Lentorama 2019: Resurrect My Globe!

Day 16: Norway

Just in case there wasn't enough death in the Easter story, Norway has added on some extra with a tradition called Påskekrim, which literally means "Easter crime."

If you didn't click on the link, here's the short version. In 1923, a crime novel was released just before Easter, and the advertising campaign for it involved an ad in a major newspaper that used the book's title for a headline ("Bergen train looted in the night," which I imagine is catchier in Norwegian). The ad was so realistic that many people believed a train had actually been robbed, giving the book a ton of publicity. Sales go through the roof. 

Fast forward to today, and publishers plan major crime novel releases for the holiday and TV stations change their programming to lean heavy on mysteries (this article gives a little more background on how this whole thing started and how it might reflect on darker aspects of  Viking culture and the Easter story itself). Not sure how much stock put in those theories about the deeper roots of Påskekrim, but as the tradition hasn't really spread to other Nordic countries maybe I'm being too judgmental.