Saturday, November 24, 2007

Christmas in Finland

After all the Thanksgiving cooking and eating, I am not quite ready to start cooking again for the Christmas holidays. As I mentioned, I do want to try the traditional Finnish prune tart cookies -- here is a picture of the pinwheel cookies. In the meantime, here is some information about Christmas in Finland.


Independence Day in Finland coincides with the Feast Day of Saint Nicholas -- December 6. We always associate our Independence Day in the United States with warm, summer weather, along with cookouts and fireworks. It must be interesting to have Independence Day be an introduction to the holiday season!

On the Christmas tree, it is traditional to have an ornament in the shape of an apple. According to the Finnish calendar, December 24 is the name day of Adam and Eve. Christmas dinner includes pickled herring, rosolli (a salad with beets, carrots, potatoes, and pickles), raw salmon, turnip casserole, and ham. On Christmas Eve, gifts are delivered by "Joulupukki" or Santa Claus. Then the gifts are opened!

After the excitement of Christmas Eve, Christmas Day is more relaxed. Visits to family and friends are made on December 26.

Here is a charming web site with a pancake recipe by Santa's elves.

And just for fun, here is a site which has webcams of various highways in Lapland, the land of Joulupukki!

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