Everything in Finland happens on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day is mostly for leftovers and maybe a cheese plate. Also the thing about Christmas ham is mustard. That's the sauce.
@@RiasSenpaiTheWallet Well the fat is extremely salty and all the gravy that is made from it is done for the sake of recycling rather than flavor. Usually the gravy made from ham drippings will not enhance the flavor.
@@yorkaturr Well that depends who is doing the sauce. Those who can make good sauce from grease is rare. Most people just does basic sauce, but someone like me for example make such a delisious sauce that it really is important in my table. But the flavor should not be too rich or all the other blend tastin traditional foods does not get out shadowed. Good thing in that sauce is that if you put it in mild tasting carrot or turnip cassarolle it sure tastes much better. It really can improve the whole dinner.
Boxing day is called Tapani's day in Finland. It is a public holiday. We visit friends and relatives then, and traditionally Boxing Day has included Tapani's rides, preferably on a horse, and Tapani's dances. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are often spent more with one's own family. Christmas Eve evening is the most important moment during Christmas.
As for Christmas sauna, it's usually before dinner. Some time during the day after visiting the graveyard, where everyone goes to lay out candles for those who have left us. During Christmas eve the graveyards are really lit.
Fun fact about the Christmas Peace declaration that was briefly mentioned in the video: the tradition of the Christmas Peace declaration in Turku began in the 1300s and the tradition has continued ever since (there have been some exceptions, such as 1712-1721 during the Greater Wrath and 1939 bc of the fear of air raids). It has been broadcasted on the radio since 1935 and televised since 1983. Some other cities also have long-standing traditions for the declaration of the Christmas Peace (my hometown has declared their own Christmas Peace since the 1600s) but the Turku one is the one that's broadcasted nationally.
Another funfackt: Nowadays, after the declaration of Christmas peace, it is tradition to play the Porilaisten marssi, and it's lyrics are the opposite of the declaration. For example, the march reads the words: "Gone, gone is the will of peace, soon the sword will shoot fire and the whistling bullets fly." However, it is more common to play just the composition of the march without its lyrics, in which case its proper name would be "Bonaparte's march or Napoleon in Egypt."
In Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland, presents are traditionally exchanged on the evening of 24 December.
@@oxigen85 In the beginning it wasn't from Santa in Sweden either. We had a christmasgoat in Sweden in the 19th century that gave the gifts to kids and not Santa. This event was even in early 20th century but then disappeared. That was symbolized as one of Tor's goats. Real tale was that Odin came at midwinterblot and gave children that had been good gifts. With him he had one of Tor's goats. The goat was enchanted by Odin at the time, so he could walk on 2 legs. Children that didn't been nice over the year was putted in a sack and taken away by the goatman and wasn't able to celibrate the festives until it was over as punishment. Later on the tale about S:t Nicholaus came and the goatman Krampus was beside him. So yeah, I wonder where the real tale of S:t Nicholaus really comes from, because the norse mythology was first with the longbearded nice man that gave gifts to children. The tale about S:t Nicholaus that lived in Sicilly are a scam, it is a real copy made by christians about Odin. They are saying that there are evidence that S:t Nicholaus lived, but they are very shady. So it could be that it was Odin himself acctually, but it wasn't popular that a heathen god walked amongst humans and did good deeds around the children. There are some evidence that the story about S:t Nicholaus also are tempered with, so yeah. Everything is shady.
@@NecronomousWe still have the goat, joulupukki is literally "Yule goat". Finnish goat tradition comes from Kekri and kekripukki "Kekri goat". It's celebrated around the same time as All Saints' Day; "the masked visitors would demand hospitality, threatening to break the oven if their requests were not heeded." Kekri: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kekri_(festival) 🔥🐐🍻
@@leopartanen8752 Kekri were celebrated at fall and it later merged to christmas and nuuttipukki were traveling house to hause to get some left over food at january after the Christmes and might bring some little gifts to the houses. Nuuttipukki might also discipline naughty childrens with dry twigs. Nuuttipukki was usually young drifter that had lether goat mask with horns on it and kids were more of affreid of it, becouse possibility to get spanked.
@@ArchieArpeggio Yes indeed, Kekri and kekripukki is an older tradition celebrated after the harvest season is over, but later merged with christian holidays. Nuuttipukki a newer tradition is celebrated on Saint Knut's Day, and originates from Denmark.
I love Finnish Christmas! We have pretty set traditions in our family. On the 23rd: - Christmas carols (usually at a church even though we’re not really religious) - Chopping down and decorating the Christmas tree - Filling up birdfeeders (old belief that birds don’t then eat the crops in the summer, also they symbolize the dead so we want to remember them) On the 24th - From 8:00-12:00 Joulupukin kuumalinja will be on from the TV. Santa’s hotline, aka all the important Christmas cartoons and live broadcast of Santa receiving calls from children etc. - 12:00 Joulurauhan julistus live broadcast from Turku (Christmas peace announcement) - Joulupuuro, rice porridge as lunch - the porridge has a hidden almond and the one who finds it gets a wish. So everyone competes in finding it. - Joulusauna after lunch. Super chill and peaceful. - Dressing up for dinner - A toast with pre dinner glögi and sometimes singing some carols - Dinner. First we eat fish courses (roe, gravlax, cold and regular smoked salmon/other fish, and those regular potatoes 😅), then ham and for us smoked reindeer/moose and all kinds of side dishes - Gifts. For families with smaller children Santa will come visit inside the homes. The children usually sing to Santa and then he hands out the gifts. - Then usually kids play and adults mingle and have some drinks and dessert and play board games etc. and just hang out On the 25th - (visiting family) and then doing a smaller version of the festive dinner. It’s like a mini more chilled Christmas party all over again. On the 26th - For older adults and kids this is the just hanging out and eating leftovers day. BUT especially for younger adults it’s customary to go to Tapanintanssit aka Boxing Day party. It’s still a holiday and younger people, who maybe have moved because of uni etc. and are now back in their hometowns for the holidays, get together and go out partying. Bars and clubs are usually open to throw a special boxing day party.
