Key Dates:
- Oct. 31: Last day to purchase premade kits
- Nov. 12: In-Person Gingerbread Workshop
- Nov. 13: Pre-Made Kit Pickup
- Nov. 18: House Drop Off (Afternoon)
- Nov. 18: Pepperkakebyen Opens (Evening)
- Dec. 12: National Gingerbread Day
Pepperkakebyen
Celebrating our 11th year!
November 18 – December 18, 2022
Duluth Pepperkakebyen Gingerbread City started in 2011 as Son’s of Norway member and Norwegian native, Bente Soderlind’s idea to create a smaller Duluth version of Bergen, Norway’s world’s largest Pepperkakebyen (Gingerbread City) in the world! The Nordic Center of Duluth and Son’s of Norway Nortun Lodge will host the 11th Annual Pepperkakebyen Gingerbread City of Duluth (gingerbread city in Norwegian pronounced: pepper-kocke-BEE-in).
This year Pepperkakebyen is back in person! Don’t worry, we still have a virtual option for those who can’t visit us in person! Pepperkakebyen opens in-person and online on Friday, November 18th at 6 pm, with the Duluth City of the North Parade. You can also come by and safely see the Pepperkakebyen window display!
On December 12th, National Gingerbread House Day, we encourage you to enjoy a stroll downtown to look for Gingerbread Houses at participating businesses.
Join us online, or safely in person, to celebrate this community winter celebration!
Tour the 2017 Pepperkakebyen above!
About Gingerbread and Pepperkaker
Making, eating, and decorating with gingerbread has a long history throughout the Nordic countries of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and Finland.
In Norway, the most popular form of ginger confection is the pepperkaker. Other Nordic countries have similar cookies: pepparkakor (Swedish), brunkager (Danish), piparkökur (Icelandic), and piparkakut (Finnish). In the Baltic countries they have piparkūkas (Latvian) and piparkoogid (Estonian).
Pepperkaker are thin, very brittle cookies or biscuits that are particularly associated with the extended Christmas period. In Norway and Sweden, pepperkaker are also used as window decorations, the pepperkaker are then a little thicker than usual and decorated with glaze and candy. Many families bake pepperkaker as a tradition with their kids.
The harder style gingerbread is often used to build gingerbread houses similar to the “witch’s house” encountered by Hansel and Gretel. These houses, covered with a variety of candies and icing, are popular Christmas decorations, often built by children with the help of their parents.
Gingerbread was brought to Europe in 992 by the Armenian monk Gregory of Nicopolis who taught French priests to make it.
During the 13th century, Gingerbread was brought to Sweden by German immigrants. Early references from the Vadstena Abbey show how the Swedish nuns were baking gingerbread to ease indigestion in 1444. It was the custom to bake white biscuits and paint them as window decorations.
The first documented trade of gingerbread biscuits dates to the 17th century, where they were sold in monasteries, pharmacies and town square farmers’ markets. In Medieval England gingerbread was thought to have medicinal properties.
GINGER = MEDICINE
Notes have been discovered dating back to 1444 describing how the nuns in Vadstena, Sweden, baked and ate spiced ginger thins to help their digestion. At that time, pepper, cardamom, aniseed, fennel, cedar oil, lemon and pomegranate peels were also ingredients in the dough, in addition to the traditional ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. During the Middle Ages, the dough was sweetened with honey rather than sugar.
GINGER MAKES YOU HAPPY
The Swedish-Norwegian-Danish King Hans (regent 1497-1501) was prescribed ginger thins by his doctor, who may have heard about the nuns’ cookies in Vadstena. Apparently the King suffered from stomach aches and a bad temper. He got better after eating spiced ginger thins and that’s why people say that gingerbread made you happy.
Participate in Pepperkakebyen 2022!
Ordering is now closed for 2022 Gingerbread Kits.
Make your Own:
The sky’s the limit! You can create your own gingerbread house from scratch OR you can purchase $25 (+credit card fees) pre-made kits from our resident King of Gingerbread House making, Patrick the Gingerbread Man. Order kits by Oct. 31st! Kit pickup on November 13th from 1-2pm.
Learn How:
Assemble your pre-made kit at our Gingerbread Workshop hosted by Patrick the Gingerbread Man at the Nordic Center & Prøve Gallery. You will learn tips and tricks on how to build and decorate the house(s) you have purchased. Sign up for the workshop when you purchase a kit.
Gingerbread Workshops
November 12 @ Nordic Center & Prøve Gallery
9am - 11am
Show Yours:
Want to have your house included in our spectacular display? Just make sure the house is no wider than 2’ so it fits through our doors! Local businesses can display in their windows and will be included on our Gingerbread Village walking tour map. Drop off your house on Friday, November 18th from 1-4 pm.
Visit:
November 18 – December 18
Open Hours: Friday & Saturday from 1-4 pm
The Nordic Center is now open Fridays & Saturdays from 1-4PM. Join us in person on Saturdays to partake in Nordic crafts with UMD students. Or catch our virtual tour online or stop outside to see all the houses through our magical and expanded window viewing experience. Visit participating businesses using our walking tour map.
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