Hyvaa Joulua

It's time to wish my friends a Merry Christmas, Finnish-style. What fun words to pronounce.

A Finnish cousin sent an email a few days ago, noting that the greetings were coming from where Santa Claus lives. 

The header said "Santa Claus has left the Korvatunturi." Thanks to Google and Wikipedia, I now know that "Korvatunturi" is a fell in Lapland, located in the Urho Kekkonen National Park, featuring thick pine forests, frozen lakes and gazillions of reindeer. So Santa would have the best reindeer to choose from, and alternates in case one of their antlers stops picking up the signals properly.

I also wanted to revisit the Christmas peace, joulurauha, a tradition I learned about last year.

Declaring a Christmas peace goes back to the 13th century. Once this tradition was common to all the Nordic countries, but only in Finland has it been maintained, almost uninterruptedly, to this day.

A special ceremony is held in Turku, Finland, to declare a period of Christmas peace. It begins at noon on Christmas Eve and lasts for 20 days. 

May this year's joulurauha last much longer and be world-wide. 

Nikki

 

Declaring the Christmas peace — joulurauha

One beautiful Finnish tradition I’ve just learned about is declaring a Christmas peace, the joulurauha, which has roots back to the 13th century. Once this tradition was common to all the Nordic countries, but only in Finland has it been maintained, almost uninterruptedly, to this day.

In Turku, an old town which is the former capital of Finland, a special ceremony is held to declare a period of Christmas peace. This begins at noon on Christmas Eve and lasts for 20 days. The ceremony includes a hymn, the Finnish national anthem and other music. And it’s televised — many Finns watch the event on TV as the bells of Turku Cathedral ring.

The declaration is given in Finnish and Swedish. 
Translated into English, it would be:

"Tomorrow, God willing,

is the graceful celebration of the birth of our Lord and Saviour;

and thus is declared a peaceful Christmas time to all,

by advising devotion and to behave otherwise quietly and peacefully,

because he who breaks this peace and violates 
the peace of Christmas

by any illegal or improper behaviour 
shall under aggravating circumstances

be guilty and punished 
according to what the law and statutes prescribe

for each and every offence separately.
 

Finally, a joyous Christmas feast is wished to all inhabitants of the city."

To all the world — joulurauha. And Hyvää Joulua! (Happy Christmas!)

Nikki