is the refusal to call the last run, as doing so can apparently heighten your risk of getting injured.
Having settled on where to ski in Norway, I found myself packing up the Kvikk Lunsj wafers and sweet brown brunost cheese sandwiches at the glassy Juvet Landscape Hotel, deep in the Sunnmøre Alps. Then the slow ascent, with skins on our splitboard skis, up to the peak at Mefjellet: torturous in some ways, looking at all that glinting Care Bear snow all the way up, but also a deliciously tantric act of meditation and delayed gratification.
There's something about the holiday season that makes us all feel like kids again. Maybe it's the crisp air, the smell of pine, or the anticipation of gathering with loved ones. For me, though, it's the lights. Those twinkling, shimmering displays that transform ordinary streets into something magical. Across America, entire towns take this tradition seriously, turning themselves into winter wonderlands that draw visitors from all over the world.
