The festive season can start as early as mid-November, as venues for pikkujoulu's get booked up early. These pre-Christmas parties are organised by groups of workers, hobby groups and just about any groups of people who are brought together by their activities.
Restaurants offer Christmas style food for these occasions, starting with glögi or Glogg, mulled wine (or fruity alternative), which may or may not include alcohol (some people have to drive home). Companies and shops also often offer glögi to their customers and staff at the work-place. Alcohol is not acceptable in the Finnish work-place, and even coming back to work after a lunch-time beer would convince your work-mates that you have a problem.
The next notable tradition which appears to be hard-wired into almost every Finnish woman (but is not so enthusiastically met by most of the men) is Joulusiivous (Christmas cleaning). The house must be deep-cleaned, well enough for a visit from the president or some religious leader. Rugs and carpets must be taken out and beaten, windows and floors washed, and even cupboards cleaned and sorted. Apparently, this is a left-over from earlier times when cleaning was not such a regular event, and the house was only given a thorough going-through twice a year - once before the winter-proper set in, and once before the midsummer celebration, when the weather favoured throwing open all the doors and windows.
However, as both parents in a Finnish family generally work outside the home these days, Saturday morning is usually the time when things get put back in their place, the house gets vaccuumed and the floors get washed; and as dishwashers usually keep on top of the crockery, washing machines take care of the daily laundry, and modern materials in general are much easier to keep clean and hygenic, the need for deep-cleaning before Christmas has largely disappeared.
After cleaning, it is time for decorating for Christmas, and by European standards this is fairly minimal, although red Christmas-curtains and candle-lights in the windows are common. Also, as technology advances, many other kinds of decorative outside lights are appearing. Guests will be greeted by large outside candles in the garden, and these also appear outside shop doors.
Inside the house there is little decoration apart from the tree itself, which is either a real or synthetic fir. The tree is adorned, but not so much as in the USA, for example; (one can still see the tree underneath the tinsel and lights). Christmas cards (which are usually of postcard size and format) are displayed on shelves or cupboards. Chrismas card lists are generally quite a bit shorter than in the UK.
As everybody knows, Joulupukki (Santa Claus) doesn't live at the North Pole, but in a village called Korvatunturi in eastern Finnish Lapland (68 deg 04'27" N, 29 deg 19' 35" E). He has moved with the times, and not only has a postal address but several websites (for example:- www.santaclaus.fi - from here you can link to his other sites and to the main reception centre in Rovaniemi).
Santa is a busy chap, so he can't deliver to all the world's good children in one day; this is probably why Scandinavian children are visited by him sometime after the late Christmas lunch on Christmas Eve (24th December). The traditional lunch can include include ham (this is by far the most popular, although turkeys are making inroads into the market), freshly salted salmon; potato, carrot and liver casseroles; served with potatoes, gravy and whatever else the family likes. Missing from the table are crackers, paper hats etc.
After lunch, the kids go crazy waiting for Santa to come, which rarely happens before it's completely dark. Eventually, he arrives in person and asks if there are any good children in the house (which, of course, he knows already - or he wouldn't be there). Many children have also rehearsed a short song, which they sing for him. Presents are wrapped in standard western Christmas paper, but there are no labels on them indicating their origin - they all come from Santa - and adults just exchange enquiring looks when trying to locate the real donors.
Everything after Santa's visit is a bit of an anti-climax, and Christmas Day itself is just one of rest, except for those who like to visit the church, as services can start as early as 6 am!
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February 5th - Runeberg's Day
Johan Ludvig Runeberg (5 February 1804, Jakobstad – 6 May 1877, Porvoo) was a Finland-Swedish poet, and is held to be the national poet of Finland. Many of his poems deal with life in rural Finland. The best known of these is Bonden Paavo, (Farmer Paavo, Saarijärven Paavo in Finnish), about a smallholding peasant farmer in the poor parish of Saarijärvi and his determination, "sisu" (guts) and unwavering faith in providence in the face of a harsh climate and years of bad harvests. Each year he mixes double the amount of bark into his bread to stave off starvation and gives what he can to his neighbors.
Runeberg's most famous work is Fänrik Ståls sägner (The Tales of Ensign Stål, Vänrikki Stoolin tarinat in Finnish) written between 1848 and 1860. It is considered the greatest Finnish epic poem outside the native Kalevala tradition and contains tales of the Finnish War of 1808-09 with Russia. In the war, Sweden lost Finland, which became a Grand Duchy of the Russian empire. The poem emphasizes the common humanity of all sides in the conflict, while principally lauding the heroism of the Finns. The first poem "Vårt land", (Our Land, Maamme in Finnish) became the Finnish National Anthem. Runeberg is celebrated on the 5th of February each year, and these tarts are served in his honour.
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St Valentine's Day
The 14th of February, St Valentine's Day, is celebrated in Finland as Ystävän Päivä (Friends' Day), and holds none of the romantic conotations as it does in the UK and USA. It is simply a day to send cards to friends, and to wish each other 'Happy Friends' Day'.
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Shrove Tuesday
Shrove Tuesday is celebrated often by the lighting of a bonfire, in this case fuelled by cast-off Christmas trees stored for the purpose since the holiday season. This bonfire is actually on the sea ice some distance from the shore. The tradition ride on the right was also set up for the event. Powered by children, the sled on the pole provides a speedy and exciting ride. The children take turns in the sled, and there are always volunteers to push.
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