Finland: ‘Hyvää Joulua!’

Many Finns visit the sauna on Christmas Eve. Families gather and listen to the national “Peace of Christmas” radio broadcast. It is customary to visit the gravesites of departed family members.

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The Christmas morning is started by a rice porridge that is had with cinnamon and sugar. There is also one almond in the porridge and the person who gets it can have a wish. In our family there are more than enough almonds for everyone!

The Christmas tree may have been decorated already earlier but ours is usually brought in on the day. Our tree decorations are of the traditional Christmas tree style, i.e. all sorts of decorations together regardless of the colour or the style. The Finns traditionally top the tree with a star but recently I’ve also seen angels sold in the shops. A wreath is also hung outside the front door, although they may not be as massive as seen in other countries. Also external lights are very modest compared to for example some of the British displays. Other traditional Christmas decorations include for example straw mobiles. The typical Christmas flowers are amaryllis, poinsettia and hyacinths.

During the day and the early evening the Finns visit the cemeteries to light candles for the loved ones that are no longer with us and actually the cemeteries look very beautiful with hundreds of candles in the darkening evening.

Christmas Meal

Families usually celebrate Christmas together and might even go to a sauna before the festive meal. The festive meal is based on tradition from farmer houses when the times were tough. The main meat is a ham roast that is usually prepared in advance by roasting the ham in the oven overnight (in a low temperature). There are also always 3 different casseroles of carrot and rice, potato, and swede, many different fishes including gravad lax and herring salad.

Finnish Santa Claus

In Finland we are great believers in Santa Claus, which is a no surprise seeing as he lives in Finnish Lapland, in a place called Korvatunturi! The departure of the Santa on the 23 rd is even shown on the main news and apparently the clip is shown worldwide. If there are kids in the family, the Santa usually pays a visit and always asks if the children have been good. The smaller the children, the earlier the visit takes a place.

The rest of the evening is spent together by playing games or watching tv etc. Traditionally there are also Christmas night church masses.

The Christmas day is a quiet day in Finnish families and traditionally the Boxing Day is for visiting families and friends. This is also for ‘Tapanin Tanssit’ Stephen’s Dance and people are allowed to go to dance; there are even particular ‘Tapanin Tanssit’ in some bars.

 

Original Source: https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/christmas-traditions-worldwide