Christmas atmosphere everywhere
The Christmas atmosphere has appeared on all the streets of Finland since the beginning of December with decorative lights, Christmas trees of all sizes. Especially, people have started shopping for Christmas and the atmosphere is more bustling, although the weather is getting colder every day, snow starts to fall heavily.
Heavy snowfall and colder air in Finland during Christmas season
Also starting from this time, communities in Finland organize many events to celebrate the Christmas atmosphere such as: exchanges, festivals (also called pikku joulu - little Christmas, in Finnish), making Christmas cakes, answering questions about Christmas ...
Christmas in Finland lasts for 3 days, from December 24 to 26, the most important of which is the night of December 24.
According to Finnish tradition, along with cleaning and decorating the house, taking a sauna bath is almost mandatory for everyone before Christmas, similar to the Vietnamese custom of bathing in coriander leaves before Tet .
Schools organize a series of pikku joulu - Little Christmas from the beginning of December
The Christmas Eve dinner and the lighting of candles at the graves of the deceased, which usually take place on December 24, are also typical features of Finnish Christmas.
Christmas Eve dinner is the most important meal of the year for families, with traditional dishes such as kinkku (tightly boned ham hock, baked in the oven), fresh salmon, pickled Baltic herring, mashed potatoes, oatmeal porridge and a variety of salad vegetables.
Joulutorttu (also known as Finnish Christmas Star Cookies) is present at all Christmas parties.
People also make many types of spicy cookies, in many different shapes, the most notable of which is a very elaborate house-shaped cookie.
As for drinks, although there are many different types of beer and wine today, the Finnish Christmas holidays still include glögi - a light "wine" made from red wine with added sugar and some spicy herbs.
Glögi - a light "wine" made from red wine with added sugar and some spicy herbs is an indispensable drink during Finnish Christmas.
But the most exciting and thrilling moment of Christmas Eve is when Santa Claus (called Joulupukki in Finnish) appears in a bright red costume, with a long white beard and a bag of gifts on his shoulder to distribute to children and adults.
On Christmas Eve, Santa Claus appears with a bag of gifts on his shoulder to share with children and adults.
According to Finnish tradition, after Christmas Eve dinner, children wearing red conical hats topped with bells gather in the family living room to wait for Joulupukki. The children's red hats imitate the hats of the dwarves (called tontu in Finnish, who help Joulupukki).
Family reunion
Like billions of Christians around the world, Christmas or Noel (Joulu in Finnish) is the most important holiday of the year for Finns.
Anton Salonen, a 20-year-old Finnish student, said that unlike other holidays of the year, Christmas is considered by Finns as an occasion for family and loved ones to gather and for friends and relatives to meet and visit each other.
"When it comes to Christmas , there are three things that come to mind first: family, Glögi and gifts," says Anton Salonen.
It can be seen that if we in Vietnam have Lunar New Year as a special occasion for family reunion with traditional rituals, then the Finnish have Christmas .
But there is a rather special point in the social life of the Finnish people, if the closer to our Lunar New Year , the more crowded the streets are, the more bustling the shopping, then the closer to Christmas the Finnish streets gradually become less crowded, if not very deserted, parties, group gatherings at schools and offices are also no longer. The Finns will refuse all outside interactions to "spend time at home with their families", Mr. Anton Salonen shared more.
Vietnamese students enjoy celebrating Christmas in Finland
On Christmas Day, December 25, Finns usually stay home and read the books that Joulupukki has just "given them". Books are an increasingly popular Christmas gift for adults in Finland.
On December 26, St. Stephen's Day, they visit friends and relatives or participate in outdoor activities.
The Christmas season is also the busiest time of year for postal workers in Finland. Sending Christmas postcards in Finland has been popular since the late 19th century. Today, despite being a leading country in mobile phone and internet usage, the tradition of sending Christmas postcards has not changed in Finland. It is estimated that every Christmas in recent years, the post office in this country of 5.2 million people has received and delivered around 50 million Christmas postcards.
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