Here in Finland Christmas is better known as "joulu", and the festive period usually starts from the first Advent Sunday. Even many of those who don't go to church often go there on first Advent Sunday, just to sing the old traditional "Hoosianna" hymn (composed by G.J. Vogler). The first Advent also starts the "home decoration" time, and often people either put up an electric/LED table candlestick on the table, or mount a hanging LED star near one of their windows (or both). Many also bake their first batch of "
joulutorttu" which are a bit similar to mincepies but with slightly different dough (often readymade) and prune (plum) jam/marmalade (readymade as well) in the middle, though these days people are more adventurous with their joulutorttu's and put even marmalade sweets in the middle!
Although many people call Christmas calendars as "advent" calendars, they mostly start "running" from December 1st. These days even grown-ups have been pampered themselves by getting Christmas calendars, so it can be just anything from porridge calendars, makeup calendars, sock calendars, wine or tea calendars, scratchable money/raffle lot calendars, even erotic calendars, and there are also yarn calendars (never had one but I know they exist!), dog/cat food calendars, toy calendars or even baby food calendars, so calendars for every age/gender and even for our canine/feline ones!
During the First Advent weekend, there is a certain local tradition which is mostly known here in Oulu area, namely, "star boys" (
star singers). Each year our city arranges a singing competition for the star singer teams, which can be either all-boys, all-girls or mixed teams (although the original tradition started with all-boys groups). The Finnish version of the traditional play contains non-biblical elements such as king Herod vanquishing the "king of the Moors", and a short song of praise to Tsar Alexander, and this year there has been a lot of kerfuffle about "blackfacing" problem as the person leading the King of the Moors role has had his/her face blackened. These star singer groups then perform in various places such as elderly homes, Christmas parties, schools, kindergartens, shopping centres, supermarkets etc. throughout December (until Christmas).
Recently, especially during the pandemic, many have also showed much interest in building either more simple elf doors somewhere or building a bit bigger miniature world to be displayed somewhere in their homes. Many of you remember me doing some small-scale miniature photostories for my niece last year, but as little Maija asked (in the middle of a heatwave this summer!) what Taito the Elf and his friends Peppi the Bunny & Osku the Squirrel were doing then (I told her they were away on a summer holiday too!), it was quite obvious for me to do a new photostory project for her. This time I'm using those two "indoor" and "outdoor" cardboard template "background scenes" for my photostories, and now that I have some more characters and other mini items available, I decided to do my project on a "one photo, one story each day" basis. Not all those stories are directly Christmas-related, for example one day Taito and his new canine friend Kalle the Dog were exploring the mystery of a stopped wall clock (fresh batteries don't work with old wall clocks!), and on December 6th they were
waving the Finnish flag in order to celebrate the Finnish Independence Day.
The Finnish Independence Day is then the next festivity, and it is obviously a public holiday. Back then when I was in junior/senior high school, both schools (which were in the same building) had their own Independence Day festivities, including a traditional mini concert with some Finnish music for the students and staff of both schools. As some classes of the junior high school were not special music classes (i.e. less music classes) and not all senior high school students were singing on any of their choirs, they were obviously taking part to this "only" as an audience. The absolute highlight/grande finale of this all was the performance of the FULL version of Sibelius' "Finlandia" symphonic poem (not just the hymn). Together with Oulu City Symphony Orchestra and their conductor, the combined choir of the junior high girls' choir, all the other pupils from junior high's music classes plus the girls' choir and mixed choir from senior high, the orchestra starts the Finlandia and the massed choir comes in when the hymn part starts. I have been singing there six times (3 times as a junior high student and 3 times as a senior high student/mixed choir soprano), and remembering this makes my skin goose bumped even now! It was magical! Obviously we were doing this a bit beforehand because schools too are closed on December 6th.
Additionally, the Finnish Military Forces usually perform an Independence Day parade somewhere in Finland (with a flypast), the President of Finland and members of the Finnish Government take part to a special church service at Helsinki Cathedral starting at noon, and later in the evening the President of Finland usually hosts the annual Independence Day festivities (invitation only!) with live music, dance, food. coffee and a cornucopia of other delicacies (including the rather strong punch drink made according to a secret special recipe), glitz and glam at the Presidential Castle in Helsinki. This event will be broadcast live online, on TV and radio, and the Finnish press & other media are then full of various gossips and other things such as who had the most beautiful/most awkward outfits at that event! Both last and this year the pandemic cancelled this event, and this year the President of Finland and his wife arranged a televised/radioed special event with live music (including a wonderful performance of a Finnish hit "Elämän Nälkä" featuring a pro recorder player, (just like the song's original version does) and this thing was the main topic of discussion both in Finnish media and the social media the next day: Who on earth was this man and how on earth he could play the recorder like that? Obviously most Finns did not know there was such a thing as a professional recorder player, until then (ha, I did!)! Hurrah to Mr. Saunamäki for raising the recorders' reputation to a well-deserved higher level! Who now says the recorder is "kids only" because it squeaks? Another TV tradition for December 6th is one of the (so far) three film versions of "Unknown Soldier", based on the book by the late Finnish author Väinö Linna. Way too action-packed and way too long for me (we had to watch the original film version in senior high school Finnish language & litterature classes though)!
