Christmas Traditions

[luckykitty]

What's a typical Finnish Xmas like?

I only know about this much:

1. Xmas presents are opened on Christmas Eve, and not xmas day
2. People get really drunk (as usual)
3. Christmas foods are ham, lanttulatikko, perunalatikko, the gravad salmon (sorry forgot the finnish name)... etc? and glög

What else can you tell me about Finnish xmas ?
Or how do you celebrate your Xmas?

[EP]

This is a quote from Virtual Finland:

"The priority of feast days has varied over the centuries, but Christmas, Easter and Midsummer have retained their position as the main festivities of the year. Christmas, coinciding with the darkest part of the long Finnish winter, is a holiday which centres on the family and the home. At about midday on Christmas Eve, 'Christmas Peace' is declared over all Finland from the country's former capital, Turku. This ritual, based on Medieval laws, lost its legal import centuries ago, but lives on as a ceremonial 'opening' of the Christmas season. A Christmas is an important feature of Christmas Eve celebrations. At dusk, people light candles on their family graves. Families then gather together for the main Christmas meal on Christmas Eve. The high point of the evening is the visit of Father Christmas, who brings the Christmas presents with him in person. Candles and the traditional Christmas decorations made from straw help to achieve the traditional Christmas atmosphere.

The urban Christmas is an entertaining mixture of children's plays, charity, commerce, worship, family holiday and peasant customs. Christian traditions have been interwoven with the secular aspect of Christmas. For instance, attending the Christmas service has become a tradition in many families, although more likely for nostalgic reasons than to hear the Christmas message."

[EP]

My Christmas starts with that "Declaration of Christmas Peace" from Turku. By that everything must be ready. In the afternoon we meet the rest of the family at church yard, and go to Christmas service. And no, most of us are not religious or even members of the chuch. We don´t go to graves because our graves are hundreds of kilometres away.

Then people come to our house and I set the table.

For entrees it is fish: gravad salmon and whitefish, a couple of different herring dishes, smoked salmon, and different fish roes with sour cream. Potatoes from Lapland. Three different salads: one green, one mushroom, and a traditional "rosolli".

For main course it is reindeer filet (I have given up ham, people like reindeer more) with Madeira sauce and traditional caseroles.

For dessert is my modern version of traditional Christmas porridge: a mango/rice pudding with berry sauce. Usually people hide an almond into the porridge, I hide it into this pudding. (The one who finds the almond gets lucky the next year.)

Then it is just relaxing, playing games, maybe somebody wants to sing, and so on. Presents are under the Christmas tree. A real one with real candles.

Nobody has small children right now, but when somebody will, it will be Santa Claus in person at our door again.

And sorry, no, Christmas is the celebration when we don´t drink, except a little glögg. But even that comes in two versions: with and without alcohol.

[luckykitty]

Ooh your table sounds delicious . I haven't tried the mushroom salad yet, or is it the one with lots of salad dressing and little bits of mushroom?
Reindeer filet rocks!
Oh good to clear up the misconception about alcohol. But i think glög is like 15-20% alcohol tho
I think warmed up, it may have less alcohol content

[Pursuivant]

Oh it depends... this year its going to be work until 16, go pick up uncle, sit and squirm at my sister's until I'm ready to burst - I get a headache even now thinking of it - drive uncle back, hit the pub, crawl home at 03, empty the liquor cabinet and watch italian zombie movies for 3 days... unless I can skip uncle and going to sister then I can be at the bar around 16, which is bad though as I'm broke.

[EP]

Glögg comes in many versions. You can buy non-alcoholic and pour some vodka in. The stength depend on you.

Hank´s Christmas sounds like – Hank´s Christmas.

[luckykitty]

Oh it depends... this year its going to be work until 16, go pick up uncle, sit and squirm at my sister's until I'm ready to burst - I get a headache even now thinking of it - drive uncle back, hit the pub, crawl home at 03, empty the liquor cabinet and watch italian zombie movies for 3 days... unless I can skip uncle and going to sister then I can be at the bar around 16, which is bad though as I'm broke.

Italian zombie movies? (there are italian zombie movies??) Which ones
Somehow I keep thinking Dracula is more Italian, even tho he's Translyvanian . I just can't imagine zombies speaking Italian and being much more lively than undead? what about Finnish zombie movies? wouldn't that be more appropriate, and a more Finnish xmas (even tho its not related to xmas, unless u mean the mindless shopping zombies..)

