An Almond in my Stomach

I have been learning about Norwegian Christmas traditions. What to do, what not to do… and the most important thing I have learned so far is: Don’t eat the Almond!

We were eating rice porridge, which I have had many times in this country, but I guess at Christmas time special things happen to the porridge. While I was eating my bowl, I came across an almond in it… how strange, I thought… I was most of the way through my bowl and I had only found that one... maybe they only put a few in here. I continued eating until two people at the table started laughing about something. I didn’t really know what was going on, but that’s not too uncommon here. Then my friend Annette said that if anyone gets THE almond, they should make sure to not eat it, and show it at the end… THE almond? As in THE almond that I just ate?
“You ATE the almond??” she asked incredulously. Now, in my mind I was thinking, “Of course I ate the almond… what do you think I would do with it? It was food and in my porridge… it tasted good…”
“Why would you do a thing like that?” Still, the fact that eating an almond to me was no big deal seemed to be beyond her comprehension.
Then the explanation came out… apparently there is a game they play here… which to every Weegie is the most normal of all games… of course the whole World would all understand this, too! One almond, yes only one, is mixed into the porridge and whoever gets it needs to hide it in their mouth while continuing to eat. Many people around the table will trick each other and try to look like they have the almond, and at the end of the porridge the almond is revealed and a prize is given - a marzipan pig. They didn’t seem to believe that I had gotten the almond… I mean – why on earth would I eat it if I had it? But, at the end of the porridge there was no almond to be found except the alleged one in my stomach. I was rewarded with the pig.