December 13th is perhaps the most "undercelebrated" day in Finland, but there is a reason as this tradition comes from Sweden.
Saint Lucy (known also as Lucia or Lucy of Syracuse who was a Sicilian Christian martyr) and like Swedes, the Swedish-speaking Finns also celebrate this feast day in memory of her. In the biggest cities (where there are usually some Swedish speaking residents as well), they choose (either by public vote or otherwise) a local girl to play the role of St. Lucy, who then wears a white robe or long fur coat plus a candle crown with a green leafy wreath (these days a battery operated one for safety, resembling the Catholic Advent Wreath with four candles) and sings the "Santa Lucia" song together with a pre-selected group of other girls, also dressed in white and holding candles (but not crowned). Usually these groups (yes, there can be more than one group of these within the same city and not all of these are even Swedish-speaking, for example my former senior high school does this tradition every year and perform their songs (in Swedish) in elderly homes, shopping centres etc. What most people in Finland don't do then is the making of "lussekatter", i.e. special
saffron buns for St. Lucy's Day, but I have tasted them once and they're really good!
Between the Second and Third Advent, the Lutheran church in Finland arranges several traditional "The Most Beautiful Christmas Carols" singalong events across Finland, raising money for various missionary and other charity work. These are simple organist-led events in packed churches (well, this year less packed as corona pass is required from the congregation), but they can also feature parish choirs or other local musicians as well and the venue can even be a different one, it does not have to take place in a church. I haven't been playing in these events yet (haven't been invited...), but I'm sure that day will come though!
December 21st, known also as the feast of St. Thomas, starts the real Christmastime then. It's Winter Solstice, and there isn't much daylight around (well, above the Arctic Circle, no daylight at all!). It's the feast of St. Thomas, and although not much is known about the original festivities of that day, it signals the end of the Christmas rush and the start of the Christmas festivities. "Put your working trousers on to the coat-track on St. Thomas's Day", as the old folks used to say. In the southern archipelago near Korppoo and Iniö (near Turku), people have knife-carved wooden
St. Thomas crosses to be put up on tables and/or windowsills or doors in order to protect them from evil (remember, it's dark even in the southernmost Finland at this time of year, though not as dark as in Lapland). Alternatively, people have painted a similar cross with tar onto the cattle shed door. Other similar old-school Christmas decorations include the traditional straw bock which is a miniature version of the giant Swedish
Gävle Goat as well as straw stars, straw gnomes and the most wonderful Christmas decoration in the world:
himmeli and its endless variations (these days himmeli can be made even from thin glass tubes)!
Christmas Eve is then the most anticipated day, at least if you ask from children. Usually, people put up the Christmas tree a day or two earlier just like we do (we don't use genuine spruce as we live in a flat, but a plastic one instead, much more handy), but these days there are some Xmas-holics who put up their trees whenever they want to! Families and extended families gather together for Christmas sauna (according to an old tradition, no-one was allowed to talk while in the sauna just to avoid the attack of the mosquitoes next summer, but this tradition is no more followed, thank goodness!) and dinner, and then it's time to get cracking with unpacking the pressies! Of course Santa Claus can pay a visit, who knows, but as my niece Maija is still only three, we have "only" invited her to open the pressies with others. In Finland the visit of Santa is always taking place when everyone is still awake, and he comes through the door (or leaves the gifts somewhere around the corner without being seen), never down the chimney (and no, Rudolph or Petteri Punakuono does not fly, he pulls a big sleigh)! Santa lives also in Korvatunturi (Lapland), not in North Pole!
At noon every year, right after the Finnish TV has once again broadcast the traditional Raymond Briggs' "The Snowman" film, the city of Turku hosts another traditional live broadcast, i.e. The Declaration of Christmas Peace. This is a tradition which launches the Christmas celebrations and in a way marks the official start of Christmas. The exact wording used during the first few centuries of the tradition has been lost over time, but the main contents of the declaration remain the same: the declaration is read out loud to remind people that Christmas peace has begun, to advise people to spend the festive period in harmony, to threaten offenders with harsh punishments, and to wish all a merry Christmas.
The tradition of reading the Declaration of Christmas Peace in Turku has continued almost uninterrupted since the 1300s. The declaration has been read on the balcony of the Brinkkala building since 1886. The current form of the declaration dates back to 1903.
According to folk memory, the tradition was interrupted:
during the Russian invasion and occupation of Finland in 1712–1721 – a period also known as the Greater Wrath,
possibly between 1809 and 1815,
in 1917 when the militia was on strike,
and in 1939 because of a fear of air raids.