In my Finnish family we celebrate Christmas 23rd through 26th. On the 23rd it's grandma's birthday so we have a Christmas celebration at grandpa's business. The morning of 24th we eat rice porridge with an almond and whoever gets the almond gets to make a wish. We get changed into our Christmas outfits. Usually that is nice clothes like jumpers and nice trousers. My grandparents (grandma, grandpa and granny), my aunt and uncle from my mom's side come over with their families. Then at noon we watch the Christmas peace declaration and put out the food to the table. We get to eating around 2pm. We eat and chat with no technology like the tv or phones on. After eating the meal and the dessert all the grandparents (and some times my uncle) leave so it's just my family and my aunt and her family. My dad has to leave to go manage his honor guard. The rest of us mostly whatever we want. Usually we play games and watch Christmas movies. Or play carols on the piano and sing along. Pretty much anything that's not the phones. Then my brother goes start warming up the sauna. Once it's ready it's time to go into the warmth and enjoy. First it's mine and my cousin's turn. Then it's our moms' and one other cousin's. Lastly once my dad comes back around 8pm, it's the men's turn. As we get out of the sauna we get changed into our new matching Christmas pjs. Once everyone is clean, in jammies and in the living room we start with the gifts. My dad sits in a chair next to the tree, takes a present from one of the huge Santa bags, reads the name on it and then that person gets to pen their gift. Everyone gets to see what they got and we move on the next gift. This usually takes a good chunk of time as there are at least 8 people. This year I asume it will be 10 people. Then oce we are done we are so tired that we go to bed. On the 25th we play with our gifts. Then we go have lunch at my dad's parents' house and see that side of the family. Usually Santa has brought me and my brother some gifts there so we get them and the presents from our godparents. Most of the day is just chilling and hanging out. On the 26th we usually get to see our friends as we really don't get a chance to do that during family Christmas. We also see some more extended family. So another chill day of eating leftovers and hanging out. This is also the day we have no "phone limitation". It's not really restricted at other times than during meal times but there are so many other things to do that we just don't really use our phones.
24:th morning you eat Christmas porridge spend time with your loved ones. Afternoon when it gets dark you go to graveyard see your example grandfather-mother, light candles for them. After this sauna and Christmas food in my case ham, Karelian pie with egg butter, salmon, swede casserole, carrot casserole, potatoes, karelian roast, beans, plum, date and rosolli, beer, wine, vodka, cognac or whiskey After the Christmas feast, Santa Claus will visit also especially if you have young kids. So Merry Christmas 🎄
Christmas crackers are used in Sweden, but they are not to be touched until Januari 13 (Knut 20th) when the christmastree is being ransacked (julgransplundring) along with candy.
Santa begins with Holland, there they have the gifts at the 5th of December. And in Sweden we do have something similar to Christmas Crackers for the families that do home crafts before Yule called "smällkaramell", made by hand with the children the days before. If you make them correctly with all the folds and layers they give a satisfying pop when pulled open, but for people that are clumsy or lazy you can cheat and put in a pull-cracker like the Britts do 😁... They usually have figures/statues shaped from marzipan, but can be any candy, there are no jokes and no crown, and they are hung up as decorations in the tree.
The tradition has always been to us that we go to sauna after breakfast so you would be clean and and have a bit better clothes on for lunch, after that we would sit down to see/listen to the Christmas peace declaration and so the celebration of the Christmas eve can begin. 🎄
My family celebrates 24,25, and the 26. It all depends on how we all can get together. 24 is the day for going to the graveyard and putting candles on the graves of loved one that aren't here with us anymore, christmas sauna, eating dinner, opening the presents and lot of small other things like games, Kalle Anka on tv, the christmas peace speach he mentioned. 25th is more or less the same in my family but with different people and no (or less) presents. 26th can also be the same, or then we celebrate with friends, eating leftovers and spending time together. A lot of people go out to bars on the evening on the 25th and even 26th (if they don't have work the next day). The sales also start around the 26th or 27th. When I was younger they where called the mid-days-sales because they where between Christmas and New Year but I dont know if it's called that anymore because it feels like they go on forever (well into January). And we eat whole potatoes on Christmas also, the food part of Christmas seems to be somewhat different from family to family in Finland. Most have a ham ( or and a vegan option), the boxes with mashed stuff (there are a lot of different ones), meat balls, and fish (salmon, herring, etc.). 😊
In my family our christmas dinner tends to consists of ham with mustard, salmon, meatballs (my fathers homemade ones which are TO DIE FOR!), all the different classic finnish casseroles, potatoes, gravy, little mini sausages, a few different sorts of pickled herring and a bucnh of other stuff I either can't remember off the top of my head, or I can't find the english words for it
Christmas sauna is traditionally during evening or early night. I heard it's because sauna is reserved for Sauna-tonttu (sauna-elf, spirit of sauna) on Christmas night, and you do not want to anger him
Christmas eve, you celebrate with family, relatives, friends and open presents. On christmas day morning you go to church and sing christmas songs, celebrating little Hesus...
