Christmas traditions in Finland include decorating homes with gold, blue and silver, sending Christmas cards, baking gingerbread, building gingerbread houses, eating rice porridge with an almond for luck, decorating spruce trees, and giving gifts to classmates before school ends. On Christmas Eve, families go to saunas, have dinner including ham and casseroles, drink glögg, open presents, and stay up late playing. On Christmas Day, some attend early church services, have rice porridge and pastries for breakfast, play board games, visit relatives, and relax watching Christmas movies. On New Year's Eve, people spend time with family and friends playing games and launching fireworks at midnight.

1. Christmas and New Year in Finland
Christmas traditions in December
Before December comes, everyone buys a Christmas calendar. Then houses are usually
decorated with white, gold, blue and silver. In the beginning of December people send
Christmas cards to friends and relatives. Gingerbread and Christmas stars are also baked
with family in the middle of December. We eat them and drink glögg (glögi). We also
build up different kinds of gingerbread houses – there are even competitions on the best
houses! We eat a lot of rice porridge and we put an almond in it. Whoever finds it, gets
good luck. A few days before Christmas we have a couple of traditions. We get a spruce
that we decorate with ornaments. Then every family does some cleaning up in the house
and put up a wreath on the door and star shaped light in the window. Before school ends,
classmates give presents to each other and almost every class has a little Christmas party.
Some Finns enjoy going to church to sing and listen to Christmas songs.

3. Christmas Eve
Snow is very important in making the Christmas spirit. There’s nothing better than
making snowmen and snow angels. Christmas can’t go wrong if it’s snowing.
Christmas Eve starts with a Santa Claus’ hotline in the morning. It’s a show where kids
can call to say their wishes to Santa and there’re also Christmas cartoons. Then we watch
the Declaration of peace for Christmas, which is announced in Turku at 12am. We also have a
tradition to take a candle to our loved ones’ graves.

4. On Christmas Eve we go to a Christmas sauna. Later we have a Christmas dinner. The
foods that belong to our Christmas dinner are for example ham, different kinds of
casseroles (liver, potato, carrot,…), salmon and smoke fish. The most liked food is still
ham. As a drink we usually drink homemade beer, red and white wine, juice or just water.
After the dinner we drink coffee or glögg with gingerbreads, chocolate, cakes and
Christmas buns (joulupulla) as a dessert.

6. We open presents in the evening when Santa Claus comes to visit us. On Christmas Eve it
is allowed to stay awake very late, even the whole night, playing with the presents Santa
has brought.
Christmas Day
On Christmas Day some Finns have a tradition to go to Christmas church very early in the
morning. As a breakfast we eat Carelian pastry and rice porridge with cinnamon and
plums upon it. During the day we play board games with relatives and eat chocolate,
raisins and peanuts, gingerbreads and of course we drink glögg.

7. On Christmas day we eat rest of the Christmas foods and also visit relatives. Usually we
go and visit our grandparents. There’re also a lot of Christmas movies showing on TV and
the two most important ones are Santa Claus and the magic drum and the Snowman.
In short, we take life very easy on Christmas Day, just relaxing and enjoying life.
New Year’s Eve
Our traditions for New Year’s Eve consist of spending the evening either with family or
going over to friends’ houses. We enjoy playing board games and staying awake late to
the night. Eating chips and candy is of course fun. One of the traditions is melting tin and
guessing one’s future based on the constructions of the tin items formed as the melted tin
is thrown into the cold water. At midnight we enjoy either launching or watching
fireworks.

8. Epiphany
In the beginning of January we have a day called Epiphany (the 6th
of January) when every
last bit of Christmas decorations are taken out and the last gingerbread houses finally
eaten. That’s how we spend the Christmas time – the next day we usually start our school
work again.

9. The days between Christmas and New Year
– one story (Jussi and Iiro, 15)
After Christmas I will probably play with my gifts. Also I will paint my moped.
After Christmas I will sleep, so I sleep. After Christmas I will also mod my moped.
I will spend time with my family and friends. I am going to play board games.

10. After Christmas I will snowfight with my friends. I will play ice hockey with my friends,
too.
When it is New Year’s Eve I will go and buy some fireworks and launch them. I probably
will also go to my friend’s house.
I will travel to Lapland and eat much. I will also eat kebab and eat fries and pizza and also
drink Coca-Cola because I can’t stand Christmas food.