Well merry xmas tho! Everyone has their own version

[Pursuivant]

oh no no no, the Italian studios churned out in the 1960's and 1970's oodles of movies in every genre. the best known would be Clint Eastwood as the "man with no name" in say the " Il buono,il brutto,il cattivo", but many of the "epic" movies like "Hercules" and "Sindbad" as were produced in every genre. some had imported "starts" from the UK or US, but many were dubbed afterwards for the US markets. the studios soon turned into exploitation productions of sci-fi/sexploitation/horror genre which was exceptionally prolific in the 1970's. sci-fi not so much, but say the "Forbidden Planet" or the remake of "Treasure Island in Space" are good tries. as far as zombie movies are concerned, the Italians "invented" the genre in the 1970's with their gore/splatter cannibal & zombie movies.

[Pursuivant]

OK,
so I'll take us back into... 1976 or so for "Christmas traditions"..

on the 22nd or so my mom and granny started preparing the food in earnest. everything is done by hand from the origin, so there is a lot of stuff split and churned. I am not allowed in the kitchen and its really boring. dad usually went icefishing and he brought a big pike that sloshed in the bathtub, it was longer than I am and had wicked eyes. a ham was bought, and it needed to thaw for a day and soak to get the salt out.

we went to get the fir tree a day before christmas, my mom bargained a lot saying the tree was lopsided. the seller came upset and said he'll pay my mom if she pisses off.

on the night of the 23rd mom started baking the ham, so most of the casseroles had been made ready also before for the ham to be put into the oven , as the ham needed to "stay". and then it did not fit into the oven and dad was in his suit and tie come home from work sawing off the leg with a hacksaw and he looked really funny. mom made the ham with the rye-crust, so you would have it like a serving dish on the ham. grandmother made the casseroles, the swede, the carrot, the sour potato, and big long macaroni. also was made a karelian stew, whole potatoes and the fish. dad always wants lutfisk but everyone is glad he got the pike as it is disgusting smell for days with lutfisk.

in the morning of the 24th we decorated the christmas tree. there were two kinds of balls and I wasn't allowed to touch the ones that were crinkly as they were glass and that was dangerous. but there was a star on top and colored sparly bands put on and a candle ste dad had brought from Germany when he was in Wolfsburg. The lamps always burned out but they were looking like real candles but never wanted to say quite standing up.

the day is really boring as everything is clean and taken away and theres nothing to do. at noon if you put the tv on theres some sort of old people talking, but then they will have disney cartoon show and Kylli-täti on tv. the Estonian tv has some funny cartoons, but we can't get sound and the contrast is off, so its more darker than the Finnish tv. of course I need to wait for Kekkonen to speak before the cartoons start. he always speaks long. I think dad watches Kekkonen as he has his style of hair.

people who are there for dinner is I, mom, dad, grandma who is ancient and lives with us, my big sister who is 16 and in gymnasium and then eldest sister and her husband and my nephew who is almost my age and uncle - who came for dinner. last year we had my aunt and my cousins and their families come over from the countryside.

the food started with the cold fish, grandmother made the rosolli with herring, but there was also pickled herring and gravlax as well as smoked. then came in the karelian stew and potatoes. continued with the ham and the casseroles. after the main course was a recess when my uncle went to smoke his pipe usually and smelled funny when he came back. then the rice porridge came with the mixed fruit soup. after porridge was plum pastries and coffee...

then came a knock on the door and santa claus came in. he always wore a mask and a overturned fur coat and was scary. he asked if there were kind children in the house and wanted me to sing which was totally embarrassing. usually I got a lot of soft packages and the occasional hard one. it was the best Christmas ever I got a lego train.

Then we go for a drive with grandma and uncle and mom and dad to go to put candles on the graves and take my sister and nephew home. we go in two cars and I am looking at the city. there is so many candles at the graveyard it looks brighter than a daytime. I am really sleepy and fall asleep in the car.

Christmas day is going to be really boring. there is three flowers and I need to go with mom and dad. we need to go see dads aunt in downtown and then my godmother and godfather and then the next day drive to Porvoo to see tanten and there is nothing to do and all the aunts ask stupid questions and grownups drink coffee and gossip and I would want to be at home because there is nothing to do but sit and they drink at least 10 cups of coffee even over 3 is rude.

Hank 6yrs.

[sinikala]

What's a typical Finnish Xmas like?

