Finnish Christmas

Traditions

The land where Santa REALLY lives

Facts

In Finland, Christmas is traditionally

celebrated on the 24th instead of the
usual 25th.
Finns refuse to believe that Santa lives
on the north pole. Instead he supposedly
lives inside a fell in Northeastern Finland.
Finns also Celebrate their independence
day and Sancta Lucias day in December.
In Finland Santa doesnt Climb down the
chimney like a creeper, but instead
knocks on the door just like any normal
human being with some sense would.

Told you; Finnish Santa with traditional clothes!

December
Traditions

In Finland, Christmas is traditionally prepared over the entire December. Its obviously
a very important holiday for Finns.
As Wikipedia puts it, kids around here often have a special Advent Calender: In
Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, there is also a tradition of having a so-called
Julekalender in a form of a cardboard box of chocolates with opening doors starting on December
1 (door number 1) counting down the days and ending on Christmas Eve (December 24) - (door
number 24).

The Christmas tree is decorated well before Christmas, and a lot of people also prefer
to decorate their windows and balconies and yards with all kinds of decorations
ranging from Christmas lights to tinsel and candles.
Most if not all schools in Finland also host some form of a celebration or a formal
event before the official holidays start.

Finnish Independence day is on the 6th of December and thus Finns

also celebrate that, as well as Sancta Lucias day on the 13 th of
December, which is a tradition of Catholic origin, but mostly
celebrated in the Swedish-speaking cultures nowadays.

Christmas Eve (24th of

Dec.)

A lot of Finnish people start the day by eating traditional rice

pudding/porridge as a breakfast and some have a sauna in the morning.
The kids watch traditional, Christmas-themed programs on the TV and the
adults have a moment to relax.
Later in the day there usually is a very traditional, large Christmas dinner
that has been prepared for quite a while. People dont really like to hurry
with the dinner, as its a moment of peace and no hurry for the whole
family.
After the dinner its usually the most anticipated time of the day,
especially in families with kids. In some families, people either hire
someone to act as the Santa Claus and sometimes its just one of the
relatives who goes to take out the trash or something, but actually gets
dressed up to play Santa. The presents are exchanged, sometimes with
the help of Santa Claus himself, who then proceeds to thank for the
kindness and leaves before the relative comes back from whatever the
relative was supposedly doing while Santa was visiting.

Decorating

Christmas trees are often decorated at some

point during December, a week or two before
Christmas.
Trees are decorated with tinsel, coloured
lights, glass ornaments, sometimes candy and
a star at the top.
Finns do not hang Mistletoes like Americans do.

A traditional christmas also includes gingerbread

used both as decorative items as well as dessert.

Sources:
Credit for the clip-art go to various free clip-art sites.
http://freepngimages.com/christmas-gifts-transparent-background/
http://clipart417.rssing.com/chan-41192174/all_p21.html
http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art-100374/Santa-Claus-dressed-in-a-traditional-Finnish-costume-totes-a
http://www.cliparthut.com/christmas-tinsel-clipart.html
http://www.clipartpanda.com/categories/reindeer-clip-art-to-color
http://globe-views.com/dreams/candle.html
http://gallery.yopriceville.com/Free-Clipart-Pictures/Christmas-PNG/Large_Transparent_Christmas_Tree_with_Star_Clipart
http://gallery.yopriceville.com/Free-Clipart-Pictures/Christmas-PNG/Transparent_Christmas_Hanging_Mistletoe_PNG_Clipar
t#.
VmqN70qLTIU
http://cliparts.co/clipart/415
https://pixabay.com/fi/kielletty-ei-sallita-rekister%C3%B6idy-98614/
http://merrylurkerstudios.blogspot.fi/2012/12/twinkling-lights-free-christmas.html

WOW

http://cliparts.co/christmas-decoration-clipart
http://img1.webring.com/r/h/humanunderground/navbarlogo
http://i.imgur.com/OWyA3Cp.png
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/a7/bd/7e/a7bd7e0735f26c670df7c94dffdfa05e.jpg

By: Matthew (Taika) Niemel & Aleksi Hamunen