Christmas holidays in the north
In Finland people starts celebrating Christmas at 24th of December and usually it’s the ”biggest” day, not the Christmas day itself.
Christmas is mostly thought as a family event, but of course everyone have their own way to celebrate it. In the eve of Christmas many family traditionally eats rice porridge as a breakfast. The rice porridge is eaten with cinnamon and sugar or with a plum soup, and if you ever do this for example during the summer time, it will always give you the feeling of Christmas. And – the one who founds an almond from the porridge will have a good luck! I love the rice porridge with cinnamon so much, I could eat it every day. (Tip! Usually rice porridge is made with milk, but you can also do it with almond or coconut milk for example. I cooked the porridge with coconut milk once – and it felt like mix of Finnish Christmas and a holiday in Caribian!) After the breakfast might be a good time for a relaxing morning sauna.
Christmas Sauna Tradition
Christmas sauna is a Finnish tradition. Many times ago it was the most important part of the Christmas, and the heating of the sauna was started very early, sometimes already the night before so everyone could go to sauna before it got dark outside. In sauna you had to be very quietly, so the mosquitoes couldn’t find you next summer. During the sauna there’s possibility to get some freshness by rolling in the snow outside. I highly recommend to try that, it gives you the whole new experience about sauna.
In the Christmas eve there’s of course time to enjoy traditional Christmas dinner – ham, peas, different boxes made from carrot, turnips or potatoes, traditional Finnish Christmas time salad called rosolli, salmon, sweet bread etc. My favorite is absolutely the carrot box made my mom, yum!!
Meet Santa Claus
Also the most important part, at least for the children, is the visit of one man – the Santa Claus himself! In Lapland you can meet him at Polar arctic Circle in Rovaniemi, his official hometown , in Santa Claus Village, and even sit on his lap! There you can also send post to your friends with a special stamp of Polar circle, meet the reindeers of Santa and buy presents from the many gift-shops.
Christmas- Best in Lapland
In my opinion, Lapland would be the best place to spend the Christmas. Gather family and friends together, enjoy the tasty food, warm up in sauna and fresh yourself rolling in the snow. Maybe going outside to ski or build a snow castle together with the whole family? What would be better place than the snowy winter wonderland, and even there isn’t much sunlight but still beautiful colours in the sky.
Last thing before going to the warm and cozy bed, you could stare at the shining stars and the colorful Northern lights in the arctic sky. What a magical atmosphere…
By Jenna Käppi/ Visit Lapland