Oof, thankfully for us christmas day is for sleeping late, watching tv and spending the day in sweatpants or pajamas and just taking it easy and eating what candy and treats did not get eaten the previous day.
You should see when you have eaten and had a sauna, and the children are excitedly waiting for Santa Claus to come, and when Santa Claus comes, then the joy when Santa Claus has distributed the presents and the children are waiting impatiently for Santa Claus to leave, so they can open the presents.
Sauna time in my family on christmas eve is before the dinner. Then we are all squeky clean and ready for santa :D Santa comes before or after the dinner, usually before nowadays. For lunch we have rice porridge and then we go for a walk in a snowy forest. Then we chill, go to sauna, get visited by santa, then eat and chill some more. Oh, and we have a saying: on boxing day the daylight lasts one rooster's step longer.... Dave failed to mention the tradition aspect of the christmas peace -declaration: it has been given continuosly from Turku since the 1300's. So I think it competes with the queen's speech a bit (:
I didn't know you British had gravy on basically everything. 🙂 In my family we have the ham, Karelian stew, sausage, meatballs, potato or potato gratin. rice porridge. If someone do a crime under the *Christmas peace* they get the double the punishment. Like if they would get 2 years in prison normally it will be 4 years instead.
We have whole potatoes and gravy, maybe it’s different for Finn-Swedes. Sauna on Xmas eve late in the evening. We used to have lutefisk for the fish course but thankfully changed over to salmon (gravlax / cold smoked) 😅
My family's Christms Eve chedule: awakening, candles to cemetaries (before mid-day), the christmas-porridge, The Sauna, presents, old fashioned Eve-buffet with the Ham over whole night and christmas-telly/tv, and to sleep. The Christmas-Dinner at the Christmasday.
Well, we do have whole potatoes on Christmas table, which we eat together with fish dishes, but we also have various casseroles eaten with the ham, of which one is sweetened potato casserole, which is simply delicious. It's almost like mämmi of the Christmas table. Dave has tasted Finnish Christmas foods on one of his videos, and think he liked the potato casserole. For dessert there's dried fruit soup with whipped cream, which is also called as 'screwing', because it's that good. In Finland the president gives a speech on New Year's eve. In Christmas there's the televised Christmas peace declaration from Turku. On sauna: "Christmas signals the start of the sauna season in Finland". On Boxing Day people go on a ride. It's a horses and horse men's day. You may have the Queen, but we have our own horse: "The Versatile Horse"- Dwayne is old enough to know the truth about Santa: "Short Film Showcase - Rare Exports Inc. (2003)" and "The Official Rare Exports Inc Safety Instructions 2005 2005". The truth is not that far off: "Strange Christmas tradition in Finland Finnish Myth". Christmas home movie: "Snrang Jossain on kai vielä joulu":
In Sweden we also celebrate on Christmas Eve. The 24th and 25th is holidays and really calm days. Sales often starts the 27th. We have the kings speach, but I don't think many watch that (not even sure it's on christmas, might be new year...). We tend to celebrate on the eve on every holiday (christmas, new year, easter, midsummer...).
in my family we go to sauna on 23rd. Thats because there could be over 20-30 family members on 24th, when there is my parents, siblings and their chlidren all together. And also to be fresh and clean for a christmas day. We also wear a bit better clothes for dinner and then change for more csaual later in teh evening. I love to go for a walk on evening of 23rd . Its nice and cold in the north and sauna feels very nice after it.
I think with my family (or alone with my partner) we go to sauna an hour or two before noon, after having our usual Christmas breakfast- rice porridge 😄
We take Christmas sauna at 24 december morning.. to be fresh for rest of day. After breakfast and we open after sauna one gift to play whit rest of day, vaiteing for to time open gifts, like after dinner...
In Norway we have christmas crackers, but the name (smellbonbon) doesn't relate to christmas and we never used them as part of christmas parties in my family, except if we had wreath cake/kransekake where this crackers are attached to the cake.
My mother worked as a nurse. She worked on Easter, but not during Christmas. She would change shifts with her colleagues if necessary. I guess since it's double pay some people don't mind that much.
In our family we definitely celebrate on both 24th and 25th. There's so much to do and especially with us having so many kids around we've moved some stuff to the 25th. We switch some foods to others but mostly eat the same foods on 26th as well. Decorating the tree, xmas peace and Santa are on 24th, everyone playing around with their new gifts and then to the sauna on the 25th. Hyvää itsenäisyyspäivää!
