Jul or jol is the term used for the Christmas holiday season in Norway. Originally, “jul” (or “jol”) was the name of a month in the old Germanic calendar, corresponding roughly to the time from mid-December through mid-January, and the concept of “jul” as a period of time rather than a specific event, prevails in Norway.

Whereas the start of “jul” proper is announced by the chiming of church bells throughout the country in the afternoon of 24 December, it is more accurate to describe the season five week event, consisting of five phases: Advent, Julaften, Romjul, Nyttår, and Holy Three Kings’ Day (Epiphany), which is the thirteenth, and final day of the season.

The modern day celebration is largely based on the Church year, but has retain several pre-Reformation and pre-Christian elements.

The main event in Norway, is Christmas Eve (julaften), when the main Christmas meal is served and gifts are exchanged.

On Christmas Eve, traditional dishes are served, based regional differences in cuisine and accessibility.

Norway ⁱ/ˈnɔrweɪ/ (Norwegian:  Norge (Bokmål) or  Noreg (Nynorsk)), officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and the subantarctic Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres (148,747 sq mi) and a population of about 5 million. It is the second least densely populated country in Europe. The majority of the country shares a border to the east with Sweden; its northernmost region is bordered by Finland to the south and Russia to the east; in its south Norway borders the Skagerrak Strait across from Denmark. The capital city of Norway is Oslo. Norway's extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea, is home to its famous fjords.

Anders Behring Breivik (Norwegian pronunciation: ['andəʂ 'beːɾiŋ 'bɾæɪʋiːk]; born 13 February 1979) is a Norwegian accused mass murderer, terrorist and the confessed perpetrator of the 2011 attacks in Norway. On 22 July 2011, Breivik bombed the government buildings in Oslo, which resulted in eight deaths. He then carried out a mass shooting at a camp of the Workers' Youth League (AUF) of the Labour Party on the island of Utøya where he killed 69 people, mostly teenagers.

Two pairs of court-appointed psychiatrists have examined Breivik prior to his 2012 trial. In the first report Breivik was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. A second evaluation was commissioned following widespread criticism of the first report. One week before the start of his trial the second psychiatric evaluation was published with the conclusion that Breivik was not psychotic during the attacks and he was not psychotic during their evaluation; rather he is an extreme narcissist. The trial of Anders Behring Breivik began on 16 April 2012 and is scheduled to last 10 weeks. The main issue to be decided in the trial is whether he can be given a prison sentence or, if the court finds him legally insane, he will be involuntarily sectioned to a psychiatric facility, possibly indefinitely. Contrary to popular belief, Norway's forensic psychiatric process means a psychiatric diagnosis could for Breivik mean more - rather than less - time in prison, even if he were successfully treated.