Christmas in Finland

[4] In the Finnish tradition, the Christmas period has usually been considered to start on Tuomas’s nameday on December 21 and to continue until St. Knut's Day on January 13.

[5] However, King Gustav III of Sweden cut them down to two, because the nobility and bourgeoisie believed that long holidays made the workers too lazy.

[8] The Finnish Christmas has acquired some characteristics from the harvest festival kekri, that used to take place around the old All Saints' Day.

The outfit also included a mask made of birch bark and a sheepskin coat worn inside-out.

[9] Feeding small birds at Christmas is an old tradition and the peasant culture’s ritual that brought good luck to farming.

The Christmas gospel is heard and Luther’s hymn 21 Enkeli taivaan (Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her) is sung.

People washed in the Christmas sauna before the festivities, and food and drink gifts were left there for the elf.

[17] Eating abundantly at the Christmas meal comes from the ancient Finns and relates to the agricultural year cycle and the festival of light celebrated around the winter solstice.

At a time when food was grown at home, gluttony and eating meat at Christmas was a rare luxury.

[22] The Finnish Christmas meal, Joulupöytä (literally “Yule Table”), normally features different casseroles made usually of carrot, swede (lanttulaatikko) or potato (sweetened potato casserole) and various fish, such as cold smoked salmon, gravlax and Coregonus lavaretus (graavisiika).