Greetings from Finland man!!! Are you going to check out Finland independence day ball and are we going to see your reaction to that here on RUclips??? I really hope so!!! "i'll be back" 😎
Thanks for the vid!😄 I would like to pull a Christmas cracker someday and the original boxing day idea sounds so lovely😍 In my family we go to sauna together as a family the night before Christmas eve and then on Tapanin päivä with friends. On the 25th we enjoy all the family gifts that we got which are board games, puzzles, consoles, movies etc. Mostly we basically play board games all day, new and old. We eat a Christmas meal on the eve, the 25th and on Tapanin päivä. On Tapanin päivä we visit family, and friends and they visit us. We eat way more stuff than just what's said on the vid, what he said is just the basic that most homes have and then based on family tradition, region, heritage and so on, you'll add other stuff. There is a gravy that some family's make, I usually just add more jam if I want more moistness, though the sides usually take care of that. Nobody in my family ever works between 23rd and the 6th, which is Loppiainen and that's the day we start eating our gingerbread houses. (We get that time off cause co-workers who don't have kids usually have no problem working through that time, also our jobs aren't as serious as a hospital so😅)
One thing that this video didn't mention is that on Christmas eve, a lot of people go to put candles on the graves of their family members. Finnish Christmas on the whole is more serious than especially American Christmas. When I was young, I spent one winter in California, and the people there watched American football on Christmas eve. I'm not even religious but it still felt blasphemous to me, I would absolutely NOT watch sports at Christmas. 24th, 25th and 26th of December are holidays here, so that most people don't need to go to work on those days. We don't have any specific Boxing day traditions but people often go to visit relatives on that day simply because it is a free day for them. I'm used to thinking that Christmas eve is a day that you spend with your immediate family (=the people you live with) and then the days after that are when you go to visit other relatives. But different families probably have different customs about that.
When i lived in Uk London,we had 2 Christmas.EVE Finnish and Christmas day British🎉But now we back in Finland,it just Finnish😅Well dont like ham though..luv lot Bisto gravy &roast botatoes(ones see how Jamie Oliwer makes them)so i try do same ish😅
Us protestants celebrate christmas the 24th, then, at least in sweden the 25th is the biggest party day. Everyone is out in clubs, pubs etc. Its bigger than nye.
The Nordic countries, i.e. Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, differ from the rest of the world by celebrating Jesus' birthday on December 24. And then you open Christmas presents.
It's not about Jesus' birthday. It's about ancient Nordic traditions of eating pig during the darkest period of the year. The celebration in FInland is called joulu, "yule". Even the name of the celebration doesn't imply Christianity.
Na na na na... Santa lives in Sweden! ;) that is actually an ongoing argument between Finland and Sweden, wether Santa lives in Swedish Lappland or in Finnish Rovaniemi... ;)
Our Finnish Christmas is best! Enjoying Christmas tree and watching Christmas Peace from tv.. And remembering Wonder of Christmas during WW 1 happenned something what after that never happened! Partly because commanding officers get angry, troops made own firesease! Playing football, singing Christmas songs and chancing gifts! This happened German's Western Front! And what comes to Christmas Peace original if anyway broke it you got punnishment for you crime! And nowadays Christasmas Peace from Turku is sended to world! And Santa Clause have own secrets how he deals such busy days! And he knows who is noughty...
you really need to find a better video about Finnish Christmas. No offense to Dave, I'm his fan and I've watched quite a lot of his videos, but this video tells very little about Finnish Christmas and I think Dave's story in this video doesn't correspond much to Finnish Christmas.
Everything in Finland happens on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day is mostly for leftovers and maybe a cheese plate. Also the thing about Christmas ham is mustard. That's the sauce.
And boxing day for the leftovers of leftovers.
Who doesnt make a sauce from the fat and liquid that has melted from the ham??
@@RiasSenpaiTheWalletläskisoosi is the best.
@@RiasSenpaiTheWallet Well the fat is extremely salty and all the gravy that is made from it is done for the sake of recycling rather than flavor. Usually the gravy made from ham drippings will not enhance the flavor.
@@yorkaturr Well that depends who is doing the sauce. Those who can make good sauce from grease is rare. Most people just does basic sauce, but someone like me for example make such a delisious sauce that it really is important in my table. But the flavor should not be too rich or all the other blend tastin traditional foods does not get out shadowed. Good thing in that sauce is that if you put it in mild tasting carrot or turnip cassarolle it sure tastes much better. It really can improve the whole dinner.
Boxing day is called Tapani's day in Finland. It is a public holiday. We visit friends and relatives then, and traditionally Boxing Day has included Tapani's rides, preferably on a horse, and Tapani's dances. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are often spent more with one's own family. Christmas Eve evening is the most important moment during Christmas.
As for Christmas sauna, it's usually before dinner. Some time during the day after visiting the graveyard, where everyone goes to lay out candles for those who have left us. During Christmas eve the graveyards are really lit.
and it´s so beutifel. we do that in sweden to and they glow in the dark from all the candles
Happy Suomen itsenäisyyspäivä, from Sweden.
Fun fact about the Christmas Peace declaration that was briefly mentioned in the video: the tradition of the Christmas Peace declaration in Turku began in the 1300s and the tradition has continued ever since (there have been some exceptions, such as 1712-1721 during the Greater Wrath and 1939 bc of the fear of air raids). It has been broadcasted on the radio since 1935 and televised since 1983. Some other cities also have long-standing traditions for the declaration of the Christmas Peace (my hometown has declared their own Christmas Peace since the 1600s) but the Turku one is the one that's broadcasted nationally.
