December in Finland Christmas Time in the Homeland of Father Christmas

1st December we celebrate ”Little Christmas”. It is time to open the first window of the Advent Calendar.
The children write letters to Father Christmas.

6th December is the Day of Independence in Finland. The most popular thing to do is to follow the party of our President by television. The dresses of the women are looked very carefully and discussed next day.

Saint Lucia
13th December the pupils of the Swedish school perform the “Lucia story”. It is an important tradition both in Sweden and in the coast of Finland among the people who have Swedish as the mother tongue. Saint Lucia, who has her origin in the Sicily, brings us light in the middle of the darkest time of the year.

Chrismas Eve
24th December is the most important day of the year. We bring in the Christmas tree, which is always a spruce. Some of the people buy a plastic one, but the majority has a real tree in their houses.

At 12 o’clock the Christmas Peace is declared in the city of Turku, which used to be our capital city in the old times. After that we can visit the graveyard to light up some candles for our passed away relatives. Then we have a cup of “Glögi” which is heated wine with almonds and raisins. Of course we also go to sauna to be clean and relaxed. After sauna we are ready to eat ham, swede purée, carrot purée, salmon, roe and lot of more

Father Christman lives in Lappland, Finland
When everyone is full, the Christmas visits personally to give presents for eveFather Christmas comes. If there are little children in the family, the Father ryone. Sometimes when he is very busy, he only leaves the sack of presents in the corridor. He moves very quickly from a house to another by his reindeers.

25th December is a quiet day. We spend it with the family and relatives.

26Ath December we can visit our friend and relatives.

The Christmas is over the 6th January, when it is time to throw away the Christmas tree and all the decorations.