When Erika Lundell moved south from Stockholm a decade ago, it struck her how much Christmas decorations in her new home of Malmo — and indeed the world over — featured ice and snow.

"All of a sudden, they stood out in another way," said Lundell, an ethnographer and senior lecturer at Malmo University in Sweden, adding that the emphasis was clearer than when she had been living in the Swedish capital, where real snow is more common. "There are so many Christmas decorations that have an element of snow in it."

Whether it's white fleece decorating store windows, icicle lights hanging from a pine tree or even the baby Jesus incongruously bundled up for a cold, snowy night in a Middle Eastern manger, decorative snow is omnipresent at this time of year. In Sweden, Lundell said the idea of a "real" Nordic winter, complete with a thick blanket of snow, is seen by many as part of the national identity.

Lundell, who studies the cultural aspects of snow and winter, has spoken with dozens of Swedes of all ages about their experience with winter weather — and how that's changing as winters get warmer in the Northern Hemisphere. Most live in southern Sweden, where snowfall has become rarer in recent decades. And with just a few days to go until Christmas in Malmo, it isn't looking likely this year either.

"The older generations, they have much more detailed stories of living with snow — snow forts, sledges, [skiing] to school," said Lundell. But for the younger Swedes, she said, it's not part of their everyday lives in the winter months — they're more used to dirty, icy snow and slush.

A majority told Lundell that "they miss snow," that classic winter popularized by several centuries of songs, stories and imagery, especially during the Christmas season. "You can see it [in their] descriptions of snow that are very poetic, very romantic," she said, highlighting the connection between snow and "the Christmas spirit."

"There is this extremely strong idea in this part of the world that there has to be snow for it be the perfect Christmas."

Christmas culture is omnipresent

That link between snow and Christmas has spread around the world, helped by colonialism and capitalism. Even in places like New Zealand, where the holiday falls in the summer and is often celebrated with barbecues on the beach, tourism and sustainability scholar C. Michael Hall said homes are festooned with fake Christmas trees, inflatable plastic snowmen and reindeer.

"I've been in Singapore and in Kuala Lumpur at Christmastime. And they've got Santa in his suit […] they've got massive pine trees with artificial snow on them. The iconography is there, and that's clearly going to be with us for a very long time," said Hall, speaking to DW from Auckland.

Both Hall and Lundell expect that the familiar Christmas symbols and traditions won't disappear any time soon — even if we have to go to greater lengths to maintain it. Pine trees, also struggling to adapt to the warming climate, are still a key part of the Christmas scene. A recent survey conducted by Ipsos in the US showed that some 83% of Americans were opting for a convenient artificial tree this year.

"The culture connected to Christmas and snow, I think it will continue to be very strong. But the distance between the object and what it stands for will become much wider," said Lundell.

Europe, as the fastest-warming continent, has seen a drop in the average number of snow days over the last 40 years, with two of the warmest winters on record happening in the last five years. In North America, traditionally frozen areas like the Great Lakes region along the US-Canadian border are also experiencing a thaw. The relatively balmy winter of 2019/2020, for example, saw very little ice on the inland seas, which typically freeze over 40% of their surface area.

"Culturally, [that loss] will be a huge shock," said Hall. That absence will be especially felt in Rovaniemi, the self-proclaimed "official hometown of Santa Claus" in northern Finland. When people visit Rovaniemi, they're expecting the full package: sleigh rides, St. Nick and, of course, fun in the snow.

Hall, currently a professor at the Massey Business School, has spent many years at the University of Oulu, south of Rovaniemi, where he observed how climate change is affecting "the imagined country of Christmas."

"In terms of visitor numbers, for Rovaniemi, Christmas is the peak," he said. "That's how they positioned themselves for many years, and that's how they've got themselves into people's imagination. And […] it's very hard to move away from that."

Moving on from snow and Santa

But in a sign that this perception may be shifting, Hall said he noticed during his most recent visit to Rovaniemi that some tourists weren't so concerned about the lack of snow. "They were keen on just making sure they had the photograph with the reindeer," he said, despite being surrounded by slush and mud.

Iceland-based travel agency Nordic Visitor, which has been operating Christmas and winter holiday tours in northern Europe since 2002, hasn't needed to change its destinations for climate reasons. But it has modified some of its activities and "become more transparent with guests about what to expect."

"Fifteen years ago, we leaned heavily on traditional snowy imagery, which reflected what travellers expected at the time. Nearly all our tours featured winter activities like dog sledding, reindeer sledding, snowmobiling and glacier experiences," a company spokesperson told DW.

Now, when faced with a lack of snow, suppliers have adapted to carry their husky sleds on wheels. Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi stays open year-round, with Santa welcoming visitors "whether there's rain, snow, or sunshine."

Other tour operators are also choosing to focus more on activities that don't depend on the weather. "You've got some places which are already doing that, particularly [with] the aurora borealis, the northern lights," said Hall. "You're already getting that kind of shift."

For Nordic Visitor, that also means tours "highlighting local cultural experiences that aren't snow-dependent" and welcoming the new year with bonfires and fireworks. "We have often been told by our guests that it's more about the complete experience — the culture, the lights, the landscape — not just checking the box on a white Christmas."

"[With climate change] wintertime will lose one of its components, the snow, but not the darkness," said Lundell, adding that we may begin to see less of an emphasis on snow and cold, and more on another important symbol of the season: "the interplay between light and darkness."

"Maybe in the future, winter will be known more as the dark season rather than the cold season," she said. The idea of snow and winter would then fade into our shared cultural memory, "like something from a fairy tale."

Edited by: Sarah Steffen