Another funfackt: Nowadays, after the declaration of Christmas peace, it is tradition to play the Porilaisten marssi, and it's lyrics are the opposite of the declaration. For example, the march reads the words: "Gone, gone is the will of peace, soon the sword will shoot fire and the whistling bullets fly." However, it is more common to play just the composition of the march without its lyrics, in which case its proper name would be "Bonaparte's march or Napoleon in Egypt."
In Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland, presents are traditionally exchanged on the evening of 24 December.
Fun fact the presents at Christmas aren't from Santa in Hungary.
@@oxigen85 In the beginning it wasn't from Santa in Sweden either. We had a christmasgoat in Sweden in the 19th century that gave the gifts to kids and not Santa. This event was even in early 20th century but then disappeared.
That was symbolized as one of Tor's goats. Real tale was that Odin came at midwinterblot and gave children that had been good gifts. With him he had one of Tor's goats. The goat was enchanted by Odin at the time, so he could walk on 2 legs. Children that didn't been nice over the year was putted in a sack and taken away by the goatman and wasn't able to celibrate the festives until it was over as punishment.
Later on the tale about S:t Nicholaus came and the goatman Krampus was beside him. So yeah, I wonder where the real tale of S:t Nicholaus really comes from, because the norse mythology was first with the longbearded nice man that gave gifts to children. The tale about S:t Nicholaus that lived in Sicilly are a scam, it is a real copy made by christians about Odin. They are saying that there are evidence that S:t Nicholaus lived, but they are very shady. So it could be that it was Odin himself acctually, but it wasn't popular that a heathen god walked amongst humans and did good deeds around the children. There are some evidence that the story about S:t Nicholaus also are tempered with, so yeah. Everything is shady.
@@NecronomousWe still have the goat, joulupukki is literally "Yule goat". Finnish goat tradition comes from Kekri and kekripukki "Kekri goat". It's celebrated around the same time as All Saints' Day; "the masked visitors would demand hospitality, threatening to break the oven if their requests were not heeded."
Kekri:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kekri_(festival) 🔥🐐🍻
@@leopartanen8752 Kekri were celebrated at fall and it later merged to christmas and nuuttipukki were traveling house to hause to get some left over food at january after the Christmes and might bring some little gifts to the houses. Nuuttipukki might also discipline naughty childrens with dry twigs. Nuuttipukki was usually young drifter that had lether goat mask with horns on it and kids were more of affreid of it, becouse possibility to get spanked.
@@ArchieArpeggio Yes indeed, Kekri and kekripukki is an older tradition celebrated after the harvest season is over, but later merged with christian holidays. Nuuttipukki a newer tradition is celebrated on Saint Knut's Day, and originates from Denmark.
I love Finnish Christmas! We have pretty set traditions in our family.
On the 23rd:
- Christmas carols (usually at a church even though we’re not really religious)
- Chopping down and decorating the Christmas tree
- Filling up birdfeeders (old belief that birds don’t then eat the crops in the summer, also they symbolize the dead so we want to remember them)
On the 24th
- From 8:00-12:00 Joulupukin kuumalinja will be on from the TV. Santa’s hotline, aka all the important Christmas cartoons and live broadcast of Santa receiving calls from children etc.
- 12:00 Joulurauhan julistus live broadcast from Turku (Christmas peace announcement)
- Joulupuuro, rice porridge as lunch - the porridge has a hidden almond and the one who finds it gets a wish. So everyone competes in finding it.
- Joulusauna after lunch. Super chill and peaceful.
- Dressing up for dinner
- A toast with pre dinner glögi and sometimes singing some carols
- Dinner. First we eat fish courses (roe, gravlax, cold and regular smoked salmon/other fish, and those regular potatoes 😅), then ham and for us smoked reindeer/moose and all kinds of side dishes
- Gifts. For families with smaller children Santa will come visit inside the homes. The children usually sing to Santa and then he hands out the gifts.
- Then usually kids play and adults mingle and have some drinks and dessert and play board games etc. and just hang out
On the 25th
- (visiting family) and then doing a smaller version of the festive dinner. It’s like a mini more chilled Christmas party all over again.
On the 26th
- For older adults and kids this is the just hanging out and eating leftovers day. BUT especially for younger adults it’s customary to go to Tapanintanssit aka Boxing Day party. It’s still a holiday and younger people, who maybe have moved because of uni etc. and are now back in their hometowns for the holidays, get together and go out partying. Bars and clubs are usually open to throw a special boxing day party.
Hyvää itsenäisyyspäivää 🇫🇮 happy independence day
Our President keeps a new years speech for people. And at city of Turku declears a christmas peace at noon in 24th of December.