I don´t know how typical it is ... but my in-laws seems to be pretty standard witha slight hybrid UK twist

We turn up at 12:00 ish on the 24th... for the last couple of years I have provided Xmas crackers ...a British novelty (non-Finnish things in italics).

Lunch ... to start it´s usually various types of pickled herring, gravalax and graavisiika, boiled potatoes, green salad, mushroom salad, karelian pies, egg butter. Xmas beer or kotikalja to drink (eugh on both counts).

Then lipeakala http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipe%C3%A4kala with more boiled potatoes

Main course is a couple of roast meats -lamb? (dunno, I don´t eat them), various boxes (potato, swede, carrot), mushroom sauce, rossoli. Occasionally I´ve provided sage &onion stuffing.

Dessert ... I made a blackforest style cherry trifle last year ... seemed to go down well... MIL wants it again this year ... just half the size. Other times it´s been some sort of gateau.

I´ve tried Christmas cake on them... it went down like a lead balloon. "too rich / heavy / sweet".

Tea / coffee, pastries, and the ubiquitous Fazer green jellies served in a Mariskooli.

Presents are opened last.

We exit around 19:00 and head for our hotel downtown ... usually the Scandic Continental as it´s one of the few which stays open over Xmas.

The 25th is a total anticlimax.

[annekmc]

On the 24th - We go to the in-laws around 12pm, go to the sauna, then have dinner, ham, rosolli, lanttulatikko, perunalatikko and porkkanalatikko, washed down with Kotiolut, followed by plum kiisseli and cream. After dinner Santa comes and we all open our presents. The kids get to play with their new toys until they can bearly stand up and are then put to bed while the adults have a few drinks and play board games.

On the 25th - We get up in the morning and open all the presents that have baan sent to us from my family in the U.K. The kids play all day with their new things while I prepare dinner, Turkey, roast potatoes, little sausages wrapped in bacon, sage and onion stuffing, brussel sprouts, baby carrots and gravy. Followed by trifle. The kids spend the rest of the day playing till they are exhausted, normally much earlier than the previous night, so off to bed with them and mum and dad have a few drinks.

[zam]

In the old traditions Christmas Day was a day when everyone stayed at home, it was not allowed or seen as proper behaviour to visit any other place than the church service EARLY in the morning (7 am). On the Boxing Day people used to have Boxing Day sleigh rides (Tapaninpäivän ajelu).

Our Christmas Eve:
Rice porridge for breakfast and the almond is hidden among the porridge.
Christmas sauna
Glögi (mulled wine)
Christmas meal (around 4 p.m.) cold fish as starters (herrings, freshly salted white fish and salmon, shoemaker's salmon (suutarinlohi, which actually is Baltic herring), ham (usually as a starter), rosolli. Main course is usually venison or reindeer fillet. Dessert (usually some sort of parfait made of cranberry, cloudberry or something similar).
Glögi
Opening gifts (Santa doesn't come to us anymore as we're already grown up, but if there'd be kiddies around, then yes)
Coffee with cake or Christmas pastries
Going to the cemetary to light up candles on the graves (around 11 pm.)
Coming home around 1 am and eating another set of fishes and ham


Christmas Day sleeping long, resting... On Boxing Day visiting relatives.

[sinikala]

On the 25th - little sausages wrapped in bacon...

aka pigs in blankets

[luckykitty]

On the 24th - We go to the in-laws around 12pm, go to the sauna, then have dinner, ham, rosolli, lanttulatikko, perunalatikko and porkkanalatikko, washed down with Kotiolut, followed by plum kiisseli and cream. After dinner Santa comes and we all open our presents. The kids get to play with their new toys until they can bearly stand up and are then put to bed while the adults have a few drinks and play board games.

On the 25th - We get up in the morning and open all the presents that have baan sent to us from my family in the U.K. The kids play all day with their new things while I prepare dinner, Turkey, roast potatoes, little sausages wrapped in bacon, sage and onion stuffing, brussel sprouts, baby carrots and gravy. Followed by trifle. The kids spend the rest of the day playing till they are exhausted, normally much earlier than the previous night, so off to bed with them and mum and dad have a few drinks.

The little sausages wrapped in bacon, is that an estonian tradition? They have this bloodsausage wrapped in bacon as a traditional christmas food .

[annekmc]

The little sausages wrapped in bacon, is that an estonian tradition? They have this bloodsausage wrapped in bacon as a traditional christmas food .

I thought it was a U.K. tradition from Victorian times, but I may be wrong.