The Declaration of Christmas Peace in Turku has been broadcast on the radio since 1935. National television broadcasts of the event started in 1983 and the event has also been broadcast in Sweden since 1986. Nowadays the Declaration of Christmas Peace can be viewed live around the world via the Internet as well.
Ah well, back to Christmas cuisine then: Alongside the already mentioned joulutorttu pies, we have readymade gingerbread cookies (in my childhood my Mum made us a gingerbread house but as the melted sugar "glue" was a bit burned, it didn't taste good), oven-baked (my sister's fiancé usually bakes this for us) pork ham (many also have turkey but as smaller slices, not the way of Thanksgiving),
rice porridge (made to milk, this is a newer arrival as before the 1800s barley porridge was served instead) and served with special "dried fruit"
cold soup (prunes, dried apricots, dried pear halves, dried apple slices) and/or powdered cinnamon & sugar (optional, I don't use those though), special Christmas loafbread "
joululimppu" (love that bread as it has a special, almost sweet taste!), casseroles such as
rutabaga casserole,
carrot casserole and the more modern-day sweet potato casserole (no marshmallows!), Christmas fish such as
lutefisk (I actually hate this so does the rest of my family, the lutefisk seems to date back to the times when Finns were still Catholic and practicing the Nativity Fast),
gravlax salmon (again, not for me, I don't eat fish!), and of course the yummy
rosolli salad (the whipped double cream dyed with beetroot juice is optional). Similar to how British upper-class people put a bean in their barley porridge on Epiphany, Finns put one peeled almond in the rice porridge before serving it at Christmastime. The one who gets the almond on his/her plate will be very lucky the next year round!
As for drinks, people usually have whatever they want to, but traditionally there has been both some homebrewed, mild beer and
glögi, the Finnish version of the mulled wine . This is also similar to the Glühwein mostly known in Central European countries (Germany etc.), but it can also be alcohol-free. Personally, not my cuppa!
After the pressies and all that eating, many head off to church again for a late night (11PM) Christmas Mass, or, early in the Christmas Day morning (7AM) service. I've been performing on one late night Mass so far, and I have to say it was truly special even though I had had two other afternoon church service gigs that day)! The church was packed full as usual (I think less packed this year...), and after the Mass there was a small festive snack served in the church meeting hall. There we sat together, munching away and singing Christmas carols for a couple of hours! One Christmas Eve I even had an outdoor gig, as our parish arranged what is now an annual traditional "lantern afternoon with Christmas carols, Nativity Play and snacks" in the yard of a local elementary school. That afternoon was very windy and my sheet music went flying off my music stand, but luckily the chosen carols and Christmas hymns were very well known so I just kept on playing!!
This year (COVID-19 permitting), I will once again have, not one, but two church gigs, though in this case they are identical. I've been invited to provide music for our special "Christmas Prayers & Carols from The British Isles" events together with Tommi, our chief organist. Because of the limit of max. 80 people on each event, our parish decided to make it two instead of just one, as these will not be broadcast online at all. Both events will take place on Xmas Eve afternoon consecutively, and we have yet to make our final selection for the extra music next Friday with Tommi. Obviously the extra music will be from the British Isles, too bad the original Oíche Chiúin is from Germany so that is out of our playing list...
Although Boxing Day (or in Finland St. Stephen's Day/tapaninpäivä) is usually the most common day for visiting other friends and relatives, our family has a tradition of visiting the parents of my sister's fiancé who live also here in Oulu. There we drink coffee and juice together, chat with each other and just enjoy each other's company. St. Stephen may be a thing from the past these days, but especially in the countryside many horse owners took out the sleigh and did the visit by horse. Too bad there are not many sleighs left, although some still keep horses... I have never experienced a sleighride in my life but would love to! Oh, and countryside residents also used to use the horse and sleigh combo for going to Christmas Day church service early in the morning (another thing I would love to experience)!
New Year celebrations are not really very festive in my family, we only stay awake late and watch the fireworks through our windows, never shooting them by ourselves! Some people still do the traditional
casting the tin thing (with either tin or other more environment-friendly substances) but we don't bother with that anymore. To be honest, we have never even had a restaurant dinner for New Year (they tend to be very pricey anyway just like Christmas dinners are), no bubbly, no wine, nothing special!
Usually Finns take down the Xmas deco either on Epiphany (another "nothing special" day although it is supposed to celebrate the Three Wise Men) or on Jan 13th "nuutinpäivä" which is an old feast of
St. Knut (again, most likely dating back to the Catholic times in Finland). Nuutinpäivä has been a really glum day in the past, when young men dressed as goats (nuuttipukki) would visit houses. Usually the dress was an inverted fur jacket, a leather or birch bark mask, and horns. Unlike Santa Claus, Nuuttipukki was a scary character similar to Krampus (known in southern Europe) who wandered from house to house, came in, and typically demanded food from the household and especially leftover alcoholic beverages. Unless Nuuttipukki received a salary from the host, he committed evil deeds! These days only certain areas in Finland have kept this tradition alive, but changed it to a less scary event.