In my Finnish family we celebrate Christmas 23rd through 26th. On the 23rd it's grandma's birthday so we have a Christmas celebration at grandpa's business. The morning of 24th we eat rice porridge with an almond and whoever gets the almond gets to make a wish. We get changed into our Christmas outfits. Usually that is nice clothes like jumpers and nice trousers. My grandparents (grandma, grandpa and granny), my aunt and uncle from my mom's side come over with their families. Then at noon we watch the Christmas peace declaration and put out the food to the table. We get to eating around 2pm. We eat and chat with no technology like the tv or phones on. After eating the meal and the dessert all the grandparents (and some times my uncle) leave so it's just my family and my aunt and her family. My dad has to leave to go manage his honor guard. The rest of us mostly whatever we want. Usually we play games and watch Christmas movies. Or play carols on the piano and sing along. Pretty much anything that's not the phones. Then my brother goes start warming up the sauna. Once it's ready it's time to go into the warmth and enjoy. First it's mine and my cousin's turn. Then it's our moms' and one other cousin's. Lastly once my dad comes back around 8pm, it's the men's turn. As we get out of the sauna we get changed into our new matching Christmas pjs. Once everyone is clean, in jammies and in the living room we start with the gifts. My dad sits in a chair next to the tree, takes a present from one of the huge Santa bags, reads the name on it and then that person gets to pen their gift. Everyone gets to see what they got and we move on the next gift. This usually takes a good chunk of time as there are at least 8 people. This year I asume it will be 10 people. Then oce we are done we are so tired that we go to bed. On the 25th we play with our gifts. Then we go have lunch at my dad's parents' house and see that side of the family. Usually Santa has brought me and my brother some gifts there so we get them and the presents from our godparents. Most of the day is just chilling and hanging out. On the 26th we usually get to see our friends as we really don't get a chance to do that during family Christmas. We also see some more extended family. So another chill day of eating leftovers and hanging out. This is also the day we have no "phone limitation". It's not really restricted at other times than during meal times but there are so many other things to do that we just don't really use our phones.
26th Of December, Tapaninpäivä, is a day when we go dancing and celebrating. "Tapsan tanssit"
Really? Here in Åland that usually happens on the 25th, the bars and clubs are always super busy on the 25th
24:th morning you eat Christmas porridge spend time with your loved ones. Afternoon when it gets dark you go to graveyard see your example grandfather-mother, light candles for them. After this sauna and Christmas food in my case ham, Karelian pie with egg butter, salmon, swede casserole, carrot casserole, potatoes, karelian roast, beans, plum, date and rosolli, beer, wine, vodka, cognac or whiskey After the Christmas feast, Santa Claus will visit also especially if you have young kids. So Merry Christmas 🎄
Christmas crackers are used in Sweden, but they are not to be touched until Januari 13 (Knut 20th) when the christmastree is being ransacked (julgransplundring) along with candy.
Today is Finnish independence day!
Hyvää itsepäisyyspäivää!
In Finland the president gives a televised speech on New Year's day.
In Finland, Boxing Day is called "Tapanin päivä" after Saint Stephen and it is a traditional day to visit relatives for Tapanin päivä lunch.
The Sauna is on Christmas Eve before dinner usually.
Santa begins with Holland, there they have the gifts at the 5th of December.
And in Sweden we do have something similar to Christmas Crackers for the families that do home crafts before Yule called "smällkaramell", made by hand with the children the days before.
If you make them correctly with all the folds and layers they give a satisfying pop when pulled open, but for people that are clumsy or lazy you can cheat and put in a pull-cracker like the Britts do 😁...
They usually have figures/statues shaped from marzipan, but can be any candy, there are no jokes and no crown, and they are hung up as decorations in the tree.
Oooh cool I didn't know Santa came the 5th in Holland.
In Hungary (and I believe Romania) it's the 6th!
@@oxigen85 It would be silly to fly all the presents on one night, so it seems Santa has a schedule instead 😄
The tradition has always been to us that we go to sauna after breakfast so you would be clean and and have a bit better clothes on for lunch, after that we would sit down to see/listen to the Christmas peace declaration and so the celebration of the Christmas eve can begin. 🎄
Oh, we have tradition to go after gifts on the late eve of 24th
My family celebrates 24,25, and the 26. It all depends on how we all can get together. 24 is the day for going to the graveyard and putting candles on the graves of loved one that aren't here with us anymore, christmas sauna, eating dinner, opening the presents and lot of small other things like games, Kalle Anka on tv, the christmas peace speach he mentioned. 25th is more or less the same in my family but with different people and no (or less) presents. 26th can also be the same, or then we celebrate with friends, eating leftovers and spending time together. A lot of people go out to bars on the evening on the 25th and even 26th (if they don't have work the next day). The sales also start around the 26th or 27th. When I was younger they where called the mid-days-sales because they where between Christmas and New Year but I dont know if it's called that anymore because it feels like they go on forever (well into January).
And we eat whole potatoes on Christmas also, the food part of Christmas seems to be somewhat different from family to family in Finland. Most have a ham ( or and a vegan option), the boxes with mashed stuff (there are a lot of different ones), meat balls, and fish (salmon, herring, etc.). 😊
In my family our christmas dinner tends to consists of ham with mustard, salmon, meatballs (my fathers homemade ones which are TO DIE FOR!), all the different classic finnish casseroles, potatoes, gravy, little mini sausages, a few different sorts of pickled herring and a bucnh of other stuff I either can't remember off the top of my head, or I can't find the english words for it
No no no, we have also potatoes and carrots as whole, not only in laatikko/casseroles. And also a lot of different gravy.
We have halved potatoes along with the casseroles. Potatoes and carrots also go to Rosolli (not a lot, it is still mainly beetroot) so there's that.
Christmas sauna is traditionally during evening or early night. I heard it's because sauna is reserved for Sauna-tonttu (sauna-elf, spirit of sauna) on Christmas night, and you do not want to anger him
Christmas eve, you celebrate with family, relatives, friends and open presents. On christmas day morning you go to church and sing christmas songs, celebrating little Hesus...
Oof, thankfully for us christmas day is for sleeping late, watching tv and spending the day in sweatpants or pajamas and just taking it easy and eating what candy and treats did not get eaten the previous day.
Yeah, just chilling with family and "enjoying" the real christmas day, we oftentimes pick up my grandma to have coffee on christmas day.@@Gralind
You should see when you have eaten and had a sauna, and the children are excitedly waiting for Santa Claus to come, and when Santa Claus comes, then the joy when Santa Claus has distributed the presents and the children are waiting impatiently for Santa Claus to leave, so they can open the presents.
Sauna time in my family on christmas eve is before the dinner. Then we are all squeky clean and ready for santa :D Santa comes before or after the dinner, usually before nowadays.
For lunch we have rice porridge and then we go for a walk in a snowy forest. Then we chill, go to sauna, get visited by santa, then eat and chill some more.
Oh, and we have a saying: on boxing day the daylight lasts one rooster's step longer....
Dave failed to mention the tradition aspect of the christmas peace -declaration: it has been given continuosly from Turku since the 1300's. So I think it competes with the queen's speech a bit (:
I didn't know you British had gravy on basically everything. 🙂 In my family we have the ham, Karelian stew, sausage, meatballs, potato or potato gratin. rice porridge. If someone do a crime under the *Christmas peace* they get the double the punishment. Like if they would get 2 years in prison normally it will be 4 years instead.
Sauna definetly before eating Christmas dinner.
We have whole potatoes and gravy, maybe it’s different for Finn-Swedes.
Sauna on Xmas eve late in the evening.
We used to have lutefisk for the fish course but thankfully changed over to salmon (gravlax / cold smoked) 😅
My family's Christms Eve chedule: awakening, candles to cemetaries (before mid-day), the christmas-porridge, The Sauna, presents, old fashioned Eve-buffet with the Ham over whole night and christmas-telly/tv, and to sleep. The Christmas-Dinner at the Christmasday.
Well, we do have whole potatoes on Christmas table, which we eat together with fish dishes, but we also have various casseroles eaten with the ham, of which one is sweetened potato casserole, which is simply delicious. It's almost like mämmi of the Christmas table. Dave has tasted Finnish Christmas foods on one of his videos, and think he liked the potato casserole. For dessert there's dried fruit soup with whipped cream, which is also called as 'screwing', because it's that good. In Finland the president gives a speech on New Year's eve. In Christmas there's the televised Christmas peace declaration from Turku. On sauna: "Christmas signals the start of the sauna season in Finland". On Boxing Day people go on a ride. It's a horses and horse men's day. You may have the Queen, but we have our own horse: "The Versatile Horse"- Dwayne is old enough to know the truth about Santa: "Short Film Showcase - Rare Exports Inc. (2003)" and "The Official Rare Exports Inc Safety Instructions 2005 2005". The truth is not that far off: "Strange Christmas tradition in Finland Finnish Myth". Christmas home movie: "Snrang Jossain on kai vielä joulu":
We open presants Christmas eve in Norway also. ...l think Sweden too
In Sweden we also celebrate on Christmas Eve. The 24th and 25th is holidays and really calm days. Sales often starts the 27th.
We have the kings speach, but I don't think many watch that (not even sure it's on christmas, might be new year...).
We tend to celebrate on the eve on every holiday (christmas, new year, easter, midsummer...).
We in Sweden do the some as Finland.
in my family we go to sauna on 23rd. Thats because there could be over 20-30 family members on 24th, when there is my parents, siblings and their chlidren all together. And also to be fresh and clean for a christmas day. We also wear a bit better clothes for dinner and then change for more csaual later in teh evening. I love to go for a walk on evening of 23rd . Its nice and cold in the north and sauna feels very nice after it.
My family used to go to the sauna in the morning 😊
I think with my family (or alone with my partner) we go to sauna an hour or two before noon, after having our usual Christmas breakfast- rice porridge 😄
We take Christmas sauna at 24 december morning.. to be fresh for rest of day.
After breakfast and we open after sauna one gift to play whit rest of day, vaiteing for to time open gifts, like after dinner...
Never seen anyone take it in the morning, usually I've seen people take christmas sauna anywhere between 11-14
In Norway we have christmas crackers, but the name (smellbonbon) doesn't relate to christmas and we never used them as part of christmas parties in my family, except if we had wreath cake/kransekake where this crackers are attached to the cake.
My mother worked as a nurse. She worked on Easter, but not during Christmas. She would change shifts with her colleagues if necessary. I guess since it's double pay some people don't mind that much.
In our family we definitely celebrate on both 24th and 25th. There's so much to do and especially with us having so many kids around we've moved some stuff to the 25th.
We switch some foods to others but mostly eat the same foods on 26th as well.
Decorating the tree, xmas peace and Santa are on 24th, everyone playing around with their new gifts and then to the sauna on the 25th.
Hyvää itsenäisyyspäivää!
Christmas sauna in my family is after christmas dinner but before gifts opening in the evening/night before midnight
Most of Europe celebrate the big day on the 24th.
in christmas eve i go to sauna at 1 o'clock pm 1300.. christmas day i go to sauna whenever i feel like it.
Greetings from Finland man!!! Are you going to check out Finland independence day ball and are we going to see your reaction to that here on RUclips??? I really hope so!!! "i'll be back" 😎
My Christmas traditions: same as any other day.
Sleep, eat, shit repeat
Thanks for the vid!😄 I would like to pull a Christmas cracker someday and the original boxing day idea sounds so lovely😍
In my family we go to sauna together as a family the night before Christmas eve and then on Tapanin päivä with friends. On the 25th we enjoy all the family gifts that we got which are board games, puzzles, consoles, movies etc. Mostly we basically play board games all day, new and old. We eat a Christmas meal on the eve, the 25th and on Tapanin päivä. On Tapanin päivä we visit family, and friends and they visit us. We eat way more stuff than just what's said on the vid, what he said is just the basic that most homes have and then based on family tradition, region, heritage and so on, you'll add other stuff. There is a gravy that some family's make, I usually just add more jam if I want more moistness, though the sides usually take care of that. Nobody in my family ever works between 23rd and the 6th, which is Loppiainen and that's the day we start eating our gingerbread houses. (We get that time off cause co-workers who don't have kids usually have no problem working through that time, also our jobs aren't as serious as a hospital so😅)
In our family we always have potatoes with the ham and gravy too. I never liked those box foods. And we also have salmon too..
One thing that this video didn't mention is that on Christmas eve, a lot of people go to put candles on the graves of their family members. Finnish Christmas on the whole is more serious than especially American Christmas. When I was young, I spent one winter in California, and the people there watched American football on Christmas eve. I'm not even religious but it still felt blasphemous to me, I would absolutely NOT watch sports at Christmas.
24th, 25th and 26th of December are holidays here, so that most people don't need to go to work on those days. We don't have any specific Boxing day traditions but people often go to visit relatives on that day simply because it is a free day for them. I'm used to thinking that Christmas eve is a day that you spend with your immediate family (=the people you live with) and then the days after that are when you go to visit other relatives. But different families probably have different customs about that.
When i lived in Uk London,we had 2 Christmas.EVE Finnish and Christmas day British🎉But now we back in Finland,it just Finnish😅Well dont like ham though..luv lot Bisto gravy &roast botatoes(ones see how Jamie Oliwer makes them)so i try do same ish😅
Us protestants celebrate christmas the 24th, then, at least in sweden the 25th is the biggest party day. Everyone is out in clubs, pubs etc. Its bigger than nye.
The Nordic countries, i.e. Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, differ from the rest of the world by celebrating Jesus' birthday on December 24. And then you open Christmas presents.
For many many, christmas doesn't have any religious meaning, it's just winter solstice / saturnalia that church harnessed to its own uses.
It's not about Jesus' birthday. It's about ancient Nordic traditions of eating pig during the darkest period of the year. The celebration in FInland is called joulu, "yule". Even the name of the celebration doesn't imply Christianity.
@@JS... For me, it's just a family weekend with lots of good food
@@yorkaturr In Sweden it is also just called Jul. 🙂
You forgot Iceland xD and we celebrate it on the 24th cause we are protestants, all protestants celebrates it on the 24th......
In Finland, the president declares Christmas peace
Nope, it's the protocol/administration chief of Turku Mika Akkanen who reads and declares the Christmas peace.
President gives a speech on new year.
Na na na na... Santa lives in Sweden! ;) that is actually an ongoing argument between Finland and Sweden, wether Santa lives in Swedish Lappland or in Finnish Rovaniemi... ;)
Seriously? Santa's Village in Finland has 500,000 visitors every year, where in Sweden are people supposed to go to see Santa?
I thought Santa came from the North pole.
@@jonnajois Have you ever seen reindeer at the North Pole?
Our Finnish Christmas is best! Enjoying Christmas tree and watching Christmas Peace from tv.. And remembering Wonder of Christmas during WW 1 happenned something what after that never happened! Partly because commanding officers get angry, troops made own firesease! Playing football, singing Christmas songs and chancing gifts! This happened German's Western Front! And what comes to Christmas Peace original if anyway broke it you got punnishment for you crime! And nowadays Christasmas Peace from Turku is sended to world! And Santa Clause have own secrets how he deals such busy days! And he knows who is noughty...
You cant give christmas gift the day after 😂 al Nordic countries hav Cristmas 24 december
you really need to find a better video about Finnish Christmas. No offense to Dave, I'm his fan and I've watched quite a lot of his videos, but this video tells very little about Finnish Christmas and I think Dave's story in this video doesn't correspond much to Finnish Christmas.
That begins on the 1st of December if not earlier. Waiting for snow or living without sunlight.
Just fam
Olet aina yhtä hämmästynyt!!!!🙄
On background there is a human on his/her knees covered with fabric 🫢😱 Dare to explain?